I eventually finished the book in frustration, the overly lengthy book only heightening my dislike of the book. I loved this book, the story line was brilliant and was one of David Baldaccis easier books to follow. A page turner from the start, I'd happily recommend this. Jul 25, Wendy rated it really liked it. LuAnn Tyler is only 20 years old and already a dirt-poor single mother with an 8-month old daughter living in a trailer in Georgia. When a strange man, whom she thought was offering her a job, says he can guarantee that she'll win the national lottery, LuAnn's better judgement tells her to decline.
But she comes home to find her boyfriend murdered and herself killing another intruder in self-defense. Alone and desperate, she takes the stranger's incredible offer which leads her to New York City to accept her lottery winnings: She has, however, agreed to the stranger's stipulations: Ten years moving around Europe doesn't sound too bad.
But LuAnn secretly returns to the US after the ten years, putting herself in grave danger, as well as the lives of her daughter, Lisa, and the two men she loves. Hard to believe they were written by the same author. Both incredibly well-written but with very different writing styles. Baldacci has outstanding character development.
The stranger, the financial genious, is a great villan. It seems there's nothing he can't get done. I also picked up on the changes in LuAnn after the ten years had passed. She's such a strong-willed character. Her growth and maturity is so apparent. I don't know enough about the government or the lotteries to say if "a fix" is really possible. However, Baldacci's brilliant writing makes me want to believe it could happen. Above average plot with intricate developments, but it was missing the wow factor. Good but not great. To let readers know where I'm coming from, my preferred genre is romance novels.
The fact that I liked this should mean something since it is off genre for me. Throughout the book there was the underlying frustration of how can anyone ever stop this bad guy, but he gets it eventually. The story was excellent mechanically with good showing not telling. I would have liked more e Above average plot with intricate developments, but it was missing the wow factor. I would have liked more emotional draw to the characters.
Not necessary, but I also would have liked more witty or thought provoking dialogue. I liked the LuAnn character a lot. She was physically very strong. Her strength of mind and body actually scared some men. There were a couple parts that were a little too convenient to the plot for me. Jackson wanted to kill Charlie and LuAnn.
He should have shot them, but he chose to do things that they could survive. Number of sex scenes: Total number of sex sceen pages: Oct 03, Kelly rated it it was amazing Shelves: My second Baldacci book and it did not disappoint! This is a fast-paced, thoroughly entertaining book I was hooked on page one and stayed hooked through every page until the last.
This would make a killer movie! This book promised so much but delivered so little. The first pages and the last pages were page turning but the bits in between just went on and on and on. The main villain is a brilliant mastermind who has devised a way to rig the national lottery. To make it work he needs people to buy lottery tickets that he guarantees will win and make the ticket holder instant millionaires.
In the process he, the villain, and the ticket holders go on to make unimaginable wealth. Needless to say it's This book promised so much but delivered so little. Needless to say it's not all plain sailing. For ten years all goes well until one of his flock breaks the rules and come back home to the USA. From this point on everything goes pear shaped and the villain is left with no other option but to kill nearly everyone involved in the scam.
Now the book becomes a page turner but there is a lot of verbiage to get through before you get the page turning. The book is pages long and to keep me interested for that long the book needs to be exceptional and this book didn't quite get there. It's not a bad read but I have read so much better from David Baldacci. The best I could do was 3 stars. May 28, Jason rated it really liked it Shelves: Ever since school got out for the summer, oddly enough, I have been reading a lot.
I picked up a few books at a local church book sale. In fact, when handing my money to the cashier at the sale, the lady said that this was her favorite David Baldacci book. She had good taste. Short overview for you: LuAnn Tyler had Ever since school got out for the summer, oddly enough, I have been reading a lot. LuAnn Tyler had nothing at all going for her. She accepts but not under the best circumstances so she must go on the run. But after 10 years, she returns.
However, some are still looking for her. I will let you read it to fill in the blanks. This book is a good page-turner and it has some good points throughout. There are a few points of predictability but I guess that is expected if you read as much as I do. But if you pick it up, you will enjoy it. This is one of the earlier book by David Baldacci and somehow he didn't have the mastery of his craft back then that he has now.
I don't know what it is, whether it's the plot, or the characters but I stumbled through the whole book and never was captivated by the whole story and I have read a lot of the recent books by Baldacci like the John Puller serie or the Will Robbie and I was captivated by those and couldn't drop them.
Anyway, somewhat of a miss for me, but that will not keep me away fr This is one of the earlier book by David Baldacci and somehow he didn't have the mastery of his craft back then that he has now. Anyway, somewhat of a miss for me, but that will not keep me away from other books by the same author.
May 11, Patrick rated it it was amazing. What happens afterwards to many of these 'winners', well, let's just say they would have been better off saying HELL NO. Not so fast, should someone turn this depraved evil genius down on his offer they would be, uh Lotto winners beware!! Not so fast, should someone turn this depraved evil genius down on his offer they would be, uh, DEAD! Nov 06, Terri Lynn rated it really liked it Shelves: LouAnn Tyler is poor white Georgia trailer trash.
