Chuck Tingle writes such unique queer horror! Lucky Day was a wild ride and so chaotic. As a native Nevadan, really enjoyed the setting of Las Vegas. Also loved the bisexual representation! Glad to have picked this up and I’ll continue to read Tingle’s works as they come out!

The audiobook was a great way to enjoy this work. Mara Wilson does a fantastic job bringing this story to life.

(5.0 Stars)

Thank you #NetGalley for making this book available for reading and review.

Tingle can write! This book has everything...part psychological horror, part speculative fiction. 100% enjoyable!

Great characters, interesting plot and story, perfect pacing, and realistic world building. If you want to know what the book is about, read the description, if you want to know if this is a good book, the simple answer is yes, it is delightful writing, suspenseful, engaging, compelling, and immersive!

Every new book by Tingle has been on my instant read list.

I will always pick up a Chuck Tingle title and I have yet to be disappointed. I don't know how Tingle manages to distill the best beats of the horror genre into his books but it is so dang entertaining every time. This book had some crazy gory reality bending final destination stuff going on. I loved the whole book and had no idea where things were going. Buckle up for a nice existential crisis but its ok because I adore books where the humans are so very human. For a brief moment I thought oh look another corporate greed thing, but then I remembered that corporations actually don't get enough shit, so let fly! Mara Wilson was an excellent narrator and had both the tone and the pacing down perfectly. Thank you Net Galley and Macmillan Audio for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

NEVER TELL ME THE ODDS!!
Let me just start by saying thank you thank you thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for giving me the chance to listent to this book!!! I've had Bury Your Gays and Camp Damascus on my TBR basically since they came out and have been meaning to get to them for forever. After reading Lucky Day, I am mad at myself for taking so long. I loved this book so much! It was bizzare and strange and emotional and weird. The Low-Probablility Event that the book opens on was surreal, you couldn't even try to guess what might happen next. It felt like someone gave Douglas Adams psychedelics and then just said "Get violent with it!" Chuck Tingle's writing style is so great and so descriptive, I could picture everything that was happening! The flow of the book was great and the pacing was perfect. Reading this book felt like watching an epidose of Fringe. I literally lisened to this book in one sitting,
Vera is our main character who was a lucky (eh eh get it? you get it.) survivor of the most unlikely catastrophic case of 8 million people finding the end of their lucky streaks. 4 years later, she is barely surviving when in barges Agent Jonah Layne, an LPEC agent trying to get to the bottom of what caused the Low-Probablity Event. And the rest is hijinks!
Vera is complex. She's bitter and grieving. But through her investigation into the LPE, she slowly comes back.
Mara Wilson did a great job as narrator.
Lucky Day will be published on 8/12/2025.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I seriously loved this book. Chuck Tingle is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. There’s just no one else doing what he’s doing. Lucky Day is weird, heartfelt, kind of sad, kind of funny, and totally original.

I went in not knowing what to expect and came out a little teary, a little hopeful, and totally impressed. The characters are so human, even in the most surreal moments. It’s one of those books that feels like it sees you. especially if you’ve ever felt out of place or like you’re trying to survive something invisible.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

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 is a unique and imaginative book. It explores big ideas like fate, choice, and identity in a very unusual way. The story is surreal but has a surprising amount of heart.

Some parts can be a bit hard to follow, which is why it's not a full 5 stars. Still, it's a powerful and creative read that sticks with you.

If you're looking for something different that makes you think, Lucky Day is a great pick.

The narration was right on point. Mara Wilson did an amazing job as always.

Chuck Tingle is one of the best horror writer, and to me one of the best writer period.

As with his others books, the plot is completely original, mixing great horror and sci-fi. There are some references to X-Files, and it absolutely fits the vibe.

I will no go into details in order to avoid spoilers, but it was a wild ride.

And just as it was the case in Bury Your Gays and Camp Damascus, the protagonist is complex, layered and willing to risk herself to fight an injustice so much bigger than her.

I loved the narration for the audiobook version, it really added to the emotion and iI felt like it was part of the world building.

It was thrilling , horrific and beautiful. I loved it.

Thank you so much Macmillan audio for this ARC!

5⭐️ 0 🌶️ 4🎧

Buckle up Buckaroos because you are in for a wild ride work this one! It was nearly impossible for me to stop reading once I started. This book has the chaos, brutality and bad luck of Final Destination movie with a heavy helping of existential dread. I loved it!

