In one of my past lives I did a lot of statistics, so I was so charmed by Vera being a former stats prof! Tingle really knocked it out of the park with this one. It's an excellent balance of hilarious and genuinely scary, without going overboard on the guts and gore. This is definitely by new favorite!

Another home run from Chuck Tingle! I've loved every one of his horror releases so far and Lucky Day was no exception.

This book follows Vera, a statistics professor and survivor of a global catastrophe called the Low Probability Event. Following the event, Vera has gone into seclusion and is struggling to find meaning in anything at all. At least until the day that government agent Layne knocks on her door and asks for her help in uncovering the connection between the LPE and an improbably lucky casino.

This was such a fun read! It's a wonderful mix of absurdity, horror and scifi. I find statistics pretty interesting in general, so a whole book almost centered aound them made me super happy. I also loved that the main character was bisexual and that there was discussion on the struggles that come with that. I found it to be really relatable.

Also the body horror, hooooly. The pool scene had my jaw on the floor 😱

All in all this was a wild ride and I'm already looking forward to whatever Tingle releases next!

Wow, this was such a unique and mind-blowing plot!! It was hard to even fathom some of the ideas just because they're so thought provoking. It was really cool to follow the main character in her journey of trying to control everything to not caring about anything and back. This was a super gory book, with a ton of gross (but unique) ways for people to die and get injured. This is a perfect book for people that love horror and the movie Inception!!

Statistically speaking, three out of three Chuck Tingle horror novels are certified stellar reads loaded with empathy, humanity, and above all, love as made evident with his upcoming release, Lucky Day. Bloody and chaotic, something referred to as the “Low Probability Event” forever changes the trajectory of Vera’s life, a life that was once marked by order, structure, and statistics. Struggling to remain afloat in the aftermath of such a gruesome event, Vera’s aimless existence is upended by the arrival of a government agent who investigates these terrifying events, Agent Layne. Vera’s incredible statistical mind may just be the key to understanding the occurrence of these events as all roads lead to one remarkably “lucky” casino in Vegas. Begrudgingly joining Agent Lane, Vera finds herself at odds with her own nihilism as the truth creeps closer and closer to her own reality.
Luck, as a concept, is a rather remarkable entity, an idea predicated on (or ignoring) odds, chances, and probability. With the character of Vera, Chuck Tingle has so intelligently crafted a voice that sounds the defeated nihilism that is all too relatable in this day and age. Bad news seems to lurk around every corner in our own reality, often with little reasoning behind it all. Bad things happen to good people. In Lucky Day, those bad things are escalated to terrible things, unthinkable things within the first fifty pages or so, a collection of chapters that truly defines chaos. If you thought you knew what randomness was before reading this novel, think again.
Beyond the talk of probability and luck, Chuck Tingle does something remarkable with his horror fiction on a consistent basis: he instills hope. As we ride alongside Vera and Agent Layne, we are made privy to all the catastrophe, all the insanity, and all the horror unfolding thanks to these “Low Probability” occurrences. Yet, in the middle of all this senseless violence, death, and injury, Tingle still finds a way to reasonably guide readers (through Vera) to see the beauty in fighting for another day, to fighting for life. It’s not an easy journey filled with sunshine and rainbows for Vera, make no mistake. No, it’s a journey marked with homicidal monkeys, raining fish, and potential black holes. And yet, here I stand still believing there’s hope for humanity yet, both in Vera’s fictional space and our own. Bravo, Mr. Tingle.
It would be remiss of me to not mention all of the hallmarks of this novel aside from its stunning sense of hope in the hopeless. Some of the best banter between characters can be found in a Chuck Tingle novel, and damn, does he know how to write a quirky government agent character, or what? The full range of emotions experienced in reading Lucky Day doesn’t seem to fit on one scale. From being heartbroken, defeated, and bereft to uplifted, optimistic, and hopeful with equal amounts of fear and disgust (ahem, the body horror) sprinkled in between, you are guaranteed to feel.
Redefining randomness to expose the bleakness of the world yet still delivering notes of optimism, Lucky Day is a hell of a novel. Every page is not only clever and gripping but rife with poignant emotion that feels so timely in the world we inhabit. Whether it’s by chance, choice, or some cosmic happening, love is real and thriving in the words written by Chuck Tingle. And boy, are we better off for it.