Her parents are dead and she is a waitress at the Number One Truck Stop where she keeps her 8 month old illegitimate daughter Lisa under the counter because the child's deadbeat father Duane is a piece of alcoholic drug-ridden trash. LouAnn is 20 and dropped out of school in the 7th grade and is an idiot. LouAnn, Duane, oh yes it is Bubba and his shack up Bubbette. Then suddenly LouAnn is offered a chance by a strange man to win million in a LouAnn Tyler is poor white Georgia trailer trash.
Then suddenly LouAnn is offered a chance by a strange man to win million in a national lottery. She knows there is something shifty about it but he does a demonstration for her that proves he can make it happen. He tells her she must decide by a certain time. What she doesn't know is that he has a sleazebag hired to kill her if she doesn't call and accept by the deadline. She had caught Duane sleeping with another white trash woman and had forced the woman to go home naked yee haw or should I say Hee Haw?
Excitement in Cornfield county. LeeAnn has spent a couple of days with a friend but now goes to the trailer to get some stuff and move out when she finds drug-dealing Duane near death and she has to fight off and kill the druggie man who killed Duane and attacks her. Now she is ready to flee and she manages to call the Mystery Man just minutes before the deadline. He fixes it so she can leave immediately to go to New York and what no one knows is when the Mystery Man calls off the paid killer, that guy follows her to New York with plans to blackmail her.
She wins the lottery but it becomes known she is wanted for murder and the Mystery Man himself must murder LouAnn's blackmailer so she has to have her name changed she has no SS card or license as she was born at home. The mystery man is able to work wonders and soon she and Lisa are off to Europe along with Charlie who the Mystery Man had looking after her and Lisa. She was given one rule. For 10 years, she keeps that promise. She is worth close to a billion dollars.
Then the idiot causes trouble and death for many people when she comes back to the USA, puts her money in the bank, pays a year of taxes, and buys an estate in Virginia. All hell breaks loose as she and Charlie face off with a reporter who figures out her story, the FBI, a handyman who turns out to be former FBI in the witness protection program for testifying against a cartel who is searching for him, and the Mystery Man too.
Jun 12, Sandy rated it it was ok Shelves: LuAnn Tyler, a year-old unwed mother of a baby girl trapped in poverty in rural Georgia, is offered a chance to win the fixed Lottery. Her fateful decision to accept the offer allows her to escape a frightening act of violence at home, but when she disobeys her handler and returns to the country after 10 years, he is determined to punish her.
Perhaps in that format it could overcome some of the character extremes that stretch p LuAnn Tyler, a year-old unwed mother of a baby girl trapped in poverty in rural Georgia, is offered a chance to win the fixed Lottery. Perhaps in that format it could overcome some of the character extremes that stretch plausibility in the book.
The characters are over-the-top extremes, sometimes with conflicting personality traits. LuAnn is described as breathtakingly beautiful, physically powerful, intelligent despite having to drop out of school in 7th grade , and self-confident — much more self-confident than could be expected from someone whose father always derided her intelligence and who stays with a loser boyfriend even when he openly cheats on her.
Jackson, the evil mastermind behind fixing the Lottery and manipulating lives, was also hard to believe, particularly his ability to know everything about everyone, managing it all with minimal assistance from hired help. On the other hand, it was enjoyable to see a female character whose determination and strength physical and psychological carries her through every challenge. And it certainly serves as a cautionary tale for anyone who thinks they have a chance at winning the lottery.
The final climactic confrontation between LuAnn and Jackson was completely ridiculous, particularly the way Charlie rescued LuAnn and Matt from the river after having so recently almost bled to death. Apr 13, Bunsa rated it it was ok.
The Winner
My first David Baldacci book, he seems quite popular, so I though I would give one if his books a read. Maybe I chose the wrong one, but I thought this book was terrible. The one thing I will give it is that I won't call it boring; I definitely wanted to read what happened next. That being said, I also wouldn't call it "fast-paced" either.
It dragged through certain areas, and then skipped through some I thought would have needed more attention and detail, then lingered too l "The Winner". It dragged through certain areas, and then skipped through some I thought would have needed more attention and detail, then lingered too long on others. I get it already! The main problem is, to sum up in a word, it's too 'contrived'. It seemed like he had an idea of what he wanted as a final result, and then tried to make everything make sense, but it just seemed forced.
Several times while reading, I thought "Why didn't they just When the reader sees a simpler tactic, and the characters don't take it, repeatedly. And unless the author comes up with another explanation, the book and it's characters, becomes unrelatable to me, the reader.
In this case I found those explanations flimsy at best, but for the most part, nonexistent. May 27, Linda Hart rated it it was amazing. I do like reading Baldacci's mysteries. This has a unique fast-paced plot, with lots of twists and turns, and his characters are well developed. Each time I read one of his books I'm impressed with how different they are from each other and I wonder how he comes up with such varying scenarios and interesting characters.
He is a very talented writer. There is no bad language and although there is a sex scene it's nothing compared toKen Follett or other popular mystery writers. Apr 20, Jen rated it it was amazing. Probably my favorite Baldacci book. If you love a good mystery, this book is sure to please! Aug 06, Lino's Version rated it liked it. This book has action, a scenario that is believable — with the little touches, but some coincides that bog the story down.
It is a little convoluted…and financially not too sophisticated but for is was ahead of its time. Well done and a fun summer read. PS think that I had read this but did not remember very much — is that a good thing? They must have forgotten that government lotteries had been banned on a wholesale basis in the last century because of widespread corruption.
