Lucky Day – Chuck Tingle
Chuck Tingle’s “Lucky Day” is proof that absurdist horror can carry real weight when it’s written with conviction.
On the surface, it’s an outlandish premise: a global catastrophe known as the Low Probability Event, where millions die in freak accidents, all tied back to a too-lucky Las Vegas casino. But underneath the gore and nihilism is a surprisingly sharp exploration of grief, fate and how quickly we normalize tragedy.
The opening chapter is almost a misdirect. We see Vera, a University of Chicago statistics professor, celebrating her birthday with her fiancée Annie, prepping to come out to her mother and fussing over numbers the way only a neurotic statistician can. It’s domestic, warm and the calm-before-the-storm.
Then in Chapter 2 all hell breaks loose in full-scale carnage. It’s over-the-top, yes, but also purposeful. Tingle anchors the spectacle in the concept of probability itself — every death is statistically unlikely, every thread connecting back to the Great Britannica casino. From there the book morphs into an “The X-Files”-meets-”Final Destination” conspiracy thriller.
Vera, broken by trauma and living in her mother’s dilapidated house, is pulled back into the world by Agent Layne from the Low Probability Event Commission. As the author of a book proving the casino’s odds were impossible, she’s uniquely suited to help. Together, they uncover more than they bargained for — from aliens and fate-manipulating devices to elaborate Rube Goldberg death traps galore.
This won’t be for everyone. Like in Tingle’s recent “Bury Your Gays,” he doesn’t shy away from gore or maximalism. But while that book leaned tongue-in-cheek, “Lucky Day” stays unsettling because the absurdity never tips into parody. The author makes the ridiculous feel plausible, which is what gives the horror bite.
[mild spoilers]
The alien subplot didn’t land for me. The mechanics of “steering the threads of fate” never made complete sense, and it veered toward the kind of sci-fi hand-waving that goes over my head. But the larger themes carried the story: how corporations exploit chaos, how governments operate in secrecy and how human beings develop selective amnesia in the face of endless tragedy. Those ideas, woven into the horror, are what elevates it above normal genre fare.
What surprised me most was how much I cared about Vera. She’s raw, damaged and sometimes unlikeable, but deeply sympathetic. Her grief saturates the book, yet she keeps pushing forward. Even Layne, who predictably betrays her, isn’t flat — he’s consumed by secrecy and duty to the point of tragedy. That balance of carnage and character is where Tingle shows real skill.
[spoilers ended]
Mara Wilson — yes, “Matilda” herself — narrates the audiobook with perfect control. She gives Vera the weary edge she deserves and delivers the surrounding chaos with just enough detachment to make it believable. It’s hard to imagine the book working half as well without her.
The gore will alienate some readers, but Tingle doesn’t just throw blood on the walls; he uses absurdity as a lens for cultural critique. “Lucky Day” ends up being as much about randomness, exploitation and the politics of tragedy as it is about spectacle.
That’s what makes it work — and why Tingle just made my always-read list.
Rating (story): 4/5 stars
Rating (narration): 4/5 stars
Format: Audiobook (library loan)
Dates read: August 20 – August 22, 2025
Multi-tasking: Okay. There is a lot of gore and a fair amount of detail, so only focus on activities that allow you to still pay close attention.
