Chuck Tingle gets weirder and weirder (complimentary). Intense from the first page, Tingle drops you into the world of statistics professor Vera who is on the cusp of achieving it all- until she isn't. Everything changes in the blink of an eye, and we're right along with Vera as everything *literally* unravels around her. I read most of this book with my mouth open in horror and awe of the things Tingle cooks up. In true Chuck fashion, there's gore aplenty but it *works*.

Most queer people I know have had the "what good is trying? what does it matter?" talk with themselves, and being inside Vera's brain while she's having them herself sure was painful! One of my favorite things about a Tingle book (aside from the many existential crises they give me) is his ability to put the characters through hell and back but never breaking their spirits.

Queer people are resilient as hell and Chuck gets it. Another 10/10 from Tingle as far as I'm concerned.

Lucky Day is Chuck Tingle from cover to cover. Tingle’s books force the reader to go on a wild ride that keeps you on your toes until the very last sentence. Lucky Day follows Vera as she goes through life figuring the odds of something happening and then having everything happen all at once. From falling fish to a monkey with a typewriter, the beginning of this book sucks you in. The discussion on luck and how our choices cause reactions led to absolute chaos in the middle of a desert. Tingle is always a great read!

My favorite thing about Chuck Tingle books? Every SINGLE one of them is so different!!

Being an avid Tingle fan, I opted to go into this book fully blind, and that was a CHOICE.

This book truly starts off with a bang, and I, like many people, found myself thinking "What the ever living f*ck, Chuck?!" - but, you know, in a good way. The way Chuck Tingle books make you say it!

And I loved this. This book contains so much within itself, and makes you think in a different way than his previous books. I went into the book blind, thus assuming it was a horror book, and while there are a few horror elements, it's very much a literary fiction book, which I enjoyed! It did require me to shift my mindset a bit around 30% of the way through the book, but I really enjoyed Tingle's writing within this genre.

I love how Tingle presents ideas and concepts, and with this story it is just SO GOOD. I had to put the book down a few times as I thought through things, but the entire story, pacing, and explanation of things was so clever and satisfying. I honestly don't want to say too much about it because I truly think this book is meant to perceived as it's read, but if you are interested in probability, the universe, the concept of luck and looking at all the factors that can impact a single moment of your life, you're going to want to read this one.

All in all, this was such a satisfying read, and I will be thinking about it for a long time.

Chuck Tingle has done it again! Inventive, dark, hilarious, thoughtful, and utterly unlike anything else I've ever read. In the midst of existential crisis, horror, and conspiracy, Tingle again proves that Love Is Real!

Imagine you're a successful professor of statistics and probability in Chicago. You have had your whole life planned out for you, and you've always been held to the strictest standards to ensure you followed that path. At first it probably rankled, but you never knew any different. Until, eventually, you come to enjoy it. You enjoy finding order in the chaos of the world. What's more, you believe that order can be found in everything. The world can be made sense of through this lens. Finding the correct formula/theory/structure helps anything make sense.

Now, imagine something completely improbably happening. Something so improbably it's close to being impossible. Now imagine it's happening all across the world at the same time, and people are dying. People you love. Right in front of you. And you're caught in the middle of it all.

This is the place Vera finds herself at the beginning of Lucky Day. A world-wide series of completely improbably events occur all at the same time causing the deaths of nearly 8 million people. Vera finds herself in the middle of the events that unfold in the heart of Chicago, and she barely escapes with her life. She loses people close to her, and this trauma is the primary thread running throughout the events of the book.

The overarching theme of Lucky Day involves trauma response. Vera, like some people, chose the complete negative end of the spectrum. She retreats completely from her former life, even totally ghosting her fiancé to the point Vera is believed to be dead. Vera wishes to be dead, but she never quite reaches the point of doing it herself. Instead, she subsists on the bare minimum of food to stay alive, she completely neglects her house, and spends most of her time laying on the couch in her living room in a near catatonic state staring at the grooves in her ceiling.