You know legally the lottery scam amounts to a bunch of felonies, but the statue of limitations has expired on all of them. Inferior minds seek convoluted scenarios; it takes a brilliant one to achieve simplicity. People really should respect the technicians of the world more…they control everything, because they control the machines that control the flow of information. Mar 19, Nai Wang rated it really liked it.
After reading his more recent works about special forces bad asses Puller, Stone, Robbie it was a culture shock to read this earlier work about an ordinary girl. I wasn't sure at first if I would like this but as the story unfolded this girl is far from ordinary and likely to join the ranks of bad asses. Great writing, narration and story development, this was one I would recommend over most of his other works.
It's refreshing to read a different kind of book by Baldacci. This book really expo After reading his more recent works about special forces bad asses Puller, Stone, Robbie it was a culture shock to read this earlier work about an ordinary girl. This book really expounds on the fact that money does not buy happiness.
Jan 21, Krystle Kouture rated it liked it. Longer and more complex than your average bestselling thriller. Enjoyable, but not the best. Jul 15, Victor A. An uneducated, dirt-poor single mom goes to an interview for what appears to be a great temporary job offer, only to find out that the real purpose of the meeting is a lottery fix.
Her end of the deal? All she has to do is ask no questions, do as she's told, take her winnings and live happily ever after. There's only one hitch in the giddy-up: She has An uneducated, dirt-poor single mom goes to an interview for what appears to be a great temporary job offer, only to find out that the real purpose of the meeting is a lottery fix. She has only a few days to give "Jackson" her answer and, unbeknownst to her, will be murdered if she declines.
The story vehicle is fantastic, as Jackson proves to her that he can in fact fix the national lottery. Does she say yes and gamble on the consequences, or refuse and return to her hellish and impoverished existence? And whichever decision she makes It is that "vehicle" and other aspects of this story that, at least initially, made this a book that leaves the reader anxious to see what's going to happen next. From there, it just got ridiculous. This work had more holes than a giant block of cheese.
First of all, the author should've received a commission for every instance where he violated the basic "Don't tell me, show me" rule of writing. How many times did we need to be reminded by David Baldacci that LuAnn was beautiful, incredibly smart and resourceful and stronger than Superman? Yes, she could kick the crap out of any man And yet, this incredibly smart woman does some inexplicably stupid things like stealing a drug dealer's car after stumbling upon a murder. She then makes a call using his cell phone. She then uses her real name when buying a train ticket so she can flee to New York and obtain her lottery winnings.
After discovering that she's wanted for murder, she is ordered by the mysterious Jackson to leave the country and never return. After the author skips 10 years, the smart, resourceful LuAnn comes back, buys a mansion in a prominent neighborhood in Charlottesville, Virginia and files a tax return. Her mother had left Charlottesville, Virginia to go to Rikersville, Georgia?
All of this is to say nothing of the other improbabilities in this book. We have a six-foot tall mom who is breastfeeding because she can't afford formula, but she's still stronger than the average NFL lineman, still looks like a supermodel and suddenly switches the baby to a bottle before she obtains any money. Then there's the fact that all of the characters are one-dimensional and live in a world of fortuitous coincidences- all of them can call a "friend" or a "contact" and obtain any information they want or need at any time.
They live in a world where revolvers have safeties, a 44 magnum can be hidden in a coat pocket, and where experienced former FBI agents break into private homes and touch everything without even bothering to wear gloves. These characters abide in a world where breasts and shoulders "quiver"; a world where romantic dialogue makes a Harlequin romance look like Dostoevsky by comparison.
Technologies
But in the world of this book, David Baldacci turned him into something that made me think I was a kid again, watching reruns of the original "Batman" series with Adam West- he takes the time to explain what he's done, why he did it and what he's about to do before killing them. He even explains to one victim his tools for disguise Somehow, we have a shopping mall in the crossroads town of Rikersville Georgia.
We have an incinerator in Charlottesville, Virginia, and we have a super villain who reunites with his sister by disguising himself as a cop, bonding with her and then murdering her after he removes the disguise and after she stops fainting. If you think this review is boring, try reading the book. I give it three stars because, again, the story had immense potential and was "a real page-turner" at least halfway through. If you have an affinity for what could've been but was ruined, check this one out. If you don't mind bad writing style, cheesy dialogue and one unbelievable coincidence after another, read "The Winner" by David Baldacci.
Otherwise, let this one go. Nov 05, Darius Murretti rated it it was amazing. But quickly, this story became repetitive and patronizing. I just couldn't stop rolling my eyes. The characters and plot went from intriguing to far-fetched, then ludicrous and finally a waste of my time. A down-and-out woman is given the chance of a lifetime in winning big in the lottery.
Despite knowing that it is fixed, she jumps at the chance. Her secretive contact keeps hold of her winnings for 10 y 1. Her secretive contact keeps hold of her winnings for 10 years, giving her a healthy sum to live on during those years, and promises to hand the capital back to her after that time. Fast forward ten years and our damsel-in-distress is a force of nature - wielding a gun whenever possible and chopping wood faster than her groundskeeper as well as being indescribably beautiful.
In fact, her youthful beauty is so unbelievable that she is often mistaken to be her 10 year old daughter's sister. Of course, there are troubles to deal with [tax-evasion has never been so thrilling] and a man who may or may not be an FBI agent steps in to rescue her. This lottery scam even involves the president! Trite and dull, mainly due to over stimulation.
