Lucky

A criminal with a winning lottery ticket scrambles to elude arrest in this thrilling adventure. In 1982, con man John Armstrong deceitfully convinces a nun that a foundling left on the church steps is his daughter, Luciana “Lucky” Armstrong, and takes custody. Twenty-six years later, John is incarcerated and Lucky, who never doubted John was her real father, flees Boise, Idaho, just as the Ponzi scheme she cooked up with her boyfriend, Cary, is cracking. She wakes up after a night in Vegas to discover Cary and their money gone, then finds out a lottery ticket she bought on a whim back in Idaho is worth $390 million. Using her skills at deception, she crisscrosses the country, trying to stay one step ahead of law enforcement and finding a way to cash the ticket without turning herself in. A poor decision ensnares her with a dangerous former associate of her father before she decides to seek out the woman said by John to be her mother in New York City. Stapley raises the stakes through Lucky’s increasingly desperate moves while adding depth via flashbacks to Lucky’s childhood, which was full of scams and disappointments, and through Lucky’s gradual reckoning with the truth. This page-turner packs in more than its share of heart. (Dec.)