So, aside from the very visceral horror Vera went through during what's come to be known as the Low Probability Event, Vera is living a very real, every-day horror within herself. This depression and suicidal ideation is nearly the end of her story. Until, one day, Agent Layne barges into her house and demands the former professor assist with an investigation involving the cause of the Low Probability Event. At first, Vera doesn't care, but Agent Layne finds just the right words to summon just enough hope in Vera that she goes with him.

Agent Layne is the example from the other end of the trauma response spectrum. Rather than fall into a deep depression, he has decided to live every day to the fullest. He orders food based on what he's never tried before, and he picks up three new hobbies per day. He binge-watches TV shows, creates crazy playlists, and laughs loud and often. However, it's important to note, that neither extreme is necessarily a healthy response to the level of trauma both Vera and Agent Layne went through that day.

The rest of the story focuses on Vera and Agent Layne's search for answers. This search also leads to other issues explored in the story, such as how far should we go in the interest of the greater good? Vera has to tackle this for herself multiple times. She wants answers as much as the next person, but how far is she willing to go to get them? How many people have to get hurt to save millions? Chuck Tingle did a very good job of mixing this and other internal conflicts with the very real physical conflicts that occur later in the story.

This is a horror novel with depth and layers. The more I think about it, the more layers I uncover. First, there's the horror of bi-erasure. Vera is told multiple times that her identity as a bisexual person isn't real, that bisexuality isn't real, and I honestly felt angry on her behalf. The idea of not being real comes up quite a few times in the book, in fact. Then, there's the whole dichotomy of how people react to traumatic events. Some people descend into despair and nihilism like Vera while others overcompensate and try to experience everything in a living speed-run like Agent Layne. Finally, there are themes around justice and oversite.

Agent Layne works for a government organization in charge of investigating the Low Probability Event, and this organization literally has no oversite whatsoever. On the one hand, that seems like a good way to ensure they are able to get to the bottom of things without all the red tape. On the other hand, where does it end? What sorts of deals do they get to make in the name of the greater good? Who watched the watchmen?

Needless to say, I truly enjoyed this book. I literally finished it within 36 hours of being granted access to the ARC on NetGalley. My only little issue with it was the first few chapters felt clunky to read. They did the job of establishing Vera's backstory and motivations, but it didn't feel smooth. It felt rushed just so Tingle could get to the meat of the story. Luckily, the bulk of the story made up for this. But, it was enough that I noticed, and it affected my immersion in the story at first. Regardless, I have loved everything Chuck Tingle has written under Tor Nightfire, and this book was no different!

I gave Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle four out of five stars. This is a multi-layered take on existential horror, but it doesn't skimp on the gore either. There are still descriptive scenes of mutilation to be found in these pages, but the emotional and mental mutilation hit harder than the physical. As usual, Chuck Tingle manages to tell a deep, meaningful story with heavy themes but still maintains a thrilling pace. I definitely recommend anyone looking for their next horror book to give this one a try!

DNF at 65%. This books really starts with a bang! I was hiked. Then it quickly dips and when it builds again, it’s absurd and a bit nonsensical. For me, the sci fi elements just made this overly convoluted and a bit boring. I really tried, but maybe this type of horror just isn’t for me.
2⭐️ for that awesome start!

I'm going to be h0nest, I wasn't super interested in the premise of this book, but I loved Camp Damascus and Bury Your Gays, so I was absolutely going to give this a chance no matter what. Obviously from my rating, I'm glad I did.

Chuck Tingle is so good at mixing an absurd level of horror with a very human core. Vera is extremely depressed in a very relatable way, despite what pushed her into her depression being wild. The Low Probability Event is absurd by design, so the deaths from it are very weird. Think Final Destination cranked up to eleven. They still hit really hard and Tingle really thought things out.

I think the only knock I would give this book (but it would only pull it down to a 4.5 and wouldn't drop it to a 4) is that it's short. The Low Probability Event is shown on page and it takes up a decent amount of the beginning, so we don't get to the main plot until a little later and so that gives us less time with present day Vera and the characters she comes across. I would have liked more time to breathe with her.

Chuck Tingle delivers another wild and wonderful horror with this Final Destination-vibey tale of chance and ventures into the unknown.