Vera's world is shattered when almost eight million people die horrifically in what the government calls the "Low Probability Event." A former statistics and probability professor, she struggles to make sense of the event, and the world, figuring that nothing must matter anymore. Until a special agent appears at her door, investigating a suspiciously lucky casino that Vera had spent years of her life trying to take down...

Chuck Tingle's imagination is unparalleled. He throws us into scene after scene of chaotic horror, finding new and creative ways to eviscerate people. This book is fast paced, absolutely wild and not for the faint-hearted, but Tingle always manages to throw some tender, caring moments into the melange.

This is just my opinion, so please don't hurt me, but this was my least favourite of Tingle's books. His signature musings on the state of the world and belief in the good in humanity is still present, but I couldn't find myself getting lost in his story like I usually do. I think it was just the discussions of probability and statistics (I tried my best but my brain went a bit fuzzy after a while) and that's 100% a me problem, not a comment on the book. Vera is a strong character, but her waffling on whether or not life matters grew a bit repetitive after a while.

Still, if you're looking for a quick, fun exploration of what makes life matter (while enjoying a veritable bloodbath), check this one out!

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CW gore, blood, death (human & animal), biphobia

Thank you Chuck Tingle, Tor, and NetGalley for the ARC. You sent this ARC to the right person, let me tell you.

"If everything is already fucked, the least we can do is take down as many scumbags as possible on our way to oblivion"

It's honestly difficult to sort through all the emotions I had reading this book. It pulled on my very specific heartstrings, so I don't know if it'll have quite the impact on everyone else that it did for me. Chuck Tingle somehow manages to reach inside my brain and scramble it around a little, putting into words concepts that I've never been able to physically verbalize or have never seen written so plainly on a page before. It's contemplative in it's absurdity, always managing to tie itself back to a larger and deeper meaning- which ends up being the point of the book. At it's core, it's about fate vs chance, the meaning of life, and of course-love.

One more thing and then I'll go, because you truly have to experience it for yourself so I'm keeping this review short.

What does it mean to really and truly exist? Is "nothing" just a concept? A feeling? Something whole and tangible? Do the choices we make have any difference in this world?

Seriously, read this book.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio for the advanced reading and listening copies. Here are my thoughts!

Vera survived the terrifying Low Probability Event, but it significantly impacted her life. She has isolated herself from others and tries to hide from the day-to-day statistics she used to love. Agent Layne shows up at her door, and he is investigating some strange unlikely happenings all linked to a casino. He wants Vera to help him prevent another event from occurring.

There’s something hilarious about saying good morning to a neighbor while listening to the gore that Chuck Tingle provides. I haven’t had the pleasure of reading any of Tingle’s books until now and I loved it. The ridiculousness mixed with the horror is perfectly balanced into a plot that doesn’t stop once it gets going.

I have a love-hate relationship with statistics thanks to university, but this novel incorporated it in an interesting and approachable manner. Vera feels like a real character who reacted reasonably to a highly traumatic event. I liked seeing her decision making as she was faced with crazy obstacles, and there are subtle hints throughout the novel that tie together at the end in such a satisfying way.

I can’t wait to read more Chuck Tingle, if his other novels are anything like this one, I’m in for a treat! He will be an autobuy author for me!

On the same day that her book is due to be published, statistics and probability professor Vera finds a penny that is very likely one that she collected as a kid, and then at brunch with her friends, every unlikely thing in the world happens — Vera's mom gets instantly killed by a truck, a chimpanzee starts killing people with a typewriter, people are strangled (and then dangled) by the ropes meant to hold down a parade balloon, you name it. Officially named the Low Probability Event, the collection of unlikely things kills millions worldwide and sends Vera into a years-long depression. Four years later, a government agent knocks on her door, asking for Vera's help taking down a casino that he's convinced has something to do with the Low Probability Event, and much to her own surprise, Vera agrees.

