Jackpot (Korman novel)

Jackpot is a 2014 novel by Gordon Korman.^[1] that everyone in Cedarville is looking for. Griffin Bing, the main character, gets his friends in trouble and all they have a fight. They become friends with Victor Phoenix, who has recently moved to Cedarville, and start looking for the lottery ticket. Griffin starts looking himself. The book is a sequel to Hideout, and it is the sixth book in the Swindle series.

Plot

Griffin tries to get even with his enemy, Darren Vader, by getting his friend Melissa Dukakis, who is very talented with computers, to make a fake newspaper clipping which hints that the missing lottery ticket, which was due to expire a month later, was thrown out. His friends agree to the idea, and they make sure Darren sees it. Griffin's plan works, and Darren is absent from school the next few days, going through the trash. But a lot of people see him searching, and follow his lead. The rumor spreads and people start travelling to Cedarville and looking through the trash. A police detective questions a number of locals who are searching and a lot of them say that they saw Darren, and followed his lead. The detective finds that Griffin gave him the fake article and makes Griffin and his friends to clean up the mess made by the ticket hunters. His friends are angry at him.^[2]

Then Victor Phoenix moves in. All of Griffin's friends like him immediately. His friends can't see it, but Victor hates Griffin because he thinks he is a bully. This is because, at an assembly, Darren had made a speech that very strongly hinted that he was being bullied by Griffin. Griffin had used to be known as The Man With The Plan, because it seemed like he always had a plan, but everyone starts calling Victor it instead. Darren, who will stop at nothing to get the ticket, persuades Griffin to join forces to search for the missing ticket. They find out the store in which the ticket was sold, and, using the store's security camera, which the owner lets them use, they see who bought lottery tickets on the day it was sold. Victor and Griffin's friends also do so separately, but neither knows the other did. Both groups separately start going to the people's houses and asking if they checked their numbers on their tickets. The last person on the list lives in a fraternity house, where the residents are having a party. Both groups get there at the same time, thinking that, since it is the last one on the list, they must be the winner. But the ticket was due to expire in an hour from then. They ask a random person if he buys lottery tickets. That person happens to be a bully, and he grabs one of Griffin's friends, Ben Slovak. He is about to drop him in a tub of ice water when, at the last minute, Griffin saves him. Then they realize that they saw the ticket at one of the houses they already visited, but didn't realize it. As soon as they get there, they find out that it had been used as a book mark and returned to the library. With twenty minutes until the ticket expires, they rush to the library. The book with the ticket in it isn't there. The librarian tells them that it is in the bookmobile. They run into the bookmobile, find the book, and drive to the lottery company with the librarian. With exactly 1 minute until it expires, they redeem the ticket for $30,000,000. As a reward, the owner gives them each a share of the money. Victor and Griffin apologize, and Victor ends up joining their team, even though in the next book, Unleashed, he isn't mentioned once.

References