When a few million... billion? people die at the same time from increasingly chaotic causes, there is a lot of trauma and a lot of processing in the aftermath. For Vera, life goes downhill fast and she loses focus on what it means to live. For Agent Layne, his life took a turn for the better following that fateful day. So when the two reluctantly team up to get to the bottom of what really happened during that Low-Probability Event, Vera will use her statistician skills to deduce how likely it is she will make it out alive.

This book is filled with exciting scenes of danger and general craziness, truly heinous causes of death, and a genius journey into learning what forces are at play for these characters. From the beginning to the very end it is hard to ever predict where the story will go, and I was truly enjoying the ride.

Chick Tingle is quickly becoming a favorite author for me. No one is writing like him. The way he blends genres and tells relevant stories in a new way is so impressive.

3.5

When I pick up a Chuck Tingle horror book, I except a well written story with something to say that will also creep me out (in the best way). This book has the classic Chuck Tingle style in it. The writing is engaging, I felt like the characters were real and tangible, which is a one of Chuck's biggest strength. And the topics of grief, biphobia, and how can humans live within this vast universe were perfection. However, on the horror end, I didn't connect with entirely and it's driving me nuts that I can't pinpoint why. I was expecting more than what I got and that's on me. Otherwise, I highly recommend this book to all.

Side note: I listened to the audiobook and it is fantastic! Highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of the ARC and ALC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I have such mixed feelings about this book. First, I will that say it is very well written. I think the discussions surrounding grief and biphobia were thoughtfully executed, which is something that I've come to expect after really enjoying Camp Damascus and Bury Your Gays. I also enjoyed the humor paired with high stakes situations. I love a book with gore, but it is nice to have humorous parts mixed in every now and then to break up the seriousness of the situation. Agent Layne's somewhat goofy personality created an interesting dynamic when paired with Vera's type A personality. My only real issue with this was the Low-Probability Event. This very well could just be a "me" problem, but it was just a little too unrealistic. I understand... low-probability probably equals absurdity... but I think the absurdity was what kept me from loving it. I will still read (almost) anything Chuck Tingle writes. He's a fantastic author with a clear message that needs to be heard.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tor Publishing Group, and the author for providing the ARC copy of this book!

Chuck- you okay, buddy? This book felt very existential-crisis in the most obvious sense.
This book fell a little flat for me, unfortunately. I loved 'Bury Your Gays' for its blend of humor and horror, and I was expecting a little more of that going into 'Lucky Day'. Maybe that's on me, but I couldn't help being a little bit disappointed. The book is told from the POV of a queer woman, but the book isn't so much about her queerness as it is her literal existence (nodding, of course, to the old cliche that bisexuals "don't exist") and the randomness of the universe. It asks big questions, like "Do we have control over our own fates?" and "Is it all even worth it?" as the reader is told the story of a crooked corporate enterprise that is artificially manipulating luck.
The story was well-written, the characters three-dimensional and interesting, but that Tingle "spark" just wasn't there for me.

Thank you NetGally and the Publisher for the ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Chuck tingle dose it again and I personally think he's getting better in this genre.
The story follows a woman who is a statistics professor. Who just happens to be bisexual. Tragic things happen and she finds herself helping an government agent and things hit the fan.
This was a crazy fun read fans of Final Destination will enjoy this read.

4.5 rounded up

This was my most anticipated of the year and it did NOT disappoint! I can't say too much about it without giving it away, but I highly recommend going in blind like I did. I loved the weirdness of this, the 'events', and the existentialism of it all. I've always been fascinated about fate vs free will and it was very cool how it was all tied in. Some of the concepts felt really big and complicated to wrap my neurospicy brain around and that's my only negative but dang, I loved this. It was a lot like Bury Your Gays which is one of my favorites.

Highly recommend everyone check this one out when it releases 8/12! I cannot wait to see Chuck Tingle when he comes to Pittsburgh next month.