I just wanted to say "Focus, David! Focus your book on one thing! Feb 14, Randy Ortiz rated it it was ok. I love David Baldacci. His books quickly cut to the chase and he is a master at developing unique and relatable characters. This book is no different. The villian is acceptional. Because it is fiction, there is room for leeway, but the villian could have accomplished what he was trying to accomplish by much easier means He could have done it all himself if he just won the lottery once by himself and invested it just like he did with other people's money.
Think of it as a smarter mass-market airport thriller. View all 3 comments. Oct 05, Carolyn rated it it was amazing Shelves: I enjoy a book which transports me to another place. Some authors set their stories in foreign countries but are unable to capture the sense of place, so the background doesn't ring true. Will Ferguson does a superior job in describing the sights and sounds of Lagos, from the well-to-do business areas and homes to the squalid and dangerous slums.
I have never been to Lagos, but felt that I was there. I have been to the sahel and the picture of Amina, clad in her indigo robe, and cover 4. I have been to the sahel and the picture of Amina, clad in her indigo robe, and covered with dust as she walks through the semi-desert is vivid in my mind. The book opens with a man driving off an icy road in western Canada. It is found to be a suicide, and he leaves behind a wife and two grown children. It is soon learned that he was the victim of a scam and has lost the family's life savings and the house has been heavily re-mortgaged and will soon be taken by the bank.
The daughter, Laura, finds much of her father's email from Nigeria, and papers where he has signed everything away naively thinking he was saving the life of a Nigerian girl and would make lots of money eventually. Laura is able to trace the person who committed the fraud by grammatical errors and unusual phrasing and heads off to Nigeria to confront the man responsible for the death of her father and try and get the money back. Other major, and well developed characters are Winston, author of these emails under different names; Nnamdi, a young man from a fishing village where a big oil company has devastated the river and the environment, destroying the villagers' livelihood and health; Ironi Egobia is a frightening mob boss in Lagos.
The least developed character is Amina, the girl crossing the sahel on foot. We know she is pregnant, but not sure if this is the reason she is fleeing her desert tribe. In her great fear she intends to get as far away from home as possible. When all these separate stories converge, the conclusion is tragic and unforgettable. At first I was cheering for Laura, by herself in a place far from home. She was resourceful, brave and looking for revenge. She causes some cruel things to happen and shows little remorse,and I stopped admiring her.
Thought this was a great thriller, and learned a lot about the Nigerian email scams, and how the big Western oil companies are exploiting the land and its inhabitants. Oct 22, Daniel rated it it was ok Shelves: I'm at a loss in how to write a review for this book. I obviously didn't get whatever the author was driving at—something I find unsettling when the book is garnering critical acclaim. What is it that I'm missing? It felt to me like the author was trying too hard to make a story that didn't really have the legs to make it. Nigerian e-mail scams have provided office jokes for years, so this attempt at a taut political thriller on the same topic seems a few years too late in the making.
Moreover, t I'm at a loss in how to write a review for this book. Moreover, the exposition on the scam seems contrived. It doesn't flow naturally, making it seem impersonal and emotionally removed. Almost halfway through the book we are taken on a long side trip to the tribal areas of Nigeria, and this diversion absolutely sings.
There is African mysticism and mythology abounding, and we are introduced to the ecological and economic devastation caused by oil exploration, not to mention the political destabilization caused by vigilante action and black market siphoning. This is what the book should have been about, in my opinion, and it's a shame that the author got so caught up in e-mail scams when there was so much other material to work with.
View all 4 comments. Nov 02, Mel Epic Reading rated it really liked it Shelves: I knew almost nothing about Nigeria going into it and now I feel some real sympathy for their people and plight. I'm always in awe with books that can take me to real life locations and make me feel like I've been there or have a new understanding of that place. A section of the story takes place in my home city of Calgary Canada. It's a bit odd to read about landmarks and roads I know so well author Will Ferguson lives here himself but also a little exciting.
Right is very interesting. Right up until an apartment building could be seen from a road that is too far away lol. I get it, fictional license and all but it was a bit odd to me because I do know the city so well. I'd highly recommend for book clubs as it is sure to generate a lot of conversation. The basic story is a struggle between what we all feel we need to do to survive and what we are willing to do within our own moral compass.
It's often surprising what lengths humans will go to protect themselves and others. I don't want to say too much else as I think the intricacies of the setting, plot and characters are all best discovered as you read I'm very glad I did but it lost something at some point. I believe is was when we spent a large chunk of time with the same characters; instead of the back and forth that happens in the rest of the novel between locations and characters. Or perhaps I was just too concerned that one of our focal characters was not going to make it very far.
There are some intense moments that really brought home to me how lucky I am to live where I do. Overall I think that this is an interesting book, it shares stories from a part of the world many are not very familiar with and it reveals more details about the "Nigerian Prince" email scams than most of us are likely to know. Ferguson does a good job of making you like characters that are morally ambiguous and a good job of telling the stories that are seemingly unrelated to start with.
I will guarantee that it all ties together and the end felt perfect to me. Not necessarily happy or sad; just realistic. I am definitely going to pick-up more by Ferguson. Not only because he's local to me and meets my Canadian author criteria; but because I did really enjoy the set up and loved the end of View all 6 comments.
