Customer Reviews

The Lottery Winner (Alvirah and Willy Stories)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"The Lottery Winner" is a compilation of 6 short stories and is ideal for the times that you're in the mood for picking up a book and enjoying a quick,light read with old friends Alvirah and Willie.Alvirah and Willie won the lottery several years ago but, unlike a lot of winners who find themselves out of money in a very short time, they have invested wisely and are thoroughly enjoying their retirement years in luxurious comfort. Alvirah, a former cleaner, has the knack of being in the right place at the wrong time and has developed into quite a sleuth, helping the police to solve murders and mysteries and sometimes finding herself in dangerous situations. Willie was a former plumber who adores his outgoing wife and tries to help her in her detective work to the best of his abilities.These 6 stories are quite diverse and just the thing to read if you have only 30 minutes or so to spare.I normally don't like short stories but these are an exception as I liked the main characters so much.

The Lottery Winner, by Mary Higgins Clark, is series of short stories about a couple the recently had won a forty million dollar lottery. Alvirah and Willy were the lucky couple. With their newfound money they take exotic trips and develop many friendships. Along with these trips Alvirah almost always stumbles upon a mystery, and always saves the day. In the Lottery Winner Mary Higgins Clark develops the two main characters superbly and in each of the short stories does an equally awesome job developing them. I really enjoyed her style of writing. Her fluency in switching viewpoints between the characters is phenomenal. Although this style of writing can be confusing, it keeps you guessing who did it.

A Review by Holli

Alvirah and her husband Will never really had the best life they didn't have very much money but they always seemed to manage. Alvirah always had high spirits she even got excited when they got one number on their lottery tickets to match. But the one that would change their life was they winning ticket they won four million dollars. So their life style changed to a very ritzy life in a hurry but they always kept their poorer roots with them. They moved near high powered people and celebrities. Alvirah also was on the Donahue show she works her dream job and her dream life.

Three things that I liked and didn't like about this book was the beginning it really doesn't grab you like most of her books do. It seems to drag on for a while just describing their life style what they look like and what they do and have done. I think that she would have put it in the middle to so you find out more and more as you go along. Then in the middle when it finally gets going it almost seems to go really fast and just zoom by you before you realized what happened. I liked how descriptive it was though Mary Higgins Clark always seems to have very descriptive books and they seemed to always just grab you from the beginning but this one was lacking that aspect.

This book was a great book overall! I recommend it to people that enjoy mysteries and have just a little patience for slow starting books but also can keep up when it starts moving along fast.

I love this suspenseful thriller It kept on the edge of my sit with each story. I could hardly put the book down. Mary Higgins Clark is a great mystery/suspense writer, which is why she is called the "Queen of Suspense." This book is a plus. If you haven't read it, you need to go and pick up this award-winning novel.

The Lottery Winner by: Mary Higgins Clark The book is a collection of murder mysteries. My favorite section is "Bye-Bye Baby Bunting;" it is about a baby who is stolen from a hospital room. It is suspenseful, but short. My least favorite section is "The Lottery Winner;" it is about someone's stolen diamonds and Aliviah and Willy came to the rescue and turns out someone gets killed. It dragged on and got boring. Overall the book was good and I would recommend it to anyone who likes these types of books.

Compared to her other books, this one appears to have been written by a 9 year old. A real disappointment from an author I ususally enjoy.

This is a book of short stories based on the characters of Alvirah and Willy. In the book that originally contained these characters, Ms. Clark planned to kill Alvirah off. She was urged not too and Alvirah and Willy have since shown up in other novels. Alvirah was a cleaning lady and Willy was a plumber when they won the lottery. These stories are a lot of fun to read. Alvirah no longer cleans for a living, but has become somewhat of an amateur detective. She wears a sunburst pin which is actually a tiny recorder and she writes articles about her adventures for a newspaper. She's always finding herself in precarious predicaments needing to be rescued, though in at least one of the stories the person in need of rescue is Willy. They love to travel and are always willing to help a friend in need, especially if that friend is accused of murder. These are easy to read stories that keep your attention. I really enjoyed this book.

These books may not be as deep as others that Clark has written, but they are delightful and I hope there will be many more.

When I originally started out with this book a few years back, I was not to happy to be reading it. I was assigned to do a book report and I am not a huge fan of books. I do however, enjoy mysteries and I knew that if I could find the write type of author, I might be able to come out of this assignment alive! So with a little research I stumble upon this book while I was with my ex-roomy at a half price book store. The short description of the book interested me so much that I took a chance and purchased it.

Need I tell you, that I enjoyed the book so much that it took me less then a week to finish it! In fact, I would usually stay up longer then I needed to at night just to finish the chapter I was on, then forget that I promised myself I would quit, and go onto the next part. Yes folks, it's that good of a book! I had a field day with Clark's characters and I managed to write an Ace book report and find a new person that actually got me interested in reading for fun.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a light and interesting read. I have since moved on to other books by Clark and all of them are just as good as the next. If you get a chance, check out more of her work and you will not be disappointed!

Ha ha ha this book is funny and clean...perfect little mystery! I highly recommend...love ya Mary higgins Clark you are a cool lady! You like rock...your books are awesome! This is the first one I've read and I'm hooked...I have bought at least 4 and am sharing them with my you go girls.