This was my first Chuck Tingle book but it definitely won't be my last!

I absolutely loved the plot of this one, with parts really reminding me of Final Destination and also some truly horrific, bizarre and chaotic scenes that I have to give Chuck huge props for his creative way of thinking!

I also really enjoyed the commentary on how even though life can be very messy, it is still beautiful and worth experiencing.

As for our main character (Vera) I really sympathised with the issues she had to face, her trauma and her grief but for some reason I did struggle to connect with her a little.

Overall I absolutely loved this one and highly recommend giving it a go! Thank you to Netgalley and Titan for the ARC!

Remember that scene in The Good Place where Break Free by Ariana Grande was playing and, outside the window, there were giant beetles walking around, a fork falling from the sky, colourful lightning spikes, everyone dressed in the wrong clothes, shrimp swimming through the sky, giraffes wandering around the place? That’s basically how this book starts, but with Elvis Presley’s Good Luck Charm playing instead (and with a lot more gore and death).

This is different to the two other books I’ve read by Chuck Tingle, Bury Your Gays and Camp Damascus, in that it’s a lot more ridiculous but still carries the same emotional weight, at least in my opinion. We start off by following Vera, a woman who is really into statistics and loves making sense out of the world, who turns into a defeated and hopeless person after the Low Probability Event when she realises she has spent her life on trying to work the world out when nothing really matters anyway.

I really related to Vera. Her love for statistics and finding peace in pattern especially, as the world is a scary place but knowing you can find reason within is soothing. When all of that shatters after the LBE, she struggles to find hope, joy or an ability to care about the world around her and its endless suffering. Throughout the book, she finds herself springing back to the person she used to be despite her resistance.

As, more than anything else, this book is about finding joy amongst the nonsense and the endless suffering. It talks about how we notice and remember the bad things more than we remember the good (guilty), how difficult it can be opening yourself up to hope when that could just be another way you can feel disappointed, but there is always a choice where you can get up and keep going and keep fighting, or you can lie down and stare at the ceiling, but the world will keep turning either way. I especially loved the focus on how the awful will still exist, too, but so will the joy and the beautiful, they coexist together.

Other things I enjoyed about this book were the political commentary such as putting the economy above everything; the rise in nationalism, low care for privacy and an increase in fear and frustration after the LPE (which felt like a COVID analogy); historical inertia and how tragedy after tragedy happens but nobody is held accountable, nor does anyone ever remember anything about the event for very long; billionaires and CEO’s coming out on top no matter what and their exploitation of their workers, etc.

I usually don’t like pop culture references but I have to call out that Chappell Roan one!

Overall, this was as fantastic as I was expecting it to be. My only criticism is that it took me a while to get into it because of how quickly everything started to happen, which I wasn’t expecting, and the pacing was a little off as it was so fast paced in some chapters and slower in others.

Thank you, Netgalley and publisher, for the review copy!

I blew through this book!
This was my first Chuck Tingle book, so I had no idea what to expect. Who would have thought that a horror book based around statistics could be so fun?! With believable characters, a wild and wacky (yet somehow still believable) plot, Lucky Day has everything a horror lover could possibly want. Told through short, sharp chapters, with a witty, non-apologetic tongue, Lucky Day is chock-full of fun, horror, and existential dread.

Unfortunately, this one didn't really hit for me. I've read Chuck Tingle before - I really, really enjoyed Camp Damascus - but I didn't get on with this book. I'm not sure why.

I think partly it all felt a little... flat for me. Something about the writing created distance - there were these brutal, horrific moments and Nora, our lead, would just narrate what was happening but never felt truly in it. Like, there's a horrific scene where a woman with parasols embedded in her eyes is going after Nora, and yet Nora never really seems... scared to me. It should be a high impact scene, but because Nora seemed unemotional about it to me, so did I.

I also found it difficult being in her head and the friendship between her and Layne really strained credibility to me.

When Nora's mother was biphobic towards her, Nora told her to leave. When Layne was biphobic, Nora left but then came back, and she didn't bring it up again. She repeatedly said she felt uncomfortable with his ethics, which to be clear were very fucked up, yet she barely called him out and continued to work with him. Even at the end, she thought of him as her friend until she personally was in the firing line. If Nora is someone who doesn't care, someone who felt apathetic enough that she had no problem cutting off her fiancée, then I didn't understand why she was extending so much grace to a cop.

