Willis Cass President of Shadow Council In The Lottery Beth Goobie tells the deeply disturbing yet timeless story of the scapegoat.

The lid was lifted, the president dipped a hand among the shifting, whispering papers, and a name was pulled.” Following the draw, the “winner” is shunned for the entire school year.

Friendless, isolated, and quickly demoralized, the student becomes a stooge of the Shadow Council, a group that disguises itself as a service organization but is really an intimidation ring.

[1][2] Comparisons have been made between the themes and story lines in Shirley Jackson's The Lottery as well as to Brutus's involvement in the murder of Julius Caesar in Shakespeare's play.

[11] Publishers Weekly also gave a mixed review, stating that at points the book had "heavy-handed symbolism and extraneous detail" but also raised "potentially provocative questions about free choice, self-knowledge and guilt".