Like much of Chuck Tingle's horror, this book is clever and gory and fun, though I'm not sure I'd categorize it as strictly horror — it's more super-gory science fiction/horror? It's like if John Scalzi's Starter Villain had an evil twin, this would be it. That's probably a horrible way to describe this, so please take this from it: this book is fun, funny, and weird, while still having the heart that Tingle's books have (I loved seeing a depressed main character dealing very slowly with her depression). Highly recommended.

This horror novel from Chuck Tingle is another wild ride, and not for the faint of heart. Vera is a statistics professor celebrating the publication of her book, and decides the celebratory brunch is the perfect time to come out to her mom as bi. What follows is not only a heartbreaking scene with her mother flat out telling Vera bisexual people don’t exist — but also a horrific and hugely unlikely series of events resulting in millions of deaths. It’s fairly gruesome, and Vera understandably is shocked, not only horrified by the staggering losses, including her mother dying right in front of her, but also stunned to see her understanding of probability crumble around her.

Four years later she’s barely living, hiding away in her home, extremely isolated. Then a man shows up saying he’s a secret agent investigating the suspicious nature of a certain casino, the very casino she wrote a book on, and needs her help.

I have read Tingle’s earlier horror novels in the loose series and found this the toughest one to read in terms of gore and violence — I did have to set it aside several times just because it got to be a lot. I enjoyed the story and was fascinated to see where he took us, but also, ahhh!!! (You’ll never feel safe in wave pools again after reading.) Recommended for horror readers and Tingle’s fans, and give a heads up to those new to the genre before they give it a try.

Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle is a wild, surreal, and deeply thought-provoking journey into trauma, chaos, and the fragile search for meaning in a fractured universe. Told through the sharp, sardonic voice of Vera—a statistician turned reluctant investigator—this novel plunges readers into a post-apocalyptic world where 7.9 million people have died in bizarre, random accidents during the Low Probability Event (LPE). Four years later, Vera is stuck in grief and routine until a government agent drags her back into a universe that’s unravelling at the seams.
Tingle’s writing blends absurd horror, satirical wit, and lyrical nihilism, balancing cosmic chaos with tender moments of vulnerability. Vera’s narrative is razor-sharp, infused with dark humor as she confronts biphobia, loss, and the unsettling truth that—despite everything—"nothing matters." Yet, amid the nihilism, love still manages to shine through, asserting that even when the universe seems to demand simplicity, choosing connection and resilience is an act of quiet bravery.
The novel critically explores themes like systemic exploitation, the mathematics of fate, and queer identity, with Vera’s bisexuality forming a core part of her refusal to surrender her complexity. While the ending felt a bit tidier than I expected given the heavy existential themes, the novel’s gutsy, offbeat tone, and its unflinching questions about life’s randomness, make it one of the most conceptually rich books I’ve read this year.
Vingle, absurd, and rich with dark humor, Lucky Day is perfect for fans of thought-provoking satire, cosmic horror, and queer protagonists fighting to find meaning in chaos. It resembles works by Crouch or Kiste, with shades of The Haunting of Velkwood, but maintains a distinct Tingle signature—bleak, visceral, yet ultimately hopeful, with love triumphing despite it all.
For anyone interested in horror that’s as intellectually daring as it is emotionally raw—especially if you enjoy stories that challenge the idea that "nothing matters" while affirming that love is worth fighting for—this book is a series of cosmic, nihilistic rewards.

I love how wild and bonkers this story is and how while all of the weird stuff is happening, the main character is dealing with existential dread because her profession as a professor of statistics seems to have gone out the window as probabilities no longer seem to matter. She survived a global catastrophe, called the low probability event, and now finds herself wrapped up in an investigation of how this is all happening. The pace is nonstop and considering what is happening that is perfect.

Mara Wilson absolutely killed it is as the voice of Vera and as the narrator of this bizarre story about luck and trying to stop the end of the world.

