Chuck Tingle makes me question all of my literary preferences; his stories are so absurd and fascinating. Lucky Day is no exception, I think I like all of his books more and more.

Vera is a professor in Chicago, she is engaged to Annie. She tells her mother she is bisexual and introduces her to Annie, her mother spews a bunch of biphobic nonsense; and in the middle of her diatribe, the weirdest shit ever happens. I don’t even want to give anything away, this is where my reading pace slowed down as my inner dialogue went “wait, what?”

Vera runs away from her life, and four years later there is a government entity created to determine how and why 8 million people (including Vera’s mother) all died simultaneously. It definitely has Final Destination vibes, and Vera being a statistics professor we learn different odds of all sorts of things. So the perfect setting is a big casino in Las Vegas.

The book breaks the 4th wall somewhat, and I was hooked from the very beginning. Chuck Tingle is definitely solidified in the Horror genre.

Audiobook review; Mara Wilson was a great narrator. It was well paced and well acted. This book is easy to follow on audio and Wilson turned in a solid performance.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for the ARC. Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the ALC. Book to be published August 12, 2025.

Lucky Day was just what I expect from Tingle, a wild ride. It took me a bit to really get into the story but once I did, I was buckled up. Equal parts weird and exciting, I think this is another great book by Tingle.

4 stars

I'm so entertained by Chuck Tingle's books, and this is no exception.

You know the beginning of the "Rapture" episode of _Six Feet Under_? Well this book has an initiating event that is just as weird but broader scale, and when the main character, Vera, lives through it, she's understandably changed forever. As a former stats professor, she becomes hooked on the probability of the Low-Probability Event, and her entire life and understanding of the world are thrown into relative chaos. I can relate. I teach college English during the entry point of generative A.I. Why are we even here?

What ensues in this novel is a fascinating study of people's relationship to luck and fate, to agency, and to finding meaning and the will to go on. There are some killer (pun intended) horrors that happen throughout, and there are some bleak situations, but Vera is the perfect guide through all of it.

I enjoyed this, and Mara Wilson's narration of the audiobook adds so much.

“The fact I even exist in the first place is the most astronomical low-probability event there is.”

What did I just read?!?

Chuck Tingle knows what he’s doing. There were moments while reading this that I wasn’t sure if I should be laughing from the absurdity of it all or horrified from how gruesome it was.

This is a fun, thrill-ride that also makes you think. I couldn’t have predicted any of the twists and turns (and deaths) that occurred in this story. Love a good LGBTQ+ story where love and lover’s tragedy isn’t the whole story.

Possible spoiler but probably not….sequel?

Lucky Day imagines the aftermath of a worldwide day of catastrophically bad luck. The chaos of this Low Probability Event is reminiscent of the Final Destination franchise, and this novel is a perfect recommendation for fans of those films. Although this book hits a bit of a lull in between its account of the Low Probability Event itself and the primary plot, this slower section is intensional and patient readers will be well rewarded.

This novel is a fun adventure despite the gruesome horror elements, complete with references to Chuck Tingle's other work. An ultimately uplifting read, this novel plays a movie in the reader's head as it explores themes of nihilism, biphobia, and the struggle to find meaning in chaos.

Lucky Day is a bold, absurdist horror novel that blends existential dread with cosmic chaos. When Vera, a former statistics professor, survives the bizarre “Low Probability Event” that killed millions in freak accidents, she’s left adrift in a world where logic no longer applies. Enter Agent Layne, who recruits her to investigate a suspiciously lucky Las Vegas casino—one that may be tied to the next global catastrophe.
Packed with surreal imagery, dark humor, and philosophical weight, Lucky Day explores grief, identity, and the terrifying power of randomness. Tingle’s signature style—campy yet emotionally resonant—shines through in a story that’s as thought-provoking as it is outrageous.
If you’re craving genre-bending horror with heart and a dash of chaos, this one’s a gamble worth taking.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group | Tor Nightfire for this ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the chance to read this ARC, all opinions in this review are my own.

After reading Camp Damascus and Bury Your Guys I was pretty sure Chuck Tingle was going to become a favorite author but Lucky Day has absolutely solidified that.