Oct 02, Wanda rated it liked it Recommended to Wanda by: You can definitely tell that Will Ferguson has written travel books—the scenes in this book which are set in Nigeria are the most vivid and colourful sections of By contrast, the Canadian parts are rather bland and cold, but perhaps he meant to have it that way. I recognized both the building that she lives in and the mall where she seems t You can definitely tell that Will Ferguson has written travel books—the scenes in this book which are set in Nigeria are the most vivid and colourful sections of I recognized both the building that she lives in and the mall where she seems to do most of her eating.
These are Canadians who are getting by. By African standards, they are rich, but by North American standards they are just treading water.
Scamwatch round-up: Microsoft Office 365 and ANZ
On my only trip to Africa in , I visited Kenya—there are dozens of vendors at every toilet stop, aggressively selling their wares. As a not-very-well-travelled Canadian at that point in time , I had difficulties, as I was on a budget and I am not by nature a bargainer.
One of my friends, the child of a diplomat, lived in Nigeria for a time. She claimed that it was every bit as awful as it is portrayed in the book—violence is rampant, environmental issues overwhelming, poverty is everywhere and politicans are corrupt. And yet, there are relatively decent people who live there and just want to survive and raise their children safely, just as Nnamdi does. The enduring message that I came away with: Some are exploiters and some are exploited. And the world would be a better place if we could eliminate these exploitative relationships.
Nov 29, Megan Baxter rated it it was ok. Sometimes when I read books, I am delighted to find that an author has captured in words small experiences, feelings, quirks, or occasions in ways I never expected to see in print. If they're really good, like Proust or Alice Munro, they capture experiences I never consciously thought about, but deeply recognize.
Other times, books make the alien understandable. People who react in ways utterly unlike the ways I think I would in similar circumstances, and I understand why they did, because the au Sometimes when I read books, I am delighted to find that an author has captured in words small experiences, feelings, quirks, or occasions in ways I never expected to see in print.
People who react in ways utterly unlike the ways I think I would in similar circumstances, and I understand why they did, because the author teaches me to see through their eyes. In these ways, books do what I strive to do when I teach - make the familiar strange and the strange familiar. The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the recent changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement.
You can read why I came to this decision here. In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook Dec 12, Shannon Giraffe Days rated it really liked it Shelves: In present day Alberta, a car plummets over the edge of a ravine, killing the elderly driver. There are two sets of tyre marks on the road above, and at first the police suspect the dead man was being chased.
But the marks belong to the same car: His family never suspected a thing. Never realised how troubled the retired high school teacher was, never realised he had sent all his and his wife In present day Alberta, a car plummets over the edge of a ravine, killing the elderly driver. Never realised how troubled the retired high school teacher was, never realised he had sent all his and his wife's money to someone in Nigeria, even taking out a second mortgage against the house already long paid for, and is well over a hundred thousand dollars in debt. Never realised that he felt like he was being watched, that he was being threatened, that he had increased his life insurance policy before killing himself, putting his daughter Laura down as the sole beneficiary.
But the police discover it all, and ask the family: Do you know anyone from Nigeria? Have you ever heard of ? Laura takes her father's death particularly hard. A reclusive copy editor who works from home, she is distracted by all the grammatical and spelling errors in the emails her father received, until she notices that there is a pattern - like the authors she edits, the writers of the emails have a style, and it might be possible to find the person behind her father's death through the way they write. It's not about the money, she tells herself: A man she misses deeply.
In Nigeria, a lone woman walks through the desert with a jerry can of water balanced on her head. Pregnant, she has long ago traded her jewellery for food and is reduced to scavenging at campsites and chewing on nuts. Finally reaching the city of Zaria, the furthest she's ever been in her life. But even here, there are people who recognise the ritual tribal scars on her face that can tell a person exactly which village she is from; even Zaria is not far enough away.
And she she keeps walking, heading to the next city. And in the west, in the Niger Delta, European oil companies strike deals with the government to drill for oil, destroying the mangrove swamps, poisoning the water, killing the fish that are the livelihood of the Igbo people who live there. Nnamdi is a boy when the Dutch first come and a teenager when they give him, and many other boys, jobs in an attempt to pacify the tribe and give them a vested interest in protecting the pipelines that snake through their land. What Nnamdi learns on the refinery island will save his life several times, and take him far from home.
All three - Laura, the unnamed woman, and Nnamdi - are on a trajectory that will bring them together in unexpected ways. This is an epic story and demonstrates Ferguson's ability to weave seemingly disparate plot lines and characters together. It also shows the impressive depth of his research, which I had noticed from reading his earlier novel, Spanish Fly. In the latter book - about three con artists during the Depression in the United States - you could tell that Ferguson's research and fascination with the cons was stronger than his storytelling, and his characters suffered for it.
With , though, there was a much better balance between the scope of his research - which is truly extensive - and the storytelling. As a story , I really enjoyed this. As insight into life in Nigeria and the situation between the locals and the oil companies, it's enlightening and terrifying and disheartening. Where it falters a bit is with Laura and her side of the story, especially towards the end.