I was fascinated by the existential crisis Vera faced after surviving a Low Probability Event in which millions of people, including her own friends and family, died in circumstances that should been statistically impossible. Because as a statistician she found comfort and meaning in probably so when the improbable happened in horrifying ways, she lost all purpose.

I loved watching Vera slowly reconnect with the world as she and Agent Layne investigated a casino with improbable odds and its connection to the Low Probability Event. Chuck kept finding new and terrifying ways for people’s luck to run out. I never knew what was going to happen next and had to keep reading in horrified fascination.

Thank you to Chuck Tingle and Macmillan Audio for this ALC.

🎲 Bookish Thoughts
Woah, this book was a lot. But I was here for it. The book kicks off with absolute catastrophe, and we meet Vera. Four years later, Vera is still wrecked by the aftermath of the LOE (Low-Probability Event). Our FMC, is complicated. She’s bitter, grieving, and just barely surviving. And then she’s pulled back into it all. And there is some weird stuff happening!

Honestly, this felt like part apocalyptic event, part takedown of corporate greed, a semblance of horror with a sprinkle of queer Men in Black energy.

Also, the audiobook was fantastic.

📅 Pub Date: August 12, 2025
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the advanced listening copy. All thoughts are my own.

This book grabbed me from page one with fast pacing and a story full of twists that kept me hooked. The writing perfectly blends suspense with wickedly gory scenes I couldn't get enough of. Vera's raw, real struggle to find order in chaos pulled me in deep. I binged this audiobook late into the night.

I enjoyed Mara Wilson's narration.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the chance to listen to this book in exchange for my opinion.

The main character spends a lot of time considering suicide, just want to give readers a heads up. Especially those who aren't familiar with Chuck Tingle's work.

Speaking of, here there be gore. And social commentary. Incase you are unfamiliar with the usual features of horror.

Having gotten that out of the way, nobody else writes like Chuck Tingle. Even in a book focusing on the improbability of various events, everything makes sense.

Chuck Tingle you beautiful bastard.

I can’t imagine that his mind is always a fun place to be but god I’m glad he shares bits of it with us.

This was so weird and so good and poignant and super gruesome. I loved it. Filled with chaos, gore and delightful characters figuring out horrible shit. Like what more do you want? Fish raining down and causing mass death? It has that too!

Vera is a probability professor and is probably going to come out to her mom at a brunch celebrating Vera’s new book. Unfortunately things to do not go well, aka the Low Probability Event occurs-meaning a bunch of horrible things happen and kill 8 million people…leaving Vera questioning if anything matters at all.

Mara Wilson narrates and she is incredible. Mara and Chuck are such a great duo. Huge fan.

Thanks to netgalley and Macmillan audio for an alc

Brief overview:

After a massive disaster, labeled the Low-Probability Event, takes the lives of millions in one day, Vera hides away from the world to deal with her grief. As a statistics and probabilities professor, she simply cannot grapple with the aftermath. When Special Agent Layne finds her and requests her help in investigating a casino that may have connections to the disaster, Vera finally comes out of hiding to get answers.

My thoughts:

The main character is an OCD bisexual that made a career of statistics, I automatically love her. Unfortunately there were a lot of bi-erasure type comments (yes, it was for the plot, but it didn't feel resolved or challenged) that made me a bit uncomfortable. I did enjoy the themes of this book, both the attempt to find meaning in existence and the repeated showing of corporations caring more about profit than the cost to human life. Given our current state of the world, it felt very timely.

Audiobook specific comments: The narrator did a great job, I felt the emotion with her voice inflections, very good fit for the main character!

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the chance to listen to this early!