The core of Vera's journey is existential, not just scientific. She’s someone who lived by predictability. Her identity was wrapped in the comfort of order, numbers, patterns, and probabilities that offered a framework to understand the universe. For her, life made sense because 2+2 was always 4. It had to be. But the Low-Probability Event shattered that. Not just her life, but the very rules of reality. In a way, it's not just a catastrophe , it's a cosmic betrayal. The universe broke its contract with her, and now she's left in a world where chaos can manifest violently, unpredictably, and without reason. That’s why Vera’s arc is so compelling. This isn’t just about saving the world , it’s about reconciling belief in a rational cosmos with the intrusion of surreal, almost magical randomness. And it's through that lens that Chuck Tingle does something really profound: he explores grief, trauma, and meaning in a post-truth world, all wrapped in a genre-bending horror-thriller. In Short its about a -

A woman who believed in math faces a world that’s rewritten the equations, and the answer isn’t just wrong; it’s alive and trying to kill her.

And still, she persists. She tries to draw a line, to map chaos not necessarily to win, but to understand. That, in itself, becomes an act of faith.

This was the first Chuck Tingle book I have read and I must say it was a wild ride, one I thoroughly enjoyed!

Lucky Day was a mix of horror and science fiction. On May 21st, Vera is celebrating being the youngest statistics professor at a Chicago university. In the middle of her big celebration with her fiance, family and friends. there is a Low Probability Event. Fish are falling from the sky and other strange happenings occur which cause the death of more than 7 million people around the world, many Americans. Four years later, Vera has given up and decided that nothing is important anymore. Then LPEC agent Layne enters the picture and asks for her help. It's wild ride after that.

I can't really say more without spoiling the story. I would recommend this book. I will be reading Chuck Tingle books in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the ebook ARC.

At times silly, other times gruesome, Chuck Tingle's latest is full of compassion for characters living in a chaotic world. After a Low Probability Event occurs, millions are left dead, and stats professor Vera's life is changed forever (including a memorable scene with a chimp and a typewriter). While the plot follows Vera's recruitment by a mysterious investigative agency, the story is driven by her need to find meaning in life again and pursue justice. There's a bit of an X-Files feel to this one...if X-Files were more skeptical of police/surveillance states. Easter eggs connecting to other Chuck Tingle novels add to the fun. I found the pacing a bit too quick, and the ending somewhat abrupt -- but still had a very good time reading this one.

⭐️3.5⭐️

This story focuses on Vera, a statistics professor who survives a global disaster known as the ‘Low-Probability Event’ that results in millions dying from improbable and absurd accidents. After her survival, she struggles with the loss of meaning until she is drawn into an investigation by a government agent into a suspiciously lucky casino believed to be connected to the disaster, leading her on a journey to understand the nature of luck, chaos and the universe.

After reading and loving Bury Your Gays, I couldn’t get my hands on this book fast enough! I love Tingle’s writing and how he weaves common identity themes into his horror books. This book explores a lot of existentialism themes and highlights what it means to live in a world where you have no control over the chaos. There’s a lot of focus on grief, fate, and of course, luck.

While the story was short, the pacing was a bit jarring. One moment the chaos is overflowing, but then it abruptly stops and things start to drag a bit. I also had a very hard time enjoying the main character. Her behavior got so tiresome and I didn’t find the reasons for her nihilism to be reasonable.

Overall, I enjoyed this read, but didn’t love it like I was hoping. It’s a fun and wild fever dream and does an amazing job at showcasing Tingle’s creative range. I still recommend checking this one out for yourself if you enjoy Tingle’s writing though!

Thank you to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for early access of this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Chuck Tingle never disappoints. Lucky Day is full of highly unlikely but definitely possible body horror. When it's gory, it's a macabre Rube Goldberg machine reminiscent of a Final Destination installment. But it's not just about displaying crazy, blood-filled sequences. It's also about the chaotic, fucked-up events of our daily lives and how we view our simultaneously insignificant and profound existences. It's about staring down the absurd, twisted, unfair, and horrific aspects of life and determining that life is worth living because the bad is balanced out by beauty, love, joy, and miraculous coincidences.

I recommend this novel to anyone who grapples with existential dread or has ever believed their life was pointless or inconsequential.

This is probably about the level of horror that I can handle in books without starting to feel queasy. Thought that the discussions around luck, chance, fate, and order were thought-provoking and, overall, I really liked this one!