Lucky Day is the story of Vera, a statistician who experiences the most traumatic day of her life, what comes to be called the Low Probability Event, and retreats from the world completely. 4 years later, she is recruited by a government agent to help catch the people responsible for what happened. Chaos ensues! Literally. There is nothing predictable about this book and I adored the absolute absurdity of everything.

Chuck has this cinematic way of writing that I loved in Bury Your Gays and fits this book so well. I literally read the inciting incident (the LPE) twice because it was so bizarre but also so visually stunning that I had to read it all again to really capture everything in my mind. It was dark and bloody and horrifying but also so beautifully written and evocative.

The other piece of this book I loved is this question of what is the point of everything? Why even bother when you feel like you can’t control anything and there are forces so much more powerful than you. Do you just sit back and let things happen to you or do you try to change your fate? An important lesson for times like these when so many of us feel powerless and sometimes it just feels easier to give up than fight back.

I don’t want to say too much more because so many of the things I liked are spoilers but I loved that Vera stayed true to herself and was never swayed by the whole government = good thing that Layne was trying to sell her. Yes, she wanted to help him to find out what happened but the choices she made felt right in the end.

And if course like Chuck’s other horror novels, Vera is queer (bisexual). I appreciated that this felt like an important part of who Vera was and that she didn’t stand for the homophobia and biphobia thrown her way. Content warning for both of those things.

As someone who was never very good at statistics (and ended up having to take way too many statistics classes in college) I'm a bit biased when I say: this was a bit too much for me with regards to all the discussions of probabilities, etc. But my bias against probabilities and statistics aside, Chuck Tingle has probably one of the most unique voices in the modern horror genre and, though more than once the main character's explanations of various theories of probability/chaos theory/etc. had me reeling, it is always a pleasure to engage with Tingle's work. His character work is consistently excellent and engaging, he has a real talent for the weird and unpredictable (as the beginning of this book demonstrates), and even if sometimes it feels like all you can do is hold on tight and go along for the ride, it's always worth it in the end.

The first third of this book was so fricken good and I feel like it set up the story and built up the tone/narrative really really well. From there on, however, this felt a bit like an endless repetitive loop that didn't really go anywhere? I'm pretty disappointed; I adored Bury Our Gays and Camp Damascus and had high hopes for Lucky Day, but alas.

Chuck Tingle has been an insta-buy for me since Camp Damascus, and here he does it yet again. Skip the summary for this one, which spoils the first 25% of the book. I loved going in not knowing what to expect. It always feels like I'm sitting down at a summer campfire in the woods, and Chuck Tingle is there to tell me a great spooky story. I never have to ease into his novels; by the end of chapter one, I'm always breathless, going, "And THEN what happened?"

In Lucky Day, a bisexual narrator is repeatedly told that bisexuals don't exist. This results in her doubting that she's even real, that anything matters, that it's worth getting out of bed in the morning. It's also possibly tearing at the fabric of reality.

Tingle really pulled out all the stops for this one. Lucky Day has the same arc of powerless-to-powerful that I loved in Camp Damascus and Bury Your Gays, but there's a logistical sophistication to the scenes, imagery, and plotlines that completely delighted me. His books feel like, if not an antidote to the times we're living in, then at least a hand stretched out to those who need it most, a reminder that we're not all on our own here, and that despite the horrors, love remains the most important tool we have.

Statistical probability horror was not on my bingo card for the year, but Chuck Tingle makes it work. It’s funny, shocking, and downright original from start to finish, mixing in moments of sincerity with moments of utter nonsense that make you wonder ‘how did he think of that?’ I admittedly haven’t read any Chuck Tingle in the past but this has me convinced to pick up his other horror novels and give them a go.

The Best Bits
A crash course (literally) in statistics
The Big Event - it’s the perfect manifestation of the definition of chaos
Agent Layne’s weirdness - his random daily choices are weird and endearing

The Big Event
The novel starts like any other, with a few basic events and some tense interactions. It all trucks forward as expected until the world explodes and the pages become pure insanity. Improbability is the theme of the day and Tingle is clearly having a field day, throwing every random thing at the wall to create pure chaos. It’s horrifying to imagine and leaves you on edge for the rest of the book. Is the world about to burst into chaos again? Will a trip on a plane result in a horrifying death for our main character? You never know, and that suspense keeps you rocketing through to the end.