Unpopular Opinion Alert: I really didn't enjoy this book.
I'm starting to think Chuck Tingle is one of those 'one-hit author' for me. I really liked Camp Damascus, and then last year I read Bury Your Gays and didn't like it nearly as much, and now this new one...I liked it even less. I believe the reason why I liked Camp Damascus so much is because it is a more terryfying - and serious - story. Tingle's previous book had a lot of sense of humour and 'fun' aspects, even though there is a critical message and very gruesome moments. But it still was funny. Much more 'funny' that I like my horror novels to be. And Lucky Day has this whole crazy-fun-absurd vibes. Oh, and the sci-fi elements didn't clique with me.
I see some people calling this book a 'cosmic horror novel'. Well, that doesn't work with me. I did like the main character in general, but that wasn't enough to hold my attention or excitment towards the whole book. There were 3 scenes that I liked better but not nearly enough to keep me excited for the rest of the story. The casino and sci-fi elements/scenes were not appealing to me at all.
I don't think there is anything essentially wrong with this book. Not at all! It just isn't the book for me. This kind of, as people call it, 'cosmic horror' is not for me. I don't discourage anyone to pick this book up. I'm sure other readers will love it.
The audiobook narrator is really good. I have no complaints at all. And I do recommend the audio if you're into it.

Because I enjoyed (so much!) Camp Damascus I keep telling myself that I'll enjoy Chuck Tingle's 'next new novel'. And it isn't happening, unfortunately.
I might stop picking up Tingle's next new releases and just cherish my fond memories of Camp Damascus.

Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, for the ALC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Trigger Warnings: Body Horror mentions, Biphobia, Centipedes, Suicidal Ideation/Nihilism

Lucky Day is the latest from Chuck Tingle, USA Today bestselling author of Camp Damascus and Bury Your Gays, where one woman must go up against horrifying odds to save the world. 

Four years ago, an unthinkable disaster occurred. In what was later known as the Low-Probability Event, eight million people were killed in a single day, each of them dying in improbable, bizarre ways: strangled by balloon ropes, torn apart by exploding manhole covers, attacked by a chimpanzee wielding a typewriter. A day of freak accidents that proved anything is possible, no matter the odds. Luck is real now, and it's not always good.

Vera, a former statistics and probability professor, lost everything that day, and she still struggles to make sense of the unbelievable catastrophe. To her, the LPE proved that the God of Order is dead and nothing matters anymore.

When Special Agent Layne shows up on Vera’s doorstep, she learns he's investigating a suspiciously—and statistically impossibly—lucky casino. He needs her help to prove the casino’s success is connected to the deaths of millions, and it's Vera's last chance to make sense of a world that doesn’t.

Because what's happening in Vegas isn't staying there, and she's the only thing that stands between the world and another deadly improbability.

Synopsis of Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle

I want to thank Macmillan Audio for the chance to review Chuck Tingle’s new book! I adored Bury Your Gays so much! This had the same spooky Summer vibe that permeates his other books!

Vera is a statistics professor at the University of Chicago. She comes out to her mom at a party celebrating the publication of her book—which is an attempt to take down the corporate entity of Everett Entertainment Enterprises—she reveals that she is engaged to Annie, Vera’s mother runs away from her and down the street denying bisexuals actually exist, a sentiment which is echoed later in the book by another character.

The angst we feel on behalf of Vera is so intense because that attack is a low blow when it comes to the bisexual community. Vera comes out to her mother, and a series of inexplicable experiences begin to happen: the sky begins raining fish, 3 planes collide in the air over Chicago, a parade balloon somehow goes missing and is floating around 11 stories up. And a truck crashes into her mother while they are talking. She watches her mother die in front of her.

I want to talk about the idea of Nihilism and how it plays into our story. First, I want to give you a definition of Nihilism:

Nihilism

/ˈnīəˌliz(ə)m,ˈnēəˌliz(ə)m/
noun
The rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless.

When we jump to 4 years later, there’s a hopeless sense that we get from Vera. Her precious probability betrayed her and was the cause of 8 million deaths in what the world calls the “Low Probability Event” or LPE.

The ceiling looks the same this morning, but I feel slightly more detached from it as I crack open my eyes and I peer up at the dull eggshell coloring…Somehow just when I think all the care I have in this world is gone, I care even less.

Timestamp 01:22:23 Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle, Audio Version, Macmillan Audio, 2025

A woman who based her whole career on chance and probability completely lost all her drive and would rather melt down into the couch than actually care about things anymore, because what was the point of life if something spontaneous could happen on a dime?

Vera's dilemma is slowed by the arrival of a furry friend. A stray cat whom she names "Cat"! She goes to the grocery store and tries to do her "I don't care" routine, but gets sidetracked by her hope, as the cat appearing in her yard represents hope in a living form.