The main plotline felt a little overwrought to me as well - the probability stuff was a little hard to follow at times. I also don't really see why aliens/Area 51 needed to be thrown in there, seemingly unconnected?

I did like Nora's journey - I liked her as a character, I just wish I'd felt like I was with her in the moments, but the writing style felt to me more like I was being told about something afterwards, when it's had time to sink in and be less immediate.

I can see that a lot of people really enjoyed this, and I'm glad - but personally, this was a miss for me.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed Camp Damascus and was really looking forward to Lucky Day, but this one didn't click with me. The beginning and ending were great, however everything in the middle fell flat for me. I think the main issue I had was the lack of connection to the main character. She should have been an incredible, complex character, however everything about her felt surface level. I didn't get to know her at all, which made some of her quicks more annoying and frustrating than understandable. A miss for me, however I think I will be in the minority on this one!

(I received this book from the editor and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

Imagine the craziest day of your life, involving chaos, mayhem, a chimp, a certain coin… Add some very imaginative deaths (à la Final Destination or The Monkey) and a very lost, very depressed main character called Vera who, by the way, was a statistics professor before what is now called the ‘Low Probability Event’. Not the ‘Once in a lifetime probability event’, mind you, the linguistics are very important here. It could definitely happen again. Or it has already happened, and has been kept in secret by the government, who knows.
And thus, our Vera is found by a Mulder to her Scully and they both go to Vegas to save the day. The world. The meaning of existence. Is there a meaning to existence, mind you?
And is this the campiest, most chaotic sci-fi/horror book by Chuck Tingle to date?
I have no response for the first question, so let’s answer the second one: DEFINITELY, not only because of the already mentioned gruesome deaths, but because of how everything is related to the absurdity and the meaninglessness of life: Vera is so numb to everything that it feels very organic to be witness to her evolution towards an extremely nihilistic person; Agent Laney is so over-the-top that he would stick like a sore thumb in any other scenario, but here you just take a look at him and go: ‘yeah, that sounds about right’.

That is to say, everything is a very intense mix of ‘maybe too much’ and ‘perfect for the tone of the story’ at the same time, which could be something not all readers enjoy.
For me? It was just a blast.

This book reminded me of Final Destination crossed with a Chuck Palahniuk novel. It was a short, surreal read, with almost comic levels of horror throughout.

After the Low Probability Event, Vera is depressed, well, that's probably putting it a bit too neatly, but it'll do for a review. Agent Layne bursts into her life like the opposite of Dale Cooper (Twin Peaks). Together they go to investigate what might have caused the LPE.

The story takes turns I didn't expect coming, it doesn't force you to wait but keepings dragging you at speed into the plot, and it's great. There are nuanced discussions on visibility and sexuality.

It's a great read, definitely check it out.

This book was a blend of very unlucky 🍀 gruesome Final Destination-like deaths, bizarre but often humorous events, cosmic horror and detective work 🔍

Although the first few chapters went off with a blood splattering bang, halfway through the story I begun to lose interest during the detective work in Las Vegas as I didn’t gain any meaning from what Vera saw - it felt uneventful and, despite the absurdity, a little stereotypical. The last third of the book picked up again with a string of gore though and was very creative. I appreciated that the topic of bisexual erasure was a predominant theme covered, but I feel I’ve unfortunately missed the point Chuck Tingle was trying to make when tying this into the story’s larger existential cosmic crisis.