The Constant Need to Know What’s Going On
Horror novels typically keep you on edge, making you think you know what’s about to happen until the opposite slams into you. Lucky Day has a unique approach of making you reel through a dozen options as you read each page. Is it an attack from a rival nation? Aliens? A government conspiracy? Is it actually random or targeted? Are tigers going to burst through a wall at any time and eat your face? Tingle keeps you guessing the entire time and it makes for a pretty thrilling read. It’s been a while since I delved into a story that had this much uncertainty, in a good way.

So Much Thinking
I loved how philosophical the novel was, diving deep into statistics and probability on a global scale. All of these stats are out there for you to learn and, with a husband who loves statistics, I frequently do learn some of them. Seeing them in action is something completely different, and makes it all the more fascinating. We spend so much of our time watching or reading things and saying ‘that would never happen’ and this book is literally built on that premise. It’s pretty brilliant when you think about it.

In my mind Chuck Tingle can do no wrong or even disappoint me with a book. I loved this one and will recommend it to others.

Thank you TOR & Chuck Tingle for this ARC! I loved Bury Your Gays so I was very excited for this but unfortunately it fell a little flat for me. The pacing of this book a bit off, in my opinion. Some parts were super exciting but others were pretty dull. The parts with actual horror in it left me wanting more. I did however appreciate Tingle showing the perspective of someone experiencing bi-erasure and some of the writing was very well done, which I expected from Tingle. I do think that someone who loves horror that is very out of the box might enjoy this!

3.25 stars. While celebrating the release of her new book, statistics professor Vera narrowly survives the Low Probability Event—a global catastrophe that killed millions in bizarre, impossible ways. Now four years later, Vera retreats into a nihilistic, reclusive existence. But when she’s drawn into an investigation surrounding a Vegas casino that’s extremely lucky, she begins to suspect a connection between the casino and the strange, sporadic mass deaths around the country. Can Vera and Agent Layne unravel the mystery before the next catastrophe strikes?

This was such a strange book!! It started off so strong with the Low Probability Event and the wild, over-the-top deaths in the beginning had me hooked right away. But as the story progressed, I started losing interest in Vera’s storyline. I just couldn’t connect with her as a character, but I did enjoy her interactions with Agent Layne.

Although a bit chaotic at times, I really did enjoy the cosmic and surreal vibes, especially toward the end. Some parts were totally absurd, but that’s what I loved about it— in a world that used to be orderly, chaos has taken over, and it feels like anarchy at times. Chuck Tingle also did a great job with queer representation, showing Vera’s struggles as she figures out her identity as a bisexual woman.

This book certainly isn’t for everyone, but if you’re interested in an unusual story that blends science fiction and cosmic horror elements, you may enjoy this one.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an electronic ARC of this book!

In Chuck Tingle’s LUCKY DAY, on May 23, the world experienced what became known as an LPE, a Low Probability Event. Over eight million people lost their lives in seemingly impossible and bizarre ways. They were either crushed by falling fish, hung by a soaring parade balloon, murdered by an enraged chimpanzee holding an old typewriter, or several other improbable and grisly deaths. While many people seem to have moved on, Vera, a probability professor and survivor of the chaos, has moved steadily into nihilism.

Her reclusive life takes a turn when she is approached by Special Agent Layne asking for her help in trying to take down a casino; one sporting the best odds for their clientele while also remaining wildly profitable. Is this impossible “good luck” linked to the “bad luck” suffered on May 23?

