Becky's Great Book Reviews How Lucky by Will Leitch

Will Leitch's How Lucky is like no other book I've ever read. It was a page-turner and a pleasure to read: thrilling and emotional all at once.

Daniel is out on his front porch early one morning when he witnesses something strange. A man in a Camaro pulls up to a young woman walking down the quiet Athens, Georgia street. They chat for a moment and the young woman gets into the car. She catches Daniel's eye for a moment and waves at him just before getting into the car.

This wouldn't seem odd except that Daniel has a bad feeling. When the news breaks that a female college student named Ai-Chin has gone missing, Daniel knows that this is the girl. Daniel's obstacle? He has Spinal Muscular Atrophy which is a progressive genetic disorder affecting every muscle in his body. His mind is sharp as a knife but while he lives alone, twenty-six-year-old Daniel uses a wheelchair and needs help with almost every aspect of his life. He is used to people looking past him, not listening to him (especially because he has great difficulty speaking), or assuming he has a lesser intelligence.

Daniel (with the help of his friend since childhood Travis and his caregiver Marjani) makes it his mission to try and help find Ai-Chin. When Daniel makes a post on Reddit about witnessing Ai-Chin getting taken, the kidnapper begins a correspondence with Daniel that jump-starts a dangerous cat and mouse game leading up to the insanely breathless conclusion.

Will Leitch honors people with Spinal Muscular Atrophy through Daniel's character in How Lucky. The story is told through first person point of view and Daniel addresses the reader directly. He says, "One of the most annoying things about being disabled is the obligation I feel to make you feel better about your reactions to me". It's humbling to feel just a smidgeon of what Daniel must go through on a day-to-day basis. Will Leitch makes sure his protagonist's humanity and power take center stage through Daniel's heroic responses to Ai-Chin's kidnapping.

Daniel knows the kidnapper sees the world as a place that rejects him. However, Daniel sees the world as a place that can welcome anyone and at one point he states, "This world is different because I was in it. This is what we should all want." How Lucky is exciting, incredibly moving and informational and it will make you see people living with disabilities in a different light. It gets five stars out of five.