Black Box Inc