*thanks to Tor and Netgalley for a digital archive!!*

holy. fucking. shit.

i don’t even know where to begin. how chuck tingle manages to come up with these concepts that completely mind fuck you is so crazy but so amazing. the first few chapters had me hooked as each terrifying event happened. and even in the parts of the novel where it was speculation and statics and anything else miss mathematician specialized in, i still found myself highly engaged, inching to know what came next.

i don’t think i expected a single thing that happened (aside from remembering layne’s first name was jonah and realizing where this back story was going or that it would be her mom as the nothingness) and i loved it.

chuck tingle has a way of incorporating these really power messages that punch you in face and this novel in particular, standing in vera’s shoes, it was like 3 punches in the face back to back to back.

i absolutely adored vera, i saw her struggled and her want to truly not care but knowing deep down, she always would. it was a powerful thing to witness her pre-LPE to four years later to what she was able to accomplish when we leave her.

an amazing novel, i can’t wait to get my own physical copy!!!

Chuck Tingle is a national treasure and I always know I’m going to have a fun time when I pick up one of his books. Will I probably also be at least a little bit confused? Yes, and that’s totally fine. Enjoy the ride, buckeroos!

Lucky Day was such a roller coaster of a book. The action immediately takes off in chapter one and I ended up reading this book in one sitting. The day begins with Vera getting ready to come out to her mother and introduce her to her fiancé Annie. Brunch explodes into chaos and a cataclysmic event known as the Low Probability Event changes Vera’s life in the most profound way. Four years later, Vera is living cut off from the rest of the world when government agent Layne knocks on her door. She might just be his best chance at uncovering what caused the Low Probability Event.

Vera was such a great main character. When we meet up with her four years after the events, she has completely removed herself from the life she knew and has become a shell of who she once was. As the novel progresses, she really comes back to life and we see her emerge as the badass I knew was in there. One of the things I love most about this author is his ability to combine silly moments with absolute gruesome ones. The deaths described in Lucky Day are super vivid, but also really weird and unique in a way that I have come to associate with this author. Tingle also blends genres so well. This is a cosmic horror, but there are also some conspiracy theories and twists I didn’t see coming. He kept me on my toes and guessing all the way until the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for a review copy.

Reading Lucky Day is possibly trippier than taking shrooms and LSD at the same time and then watching Inception. That’s how absolutely bananas bonkers this book is; yet, just like always, Chuck Tingle manages to take something that absolutely shouldn’t work and turn it into absolute art.

At the beginning of this book I felt overwhelmed and overloaded in the best possible way–dark, surrealistic horror kept splattering across the pages and there was no telling when it would end. Then there was calm after the storm, but it wasn’t the type of calm that eases you, it’s the kind of calm that eats at you. There’s a pervasive, suspenseful feeling throughout this book of waiting for the other shoe to drop. And shoes do drop, persistently. The suspense is in not knowing which shoe you’re exactly waiting for.

There’s a whole lot to unpack in this book, from learning to live each day like it’s your last to the miracle of your own existence, but the sheer enjoyment I got out of each and every whimsical and horrific peak event in this book was definitely the best part for me. 4⭐️


I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Apocalyptic Fiction/Body Horror/Cosmic Horror/Cosmic Thriller/Horror/LGBTQ Horror/Sci-Fi

Wasn't sure how this book was going to turn out b/c of the outrageous premise but it was surprisingly thoughtful under all the absurdity. What starts as a wild, reality-bending romp quickly turns into a surprisingly tender story about love, self-worth, and embracing joy even when life feels unpredictable.

The humor is absurd and unapologetically weirdin a good way but it’s never just randomness for its own sake there’s always an emotional core. Here, the protagonist’s journey toward accepting both the chaos of the world and their own desires felt oddly relatable, even amid the wonderfully bizarre cast of characters and situations.

LOVED IT!

The only word I can use to describe Tingle's horror novels is "fun." He tackles big ideas (fate, identify, grief) with humour, gore, and a ridiculous level of absurdity. The themes are up front and in your face, but he stays just this side of saccharine, hitting you with a bloody mess and a zippy one-liner right as you're ready to roll your eyes.

There are small plot holes and other irks, but the writing is great and the story is fun enough that I don't mind. I'll keep picking up every horror Tingle puts out without question.

“Every moment of clarity cancels the next one out, every epiphany just leads to another question. It’s static. It’s chaos. It’s noise. Too many things spilling into one another to create a sickening, painful, exhausting soup called life. Reality is ridiculous, and the only thing that makes any sense is the nothingness between worlds.”