Just like Chuck Tingle's other novels, this was such a blast! Lucky Day follows a statistics professor (Vera) who is a survivor of a low probability event: a new phenomenon where people are killed by bizarre and improbable circumstances. After experiencing all of this, Vera just wants to stay at home and live a meaningless life alone but everything changes for her when a government agent asks for her help in unravelling the mystery of the LPE and preventing further catastrophe.
This book was such a wild ride and there are so many elements: it was gruesome, horrifying, bizarre, absurd and heartwarming all in one. On paper, it shouldn't work but it did! I spent an equal amount of time squirming and grinning. I think this probably was the grossest horror Chuck Tingle has done so far. Bury your gays had its moments but this was quite full on in places so I wouldn't reccommend it to those sensitive to that kind of thing. But for me, the dark humour of it and heart offset it enough that it wasn't offputting.
This book handles some heavy themes: is life meaningless? Does it matter if it is? It handles bisexual erasure, police corruption, the evils of capitalism and trauma all in one small 200 page package and I think does it really well. I also loved the main character Vera, she was equal parts relatable and wonderfully strong, I loved her development throughout and I also want to give her a hug. Agent Layne was also wonderfully punchable (though no spoilers as to why- read and find out!). The plot was brilliantly twisty and I just had so much fun reading this.
My only nitpick really is that I wanted it to be a little bit longer. The pace was so breakneck that I wanted a little bit more build up and development before the resolution to make it more impactful (though maybe that is just the epic fantasy reader in me!). Lucky Day hits hard for a short book and I cannot wait to see what Chuck Tingle has cooking up next. If you're a horror fan (or just want a fun yet horrifying read that also tackles social issues) you've got to give this a try when it comes out in August.
4.5/5 stars, rounded up to 5.

Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle has a fascinating premise: a statistics expert, Vera, grappling with the aftermath of a reality-breaking, global disaster known as the Low Probability Event. Isolated and numb, she’s drawn back into the world by a mysterious agent and a strange Las Vegas casino that may be tied to the catastrophe. The setup promises cosmic horror and existential mystery, but the execution leans more into absurdist, campy sci-fi with over-the-top violence and humor. The tonal balance doesn’t quite land—there are moments that gesture at deeper themes, but they’re often undercut by the cartoonish nature of the horror and dialogue.

The book struggles to give its characters depth. Vera’s journey from rational academic to nihilistic survivor feels surface-level, with little emotional evolution or reflection. Her sexuality and backstory are introduced as plot devices, never fully explored or integrated into her character arc. The supporting cast, particularly Agent Layne, lean into broad stereotypes, and the Vegas setting—ripe for atmosphere and metaphor—is underused. While Lucky Day might click with readers who enjoy Tingle’s signature camp and chaotic tone, those hoping for a more resonant or nuanced cosmic horror experience may find themselves wanting. A 3-star read with clever ideas that don’t quite come together.

My first Chuck Tingle book. I’ve heard good things and was curious to see how his style translated to longer-form horror. Lucky Day opens with a bizarre global event in which statistically impossible disasters occur all at once. From that point, we follow Vera, a statistics professor on the cusp of publishing her life's work, as she attempts to make sense of what happened and what it might mean. She is soon drawn into a strange investigation involving a suspiciously lucky Las Vegas casino and an idiosyncratic government agent named Layne..

The premise is original, and the first few chapters were compelling. There is something genuinely unsettling about the randomness of the early catastrophes, and the idea of applying statistical logic to something so illogical is handled in an interesting way. Vera’s voice as a narrator is sharp, although at times the tone shifts in ways that feel uneven. The story veers between absurdity, horror, and existential musing, which mostly works, but not always smoothly.

As the plot develops, the pacing begins to drag. The book is fairly short, but there is a section in the middle that feels repetitive, with fewer new ideas being introduced. The investigation into the casino could have gone deeper, particularly given the potential of the Vegas setting. Thematically, there are some thoughtful moments about identity and erasure, especially around Vera’s bisexuality, but they are not always explored with much depth. Layne’s character, too, feels underdeveloped, acting more as a vehicle for the plot than a person in his own right.

The ending, while not abrupt, felt slightly too neat for a book that sets itself up as a meditation on chaos and meaninglessness. Given the scale and intensity of what came before, the resolution seemed to fall a little flat.

That said, there are moments that are clever, funny, and genuinely strange in a way that lingers. I appreciated that this was not a conventional horror novel and that it attempted to say something about the absurdity of life, even if it did not always land. I admired the ambition and originality of the concept, but found the execution a little uneven.