I find her nihilism so profoundly human. The idea that you were so traumatized that you turned off your phone one day and just ran away is something I might do. It is the natural response of fight or flight, and she chooses flight. Unfortunately, she misses out on a lot in the 4 years she's been staring at the ceiling.

Her nihilism is reactivated with the death of Cat. However, this walking contradiction of Agent Lane interrupts her brooding. Lane is a gay federal agent who works for a government agency called "LPEC: The Low Probability Event Commission." He works for an agency that has absolutely no government oversight, and his methods for getting intelligence are very unorthodox. Lane barrels into her life like a tornado, asking her to help him and the commission take down Everett.

Vera's continuous nihilism keeps rearing its ugly head as she attempts to push down the hope that Lane gives her, hope that things can go back to the way things were before the balances of fate tipped in opposition to humankind. One of my favorite moments is when she catches herself going back to her fundamentals, she has this trauma response of putting up walls around her.

I suddenly catch myself realizing I've fallen into one of my old lectures. My opinion on this has fundamentally changed, because I now know there's no sense to be made. Existence is senseless.

Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle, MacMillan Audio, 2025

That quote comes from her educating Lane on the theory of Historical Inertia or Causal Inertia.

It is a result of the complex interplay between various factors that contribute to the unfolding of historical events. The concept is rooted in the idea that historical events are not isolated incidents, but rather part of a larger narrative that is shaped by a multitude of causes.

To illustrate this concept, consider a physical analogy. In physics, inertia is the tendency of an object to maintain its state of motion unless acted upon by an external force. Similarly, Causal Inertia refers to the tendency of historical events to continue on a particular trajectory unless influenced by a significant external factor.

Causal Inertia: A Historical Perspective by Sarah Lee, Number Analytics, May 24, 2025

The book plays with theories that are sort of nuanced in their explanation of how the fates work. The idea of fate having a different outcome because of an embodiment of nothing being here on earth is so fucking cool, although it's also terrifying to think that this could happen to us. Chuck has a knack for writing stories that are horror because of the chance that this could happen. A sentient AI that takes existing IP and turns it into a real person? That could totally happen. An alien lifeform existing here on Earth having an impact on the historical implications of fate, ditto!

The world of the book expands our knowledge of the unknown, the same concepts that Night Vale was doing 10 years ago. First contact. We are not alone in this universe, and the way we learn this is through a centipede that has killed every host it ever possessed. The aliens are here, and they're the reason for the LPE. One of the best parts of the book is when we get the reveal because it's subtle, but when Vera, Lane, Denver (Everett's CEO), and all of the bodyguards and drivers are ambushed, we get to come face-to-face with the classic grey alien. Unfortunately, Lane finds out that the humanoid figure that he originally saw was actually the snout of this behemoth alien.

Let's talk gore. The worst of it is in the middle of the book, when we are at a day party at the pool in Everett's hotel. First of all, the creep factor of every time the scale tips in the opposite direction of luck and any available speakers play any number of songs with the word luck in it is so Fucking scary. It's literally the harbinger for things to come, and they did indeed come. The gore is insane. people getting sucked into a pool's filter is fucking horrifying, a few people crushed by a giant roulette wheel, a la The Price is Right, and so many more gory moments.

I loved this book, but it is not as good as Bury Your Gays. That one was intense and super gory. I loved it, but Lucky Day was missing a piece of that snark that permeated Bury Your Gays. Chuck's books always make me smile because I knew him as the absurdist erotica author. His horror books are next-level good!

Mara Wilson's acting was out of this world incredible. I love her work on Welcome to Night Vale and her passion in Chuck's Camp Damascus is amazing. It works so well that she is the voice of our hopeful Nihilist! I find her ability to balance that creep factor from her days working at Night Vale with the earnestness of someone who isn't technically suicidal but just doesn't want to exist anymore, such an incredible talent.

I love the mixing of the buddy cop/Alien Invasion/Apocalypse tropes to make a really fun book. I wish it were longer, but it makes up for it with interesting plotlines! The cop is useful for his ability to bring out this hope in Vera, but he is such a Brutus! I can't spoil anymore, but just know that this book is going to be the Summerween book to read!

I give Lucky Day 4 Stars!