Whenever I recommend one of Chuck Tingle’s horror novels, I’m nearly always asked if he’s the same Chuck Tingle who writes those “butt books”. Yes, it’s that same Chuck Tingle and while I haven’t read one of the books that brought Tingle to the dance, I have to imagine that these horror novels could not be more different from those parody stories. Chuck is a tremendous writer and I think Lucky Day has overtaken Bury Your Gays as my favorite of his non-comedy work. The ideas presented here surrounding probability, statistical analysis, fate, and destiny as well as the way that Tingle navigates those ideas left me smiling from ear to ear. This book is devourable in a single sitting, if you have the time; it’s a hard one to put down. LUCKY DAY is reminiscent of a Black Crouch novel crossed with Jason Pargin with a queer slant.

This was a wild ride. Vera is a statistics professor who is out celebrating with friends and family when the first low-probability event takes place. Thousands of people die as fish rain down from the sky and other unimaginable events happen. Four years later, Agent Layne asks Vera to help him figure out the cause of the low-probability events. The book digs into statistics and chaos vs order. And also questions reality and nothingness. This was a fun read and I enjoyed it.

CW: suicidal ideation, gore, death

I enjoyed this, but I feel like it didn't quite do what Tingle set out to do. In his other books it's been very clear what the horror aspect is, it's had a lot of social commentary, and I have gobbled them up. This one is quite different.

In this story we start with the Low Probability Event, which is basically when a bunch of stuff that statistically should never (or almost never) happen, does. And the utter chaos that ensues.

We have Vera who has written a book about a casino in Las Vegas that has better odds than any other casino, yet still makes money. She's having brunch with her friend group, fiance, and mother to celebrate the book, when everything goes to shit. She's also been working up the nerve to tell her mom that she's bisexual and engaged to a woman. Which she does during the brunch, and her mother doesn't take it well at all, claiming that bisexuals don't exist.

I think that Tingle was trying to make more of the idea of bi-erasure and biphobia, but I don't think it quite worked. Like, the connections weren't quite there or weren't quite strong enough.

For most of the book Vera is assisting Agent Layne, who works for a shady governmental agency that has been investigating the Low Probability Event and who has found links to the evil casino that Vera had written about. At one point Agent Layne makes a comment about bisexuals not existing, that they're either straight and experimenting or not willing to admit they're gay. So, there is this bi-erasure coming up again, but it feels kind of forced? Throughout the book Vera is constantly battling with thoughts of nothingness and wanting to not exist. I think this is supposed to be linked to the bi-erasure? But, as I said, it just doesn't quite work.

It was an enjoyable read, it kept me going with almost non-stop action, I just wish that the bi-erasure/corporate greed as horror aspects had been a bit more fleshed out.

Lucky Day was such a fun rollercoaster ride of a novel! Filled with improbable nightmare situations, I couldn't predict what would happen next. I enjoyed following Vera as a protagonist and her struggle with finding meaning after tragedy. I think it's best to go in blind, so I won't say much more than that. Tingle brings humor and novelty to his writing that just works for me. It's a shorter book, and Tingle made the most of the pages. If you like irreverent horror novels with queer representation, I think you'll like this one. I’m already eyeing his backlist!

What are the odds you witness your mother’s death when it's raining fish on the same day that your friend gets murdered by a typewriter-wielding chimpanzee?
Accomplished statistician Vera's life was perfect. Recently engaged, an accomplished professor, and a first-time author, she felt incredibly lucky. Until four years ago, when she was placed in the center of a catastrophe so gruesome and unlikely that it resembled something more out of a horror-movie franchise than reality. It caused her to question and lose everything. Readers follow Vera as she is recruited by a secret government agency to help make sense of the events of that day four years ago and reset the scales of fate. A masterwork in balancing the horror genre with speculative fiction, Tingle provides readers with an addictive and thought-provoking adventure. Sure to satisfy the bloodlust of Tingle's loyal fanbase, the philosophical questions and fully formed characters woven throughout will appeal to fans of Michael Crichton, Andy Weir, and Blake Crouch. A success so rare, readers will feel as if they've hit the jackpot; a must-read and a strong contender for the best book of 2025

After surviving the Low Probability Event in which millions died in improbable but possible ways all around the world, former statistics expert Vera has given up on life and humanity. But when government agent Layne finds her and asks for her help and expertise to save the world, Vera reluctantly answers the call. With well-developed characters and dark humor, this thought-provoking horror read is fun for lovers of the genre.