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esme_bonner 's review for:
Lucky Day
by Chuck Tingle
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Final Destination meets The Monkey in the long-shadow of Eldritch horror in this darkly humorous, unapologetically queer, and bitingly human offering from Chuck Tingle.
Bisexual statistician Vera exists in the liminal space behind her eyelids. Her entire existence is the space between her prone form and the ceiling of her mother's house. Once upon a time, Vera had had it all. A job, a book with her name on the front, a fiancée, friends, a life in a city she loved. Then the LPE happened. Low Probability Event. Forever shaking her faith in her field, in the numbers which once brought her comfort. So Vera retreats, until a knock at the door upsets her new, quiet (silent) life of solitude. Agent Layne wants her help. In her last lifetime, Vera had been an expert on the Great Britannica casino in Vegas, one arm of the monstrous EVE corporation, a conglomerate within a conglomerate, where games are skewed in the favour of players, and big wins are more likely than big losses. Layne needs her help. Something is rotten in the state of Nevada, and no number of chimpanzees with typewriters can work it out for them.
With the shocking gore of a contemporary horror film, and tastefully twisted humour, Tingle pens a story which interrogates personhood, the very notion of 'the will to live', and such ephemeral and metaphysical ideas as luck, fairness, and morality. Tingle foregrounds the contemporary struggles of queer people, in an increasingly unfair world where the L and G cannot always be trusted to support the B and T. Although Vera may seem like a nihilist, she is also a vehicle to greater, deeper considerations: this is novel which asks us to consider the value of life, of other people, of every single person. A novel which juxtaposes individual despair, with communal hope.
I loved the message of Lucky Day, I was amused by it, and surprised by it, and fully involved in it. I struggled, a little, with the storyline. Like many horrors, I felt that this didn't go as far as it could, but it was, ultimately, well-penned, and strongly plotted. 3.75 stars.
Bisexual statistician Vera exists in the liminal space behind her eyelids. Her entire existence is the space between her prone form and the ceiling of her mother's house. Once upon a time, Vera had had it all. A job, a book with her name on the front, a fiancée, friends, a life in a city she loved. Then the LPE happened. Low Probability Event. Forever shaking her faith in her field, in the numbers which once brought her comfort. So Vera retreats, until a knock at the door upsets her new, quiet (silent) life of solitude. Agent Layne wants her help. In her last lifetime, Vera had been an expert on the Great Britannica casino in Vegas, one arm of the monstrous EVE corporation, a conglomerate within a conglomerate, where games are skewed in the favour of players, and big wins are more likely than big losses. Layne needs her help. Something is rotten in the state of Nevada, and no number of chimpanzees with typewriters can work it out for them.
With the shocking gore of a contemporary horror film, and tastefully twisted humour, Tingle pens a story which interrogates personhood, the very notion of 'the will to live', and such ephemeral and metaphysical ideas as luck, fairness, and morality. Tingle foregrounds the contemporary struggles of queer people, in an increasingly unfair world where the L and G cannot always be trusted to support the B and T. Although Vera may seem like a nihilist, she is also a vehicle to greater, deeper considerations: this is novel which asks us to consider the value of life, of other people, of every single person. A novel which juxtaposes individual despair, with communal hope.
I loved the message of Lucky Day, I was amused by it, and surprised by it, and fully involved in it. I struggled, a little, with the storyline. Like many horrors, I felt that this didn't go as far as it could, but it was, ultimately, well-penned, and strongly plotted. 3.75 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Toxic friendship, Alcohol