The Lotteries — Daoma Winston

When a young woman named Quinn won the big ticket in the state lottery, she was just too lucky to live. At least that's what one person thought and very quietly began to plot her death.
Quinn received a series of anonymous congratulatory letters, and with each one she became more and more uneasy - especially when she noticed that the postmarks showed her mysterious well-wisher was coming closer and closer to the the tiny New England town in which she lived.
One night Quinn came home and found her pet kitten slaughtered, with it's skin stretched and nailed to the front door. Quinn knew terror then, but she didn't know who, or what, or why.
The Lotteries is a story of twisted passions, of family madness, of buried scandal- and of a stalking horror that eventually pulls into it's dark orbit the villagers of a peaceful northwoods hamlet. There's Mary, who longs for a world larger than her trailer camp existence, for whom the lottery is a momentary ticket to selfhood.. Adelaid, a pampered, dissatisfied matron who uses her winnings as a source of vengeful power.. Nathaniel, who planned to ransom an entire community with his good fortune.. Joe, always poor, but rich for a moment...Mr. and Mrs. Belton, whose tranquil lives were almost shattered by the prospect of sudden wealth...Dorsey, whose need to win was the greatest of all. Around them a silent threat circled, drawing closer, plotting quite another fate for all the winners.