★★★★

Lucky Day is now available for pre-order in Audio, Print, and Digital formats. It will be available wherever books are sold on Tuesday, August 12, 2025.

A statistician, Vera, is celebrating the publishing of her first stats book when a statistically improbable event happens... Chicago starts raining fish, a chimp in an Elizabethan costume kills her friend with a typewriter, and the world seems to have gone upside down. In the years after this, Vera hides in the home of her mother, who died in front of her on that day. Then a government agent shows up in her house informing her that the casino she'd been investigating for statistical purposes before she became a recluse has been linked to the chaos on that day. Vera is dragged into the government investigation of unusual odds and abnormal luck.
Chuck Tingle is an odd duck but he certainly can write! Also, Mara Wilson does a fantastic job narrating this book.

This novel gave me a whacky ride, and it's layered with intriguing thoughts about reality and approaches to going on when things turn to shit.

Vera’s a bisexual statistics professor engaged to her girlfriend and celebrating her book. 
All hell breaks loose.

When Agent Layne intrudes on her solitude four years after the Low Probability Event, she reluctantly agrees to help with his investigation into a Las Vegas casino that might have been involved in the disasters.

I struggled with this one. For me, the intentional absurdity undercut the horror, and the narrator’s soft intonations and largely dispassionate delivery of the gory parts added to the distancing effect. She speaks well and has many fans. I'm sure many listeners will enjoy this audiobook. These things are a matter of taste. The Macmillan site includes audiobook samples. Lucky Day releases on August 12.

The standout parts were the bizarrely warped reality and the playful yet horrible improbabilities. I appreciated the exploration of life in absurd times, complete with messy emotional stuff and outrageous gory deaths–plus, it was written by Chuck Tingle who is a treasure. It gave me weird fic dystopian chaos with prismatic flares of hope. Near the end it delivered the darkness I sought. I rated it 4 stars.

Thank you, Macmillan Audio for the ALC for consideration. These are solely my own opinions.

Thank you Tor and Macmillan Audio for my gifted copies!

What the f*ck did I just read. Chuck Tingle, are you okay?

I LOVED THIS DAMN BOOK.

I read it in a few hours because what the actual f*ck. I couldn’t get enough of this apocalyptic madness of sheer dumb luck. Picture the way COVID upended society. But! Imagine all that unprecedented insanity on a single day, May 23rd, where 8 million people died as a result of absurdly bad luck. I mean, absolutely insanely bad luck. Circus animals, parade floats, plane crashes. Death and obscure horror abound.

It seems morbid to say, but this was such a fun, gory ride, done only in the way Chuck Tingle can do it. His humor and death scenes are unmatched. I truly thought a celebrity being crushed by a piano couldn’t be topped (Bury Your Gays), but Tingle one-upped himself with Lucky Day. Don’t eat your morning eggs while reading this lol.

Gore aside, I really loved our FMC, Vera. She had a darkness I related to. There was a healthy amount of depth hidden in this book, and with the things we learn in the depths of our despair.

You won’t want to miss the opportunity to binge this brilliant and bizarre story.

This was a wild ride of accidents and bad luck, and I enjoyed every second of it. Chuck's imagination for creating the worst-case scenario and interconnecting tragedy left me stunned. This book left me wondering what was going to happen next and never disappointed with the answer


Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

Chuck Tingle’s Lucky Day is a brilliant collision of absurd horror, existential dread, and statistical theory. The novel follows Vera Norrie, a bisexual statistics professor living in the wreckage of the Low Probability Event, a catastrophic day when nearly 8 million people died in wildly improbable ways (think: chimps on the loose, airplanes colliding mid-air, fish storms over Chicago). Vera, once thriving, now lives in numb isolation until a government agent named Layne arrives, convinced that the statistically “too lucky” casino Vera once investigated is tied to the catastrophe.

What follows is a smart, unsettling, and often hilarious unraveling of fate, math, trauma, and meaning. A standout scene in a wave pool is so gruesome you’ll never look at public pools the same. The concept of “historical inertia” (the idea that fate might be quantifiable) is a genuinely fascinating thread that anchors the surreal chaos.

Despite the absurdity, Lucky Day hits hard emotionally. Tingle manages to create a world where love and human connection matter deeply even when nothing else does. If you liked Final Destination but wished it came with queerness, math, and a side of cosmic horror, this one’s for you!