A tense, twisty novel about love, betrayal, survival – and an addiction so compelling it threatens to destroy everything in its path

Etta is in her mid thirties and keen to nudge her loving but commitment-phobic partner, Ola, towards marriage and children. Ola is reluctant to get engaged before they have enough saved for a house deposit, so Etta takes matters into her own hands and finds a way to start secretly making money: online gambling. What a delightful discovery! And what a stroke of luck that Etta just happens to be so brilliant at it.

Soon she’s playing quite a lot. She doesn’t like lying to Ola, but it’s all for the good of their relationship. She’s even made a friend on the site, StChristopher75, and she’s invited to a special VIP party. And even if she is losing a little money here and there – or even quite a lot of money – she’ll win it back eventually. Or maybe even StChristopher75 can help her out with a little loan, once she’s met him in real life. He’s just won big, and he’s been so friendly and helpful on the site.

Why wouldn’t he want to help her?

Praise

‘Unbelievably tense and twisty – I loved it’
Laura Marshall

‘Tense beyond belief but impossible to put down. Dark, absorbing and brilliantly terrifying.’
Louise Hare

‘Fast-paced, witty and clever, Rachel Edwards explores online gambling, race and migration, through her compelling characters and original voice.’
Jenny Quintana

‘Timely, absorbing, unsettling and unflinching, with a dark, knowing wit. I’ve been thinking about it for days and I’ll be recommending it to everyone’
Caz Frear, author of Sweet Little Lies

‘Love, chance and betrayal all take a seat at the table in Rachel Edward’s compelling novel, Lucky. Delivered in Rachel’s exciting and original style is a winning storyline, crafted with excellence, packed with suspense and walk-off-the-page characters you’ll think about long after turning the last page.’
Olivia Kiernan

‘Addictive! I have been consumed by Etta’s poignant and chaotic world, a tale of gambling and friendship and food and chances and love. Lucky confirms my admiration of Rachel’s unique and compelling story-telling.’
Amanda Reynolds

‘A compelling, warm and clever read. Betrayal, blackmail, a marriage on hold, Lucky has all the ingredients of a page-turning thriller or a top-notch noir crime novel and yet Edwards is also writing towards conversations about race and everyday social injustice too. Read Lucky because it embraces the concerns of our everyday humanity in a post-Brexit, post-pandemic world of debt and insecurity. Her protagonist Etta, is driven by the forces of a world on the edge’
Monique Roffey, author of The Mermaid of Black Conch

‘This deep dive into gambling addiction packs a huge emotional punch. I devoured it’
Erin Kelly, author of He Said/She Said

‘Terrifying … realistic enough to make the reader break out in a cold sweat … such is Edwards’s skill at creating a can’t-look-can’t-look-away pile-up that the denouement comes as a proper surprise’
Guardian

‘Brace yourself for a dark and twisty psychological thriller… A must read’
The Sun, Pick of the Week

‘an absolute joy…fast-paced… Written with affection, an eye for detail and a wicked sense of the unexpected, you will love it.’
Emma Curtis, Dead Good Books, ‘11 authors pick the best summer reads for 2021’