Lucky Day is a cosmic horror novel about a statistics expert who survives a global disaster only to try and work out why it happened and give meaning back to her life. Vera's life was torn apart by the Low Probability Event that struck globally, causing death and destruction, so she hides away in her house, not wanting to care about anything. But when a mysterious agent turns up at her house asking for her help investigating a Vegas casino that seems to be linked to the event, Vera is drawn into the mission.

Having read both Camp Damascus and Bury Your Gays, I was interested to see what Tingle would do with this premise. Unfortunately, I found that the book didn't work for me, and I found myself frustrated with it at various points. To start off with, the narrative is told by Vera in first person present tense and there were turns of phrase in the narration that felt jarring, like slang that didn't quite flow in the narrative voice.

The overall tone of the book, despite being pitched as cosmic horror, is as comic as Bury Your Gays' satirical tone, and that matches the tone of the ridiculously gruesome violence that happens at a couple of points in the book (think Final Destination vibes), but not the fact that these events are meant to be genuinely horrifying to the narrator. For me, this made the novel, like Bury Your Gays, feel just a bit too ridiculous to feel serious, and that undercut the balance of the comic existential side (deaths so unlikely you're meat to laugh) with the actual horror of contemplating the meaninglessness of that. Maybe the tone could've worked if it came together at the end to say something interesting about the concept of the absurd, but the end is a bit flat, feeling too neat and not really giving any of the characters a proper conclusion.

On that note, the characters also didn't work for me. Vera was a series of stereotypes which move from 'incredibly organised statistics professor' to 'depressed nihilist' and then, by the end, never really resolves how she might rebuild something more like the former again, or how any of her former life and personality might be changed by her huge existential crisis. Her bisexuality feels like it is a plot device (which admittedly is a major plot device at the start and then that has a throwback later on which felt really randomly included) and Vera might've felt more interesting as a character if we learnt anything more about her experiences, either in terms of her sexuality and her relationship we see at the start of the book, or even just any interests she had before (other than presumably an X-Files-esque TV show that gets a lot of references in the book, without any further detail or point). Saying too much about Agent Layne would give away spoilers about the book, but again he was more larger-than-life stereotypes, and there aren't really many other characters that appear more than momentarily, so the book really has to lean on these two.

I think that there will be plenty of fans of this book who like the fact that it is more of a campy sci-fi story with a few gruesome horror moments (especially as Tingle has a lot of fans who like that campy vibe to his writing), as long as you don't want greater meaning from the existential side other than 'maybe things do have meaning actually'. As with Bury Your Gays, it felt like there were moments in the narrative where you were really being hit over the head with an idea, even when it wasn't fully considered, and in fact the entire book felt like it was trying to take the concept of people saying bisexuals don't exist and make it into an existential joke, but it never really does that in a satisfying way.

And on a personal note, I'm really interested in fiction about Vegas and it felt like this book could've done so much more with the setting and atmosphere given that it was almost entirely set in Vegas. There could've been so much more about the fact it is a casino that is at the heart of events, or about gambling, or even Vegas and queerness. But if you're looking for queer horror set in Las Vegas, I'd suggest reading Torrey Peters' novella 'The Masker' from Stag Dance, which says a lot more about queerness itself.

I've ended up writing a lot about this book because it frustrated me how I wanted it to be more interesting and engaging than it was, and how much it felt like a bunch of stereotypes and trope jokes put together without saying anything about them. However, as I said, I think if you're looking for something silly in the vein of Tingle's other recent horror books, you might have more fun with it than I did.

Chuck Tingle really knows how to write fun and creative horror! Lucky Day kicks off with the Low Probability Event—a chain of horrendously unlucky things happening in a short time span that leaves millions dead. In the aftermath of this weird catastrophe, statistics professor Vera has basically given up on life, but then government agent Layne storms in and demands her help in taking down a casino in Vegas which he believes is linked to the LPE.

The strange death scenes were the highlight of the book for me, having a distinctly Final Destination-esque edge to them. But I also really enjoyed Vera as a main character and watching how she progresses both with her own mental state and in regards to her fraught connection to Layne.

Lucky Day is fun, fast-paced, and gory, with just enough character work to also keep me emotionally invested!