I would say that Ferguson wrote the Nigerian side of the story, and the Nigerian characters, more believable, honest and human than he did Laura. Which is curious, when you think about it. It begins in an unnamed city in Canada which I figure is either Calgary or some more northern city - the Rockies are mentioned, and Laura absently tracks the ups and downs of the oil industry by watching the cranes move on the horizon: Alberta is home to the infamous Tar Sands. I'm always curious about why authors decide to leave a city unnamed like that. The bulk of the novel is set in Nigeria and covers pretty much the entire country - it was easy enough to picture the individual settings and get an idea of how close they are, as well as the very diverse landscape, based on how things are described, but I would still have loved a map.
I love maps, and I find them useful in creating a more three-dimensional picture in my imagination. If you're unfamiliar with what "" is, it is an email scam that nets millions of dollars for Nigeria and is one of their biggest industries, after oil. It begins with an email, and it's a fair bet that by now, anyone who has at least one email address would have received at least one of these messages.
I hadn't had one in a really long time - well I get spam mail on gmail never Hotmail but I never open them; most of those are about winning lots of pounds from Britain for something-or-other or messages from Canadian banks telling me there's a problem with my account - right, and I don't even have accounts with those banks!
Incidentally, we also get one via phone here, someone Indian asking us about the Microsoft bug reported on our computer - a-ha, yeah, nice try. You ask yourself, how can these possibly work? They're so blatantly obvious, so incredibly stupid. Not with you or me, but with other people. In the case of Ferguson's novel, the scam that lured in Laura's dad - a lovely, kind-hearted man whose two children didn't have much time to give him anymore - it was a plea for his help in aiding a young woman.
And of course, the sender had done their research, having found out lots of information about him via the woodworking forum he frequented, which enabled the sender to make his message personal, intimate even - clearly, they had the right person. Ironically, the day I wrote this review I received a private message through Goodreads - the user was deleted before I could report it so they're very quick on catching them, but just goes to show that they really do find people everywhere, on forums etc.
I thought, before I deleted it, I'd include it here as a sample message, very typical of Hello , I am Barr. Richard Spencer residing in Accra-Ghana,a personal attorney to late Mr. Robert ,a nationality of your country who died in tragic motor accident by running into a stationery Trailer without warning sign on December 26 , Reply to my private email address for more details: I honestly couldn't have made that up to say the least, I'm incapable of writing something with that many errors!
The messages are always like that: But there is no money, and that's not how it works. In Nigeria, it's a huge underground business, employing thousands. As one of the RCMP officers explains to Laura and her family, it's named after "the section in the Nigerian Criminal Code that deals with obtaining money or goods under false pretenses. It doesn't even use my name!
See a Problem?
In the story, Laura's blustering older brother Warren is the character created as a foil, the person added to the story to show just how easily people can fall for things. In fact, the whole conversation with the RCMP when they're shown the emails, the forged documents, and had it all explained to them, is pure exposition. They've gone over there and started poking about in the city's underbelly. You'd be on their turf. An embassy or something. As was learning about the state of Nigeria's oil industry, which is plain frightening. I read this book for a book club and one of the other readers brought along a slideshow of images from the Niger Delta, of the water slick with spilled oil, the natural gas flares, burning off the gas that would normally be collected.
As Ferguson describes in the novel, these fires create acid rain and the people's skin burns. Their food source is gone, and they have resorted to sabotage and guerilla warfare: When their own people aren't attacking them, the government sends in soldiers to kill them, burn their villages, take anything left. It's amazing the Igbo have survived at all.
One of the boys was wavering on his feet. His eyes were milky and unfocused. It reminded Nnamdi of the glassy gaze of the Egbesu boys, but without the bravado or the gin. We have to stand guard twenty-four hours. Take turns, work it in shifts. But dey fumes is always leaking, from the hose or from the valve. So you inhale a lot of it. It will poison you.
To sit on top of wealth that others wanted. Why do you think the gods punished us like that? Cursed us with oil. Do you suppose it's the blood of those, come back to haunt us? So in Nigeria, they're not particularly well-loved, and the government views their protests against the oil industry as a kind of anti-Nigerian act of terrorism. Reading Nnamdi's story, it pretty much breaks your heart, watching along with him as the precious mangrove swamps - mangroves being one of those instrumental vegetation needed to filter CO2 from the air - are annihilated, the water poisoned, the fish and animals obliterated.
So much waste - it's unbelievable. Anywhere else, the industry is fairly well regulated, but in Nigeria, either no one cares or it's simply too dangerous - the locals have made sure that any attempts to repair pipelines, for instance, are a death mission. That's another aspect touched upon in There are running jokes about the different tribes, of which there are many, who, like everywhere in Africa, now find themselves lumped together in one country thanks to the borders drawn by European colonists.
It was a net, loosely thrown, a name on a map, one created by the British to paper over the gaping cracks in the joinery. A conjurer's trick, where the many became one, a sleight of hand, like the tired magic of old men making coins disappear. That is on the pail we carry these in. She knew that the naming of a place helped bring it into existence. The naming of a location - or a person, a child - was a way of claiming them.
Until you named something, it wasn't fully real. The trick to staying invisible, then, was to remain nameless. Without a name, you couldn't be pinned in place, couldn't be cornered or captured. We never learn the real reason why she's fleeing her tribal land, her village, her people - the way she talks about them gives me the idea she still has pride in who she is and where she's from, but something happened to drive her out, most likely linked to her pregnancy.
I found that not knowing increased the mystery of her, and kept you wary, but also made you proud of her too.
In the end, it didn't matter that we don't learn the truth, it becomes irrelevant. Nnamdi is a hugely likeable character. Unlike many others that fill the background of the story, he is loyal, trustworthy, respectful, intelligent and full of life and even laughter. He is only about eighteen years old, and the fact that he was the most sympathetic character of all of them makes his story the hardest to read about.
The weak link is Laura, though part of this is deliberate on Ferguson's part and the rest is a let-down in what was strong storytelling up to the end. Laura comes from a different world, and when she arrives in Nigeria she represents the quintessential white colonist, caught up in her own objective, her own wishes, with zero empathy or any wish to understand the people she encounters. She blunders in in typical white-foreigner fashion, making things so much worse, and effectively kills one character.
While I could see her side of it and understand her actions, because I had got to know the other characters and their world a bit, I found her abhorrent and unsympathetic. It just goes to show what knowledge and education can do to your perspective, in opening your mind. The question then becomes, Just who is the real victim? There are many ways to be a victim, and it's never black-and-white like you wish it was, like Laura makes it out to be. The trouble is that Laura's not a very convincing character.
Interestingly enough, Ferguson did a much better job at capturing the Nigerians, than he did his own countrywoman. It's hard to really understand her, because she's so withdrawn and lives like a hermit. I would have respected her but that, after making her point, she then demands the money - when all this time she's claimed it wasn't about the money. I don't know whether to think that in the heat of the moment, she lashed out to hurt more deeply, or whether, deep down, it really is about the money, always. The novel is full of parallels, between the oil pumping like hot blood through the Niger Delta contrasted with the wealth of industry and progress in Laura's city, to the parallel between the description of a man having a tyre put around his chest and arms, doused in petrol and set alight, to the detective investigating a scene near Laura's apartment building in which a homeless man has been set alight: A lot of the time, these parallels were a bit obvious, a bit heavy-handed, but I still appreciated their presence.
As a story, is an impressive work, richly layered, complex, nuances and empathetic, fleshing out a country that's easy to demonise and isolate as its own downfall. As the winner of Canada's most prestigious literary award, I'm not so sure. This is solid fiction, but not what I would expect of the Giller Prize. It has some absolutely lovely prose, some beautiful - if harrowing - descriptions, and speaks to the condition of humanity and the human heart with touching honesty and wry humour. It is a story I definitely recommend, one that shows great sensitivity towards another culture and people and tells their story with much respect.
It was a better story, overall, than Spanish Fly. But I don't think I would have picked it for a Giller winner. Oct 02, Cheryl rated it liked it Shelves: I learned a lot of things about the Nigerian email scams that have plagued and plugged our email boxes. I once actually even finished reading an entire entreaty, shaking my head in disbelief that a someone could actually write such a thing and think that someone would fall for it, and b that some people actually do fall for it. But I never knew anything about that world, and this book sure opened my eyes to that world of conniving thievery.
By far the most interesting parts of the book are tho I learned a lot of things about the Nigerian email scams that have plagued and plugged our email boxes. By far the most interesting parts of the book are those set in Nigeria -- it was fascinating to read about the devastating effects on society of the oil industry, and of the webs of intrigue involved in the email scamming industry, and even of the scam-the-scammers roles. Just as the NIgerian story lines about Winston and Nnamdi would get perking along nicely, the story would switch disappointingly back to the Canadian lines. There were multiple, too many, frayed threads that were woven clumsily together.
The Nigerian sideplot with Amina -- what was that for? It was boring and didn't fit and seemed irrelevant and contrived.
And what was up with the longing eyes of the detective, staring at the apt building of Laura? The characters were poorly developed and unconvincing. There was far too much journalistic digression about the mechanics and explanations of the scams; a little would be good, but this was too much. It felt lecturing and preachy. No, there were just too many confused storylines which synergistically weakened the whole thing.
Some sharp editing could have pared this down in half and resulted in a taut twisty thriller. Makes me wonder again: Jan 01, Janet Keats rated it it was ok. This book has too many disjointed threads to keep my interest. There are four distinct stories and only two of them are remotely connected. The other two are completely separate and their relevance to the story eludes me. The incessant and unexplained wandering of the starving pregnant woman was irritating in the thread's randomness.
The transitions were abrupt and unpolished. I did not finish this book for these reasons. Ferguson's description of the scam is creatively and articulately descr This book has too many disjointed threads to keep my interest. Ferguson's description of the scam is creatively and articulately described.
The reader is exposed to the skill and cruelty employed by the scam artist. But essentially, Will Ferguson is a travel writer and It seemed that he was unable to focus on a theme but was distracted by other facets of place and time. I am surprised this work garnered the Giller Prize this year as one of the most fundamental rules, that of maintaining the story line, was broken.
Perhaps it all came together in the end, but if so, I wasn't there to see it. I got bored and went home. Oct 09, Steven Langdon rated it really liked it Shelves: To read it is to enter an inter-connected world, where a retired school teacher in Calgary becomes the counterpart of a displaced pregnant refugee fleeing from the Sahel -- both buffeted by forces beyond their ken yet trying to fulfill their duty as parents. In a superbly "," an intricate novel about internet fraud and family ties, is one of the five books nominated in for Canada's main fiction award, the Giller Prize -- with the jury hailing it as a new-style form of global literature.
In a superbly rendered plot structure of back and forth vignettes and narratives, Will Ferguson takes us deep into the social and economic texture of Nigeria, while he dissects the details of a deadly car crash in Calgary. The echo of the oil industry reverberates in each location as does the desperation of young men who turn to violence. Ferguson writes beautifully, and his images are compelling.
The school teacher's daughter comes to see herself as a modern Rapunzel, cutting her hair to escape from her hermit-like life. The Ijaw dissidents formed "mosquito crews" that tapped into oil pipelines "through a thousand pinpricks. This is far more than a thriller, too, despite its high-powered plot and dying bodies. Most of the figures in the book are agonized by their family relationships, with such ties, both positive and negative, shaping and distorting what they do.
I feel a sharp unease about " Ferguson has taken on an extremely ambitious task. He has set himself to write a book set mostly in Nigeria, and write it mostly from the perspective of its black Nigerian characters, especially Nnamdi, the young Ijaw man from the south-eastern Delta area whose father dies, as does the school-teacher father of Laura in Calgary, Winston, the gifted Lagos storyteller who spins scams that lure Laura's father, and Amina, the young Sahel refugee woman whom Nnamdi befriends.
- Scamwatch round-up: Microsoft Office and ANZ - ARN;
- Similar authors to follow!
- West Linn (Images of America).
- by Will Ferguson.
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This difficult goal is made even more complex by the fact that Ferguson has never been to Nigeria and experienced first-hand its complicated texture. By writing so much of the book from these perspectives, Ferguson makes the novel much more powerful. But can such writing have the authenticity to be truly insightful and honest? However, I have worked in Nigeria, been there a number of times, and know West Africa reasonably well -- so I feel that I can legitimately raise some serious questions. Four substantive issues worry me: In view of this, I do not find it credible that Nnamdi's mother would force him in effect to leave their village with Amina, rather than welcome her to stay there until her child is born.
Her action seems to me especially unlikely given the greater leverage of men in Nigerian society relative to women, especially since Nnamdi has just returned with considerable earnings from his successful tanker expedition to Kaduna -- and since he is now head of the household given his father's death.
That he should be heartless is fair enough. Also that he should carry resentment from being left as an orphan as a child. But the idea that he should have such detailed and constant knowledge of what is happening throughout Lagos, and should be able to intervene so efficiently with the police -- that perspective contradicts every characteristic that makes Lagos the chaotic, pulsating, unknowable amoebe that it is. The essence of Lagos is that there is no control, no coherence, no logic but the force of unchecked weather or markets or movements of people.
Her compulsive, driven need to escape is never explained. She is apparently from a tiny tribe, that has had major economic reverses. What is making her run? Is someone after her? If so, that is never explained. Why would a Moslem from the north want to go to the south of Nigeria, given the dangers and prejudice she will meet there?
Perhaps her pregnancy might lead to sharia law punishment. But not all northern states apply such laws harshly. Could she not have stayed in Zaria or Kaduna, seemingly far from her tribe yet still in a Moslem area where her grasp of the Hausa language would help her? Yet Ferguson has chosen to build in considerable reference to the disease -- Joe is said to die of it, Ironsi-Egobia's illness shows symptoms of HIV, another high-life singer is described as dead from AIDS.
This seems to me to be playing a bit too much to the Western stereotype of Africa. Overall, then, I have a concern with the authenticity of the story being told, and that troubles me. But at the same time, the points that worry me do not destroy the power of the novel and the force of its characters. I wish Ferguson had been more faithful to the Nigerian reality as I have seen it. But there is a deeper reality, related to family, to love, to obligation and to honesty, that this book treats. And the strength of this novel on that level cannot be questioned.
Mar 05, Harry Maier rated it it was ok. This book won the Giller Prize in It was an interesting read especially because I grew up in Calgary and know the geography of much of the narrative. If you ever wanted to know, Who answers those emails about the Nigerian relative with millions to deposit into your bank account? The book is a page turner in addition to being very informative about email scams.
I am not going to spoil the plot, except to say that the plot revolves around a Calgary family vi This book won the Giller Prize in I am not going to spoil the plot, except to say that the plot revolves around a Calgary family victimized by a Nigerian email scammer who gets his comeuppance.
The Winner by David Baldacci
There are many avenues of the relation between a white family in Calgary and a Nigerian poor man making his way through the world by preying criminally on westerners that I am not sure Ferguson either didn't explore, or left so subtly buried in the plot that I am not intelligent enough to see I intend no irony. Since much of the Nigerian side of the plot centres around the annihilation of indigenous culture on the NIgerian coast thanks to oil exploration and destruction of habitat through drilling, it seems an obvious, if ironic, link though I'm not sure Ferguson has recognized this to situate the white victimized family in oil town Calgary.
As the plot unfolds we gain deep insights into the destruction of Nigerian local cultures through oil industry and we see people surviving by their wits, and crime, to make their way in a new social and cultural situation. As the Calgarian protagonist travels to Nigeria to avenge her father's death, however, the pathos of the situation seems not to emerge, namely that there are two victims or sets of victims in this story: We do learn about a chief character who gets "work" through Shell oil, but under dehumanizing conditions.