Lucky Day

Tingle (Bury Your Gays) wows with an absurdist existential horror novel that is as funny as it is unexpectedly devastating, complex, and challenging. Probability expert Vera Norrie’s life is turned upside down when her book release party is destroyed by a worldwide eruption of surreal, apocalyptic violence. Surviving what becomes known as the Low-Probability Event leaves her apathetic and traumatized, but things start to change when federal agent Jonah Layne shows up at her door. Vera’s previous investigations into an uncommonly lucky casino might hold the answers everybody’s looking for as to why the outbreak occurred. Can she connect the dots in time to save the world and does she care enough to try? Tingle uses the tragic and bizarre to examine a deeper and never more relevant theme about how to create a meaningful life during difficult times. The comedic carnage might overwhelm a lesser novel, but Tingle’s fast-paced plot makes it work, and his ability to effectively wield the many disparate elements at play here impresses. Combining irreverent moments of surreality with an earnest message about finding hope even in the face of brutality, this is Tingle’s best yet. (Aug.)