Why was this so fun? Who knew I could love a horror book so much? What a time to be alive. I had the absolute best time reading this, even with some of the creepy horror elements. I could not put it down and I ended up reading it in one sitting.

The premise feels so ridiculous at first, but Vera is such a great main character. She is struggling to tell her mom that she’s bisexual and engaged to a woman. They’re having a heated discussion outside a restaurant when hell breaks loose. It’s so harrowing and terrifying, because it doesn’t seem to make sense. Four years after the event, Agent Layne finds Vera and gets her to help him figure out what’s going on at a casino in Las Vegas that she tried to bring down with her book.

This is such a wild ride. Vera journey is actually quite exceptional in the midst of trying to figure out how this casino connects to the events that drove her into a deep depression. The balance between the overarching story and Vera’s personal journey is done so well. She’s able to come back to herself while also solving an incredible mystery. It didn’t go where I thought at all, and the entirety of the ending is so surprisingly and so satisfying.

I’m being purposefully vague because I feel like anything could ruin the story. I went in nearly blind and it was the best choice. This was such a blast to read and I can’t recommend it enough.

Thank you, @ChuckTingle and @TorDotComPub for my free ebook.

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 233
Genre: Horror
Release Date: August 12, 2025
🥳#HappyPubWeek!🎉

Four years ago, on a day now known as the Low-Probability Event, eight million people died from completely random freak accidents. Former statistics and probability professor Vera lost everything that day has been unable to recover. That is, until the day Special Agent Layne shows up and asks for her help investigating a suspiciously lucky casino that’s possibly linked to the Low-Probability Event.

This has to be one of the most fun and entertaining horror books I’ve ever read. While the described deaths are horrific, they’re also kind of funny. And while Vera is battling some serious issues with grief, depression, and guilt, she also claws her way out of her lowest point to use her smarts and wits to put an end to this chaos once and for all.

Lucky Day by by Chuck Tingle

Who here doesn’t know about Chuck Tingle? Author of dinosaur erotica, unwitting target of the Rabid Puppies who turned their own hate against them, he is a neurodivergent pink-masked beacon of hope who preaches that love is love. I excitedly read Camp Damascus, his first traditionally published novel last year, and really enjoyed it! It was a tad rough in spots but the story and the message outweighed any minor issues. I loved his second traditionally published novel, Bury Your Gays, even more!

So I was very excited when NetGalley and the publisher gave me an ARC of his new book, Lucky Day, in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book, but I didn’t love it as much as Bury Your Gays. The premise is that one day a bunch of incredibly unlikely things happen, like fish raining from the sky, and millions of people die from unlikely accidents. The protagonist is a statistics professor who just breaks when her mostly estranged mother is killed in front of her and retreats from her fiancée and the world until a former FBI agent convinces her to join his investigation of what is causing these unlikely events.

The cosmic horror driving the plot and its resolution didn’t feel all that compelling to me, and the third act heel turn of a character felt abrupt to me, but the main thing I disliked in this book was how the protagonist just abandoned her fiancée. I know it is supposed to be emblematic of how broken she was, but it just made her very unlikable to me. This books was good but not great.

Probability horror should really be more of a thing - the chances are slim but never zero. And lets also through some cosmic overwhelm and chaos in there too. That's basically Lucky Day.

Vera survives a day called the Low Probability Event that killed billions, mostly Americans. The events of that day leave Vera - formerly a professor specializing in things like statistics and probability - engaging in entropy and waiting to die without being willing to take a more active step toward the end. When an agent from the shady government task force made in response to the LPE knocks on her door, Vera gets some energy back in the form of hope for answers and revenge.

Honestly I was not expecting so much of what happened in this book, but it's like reading a super violent episode of the show Fringe, with just as fraught and dangerous of an ending. There's a lot here about loving yourself, forgiving people who don't deserve it, and figuring out what it means to go on after tragedy. Vera is relatable in her emotions, although she's wicked smart, and even though things are not necessarily good at the end, they aren't over, and I'll take those odds.