What would you risk for the life you want? For the man you want? Etta’s boyfriend insisted they could not marry until they had $30,000 saved up for a down payment on a house. Etta can’t wait another year. An advertisement for online gambling catches her eye. It was worth a try. They offer free money to start with, after all. What could she lose?

Etta is drawn into a rabbit’s hole of hope and despair as she wins and loses, tapping into the savings and borrowing money at high interest. Trapped in a prison of her own making, she desperately bets on one more chance–a friend from the gambling chat group who has just won big. Perhaps he would help her get out of the hole. Will Etta lose everything?

I have never bought a lottery ticket. Gambling has no attraction for me. But I have known those who loved to gamble and could not step away, whose idea of a vacation was to go to Vegas. Lucky takes us into the mindset of a woman who becomes entrapped by online gambling the lure of easy money. The highs and lows of winning and losing, the inability to think of anything else, how it separates people from their loved ones. It is terrifying.

Etta is a complicated, well drawn character. Her backstory of her life in Jamaica and as an immigrant to Britain adds a richer layer to the story. She tries to help a friend whose mother is threatened by deportation after fifty years as a productive citizen. Etta volunteers at a nonprofit that offers information and assistance. Her coworker and neighbor demonstrates anti-immigrant behavior.

Lucky is a page-turner suspense novel, a good ‘summer read’ that I read in two sittings. But those who enjoy character-driven novels will also be pleased with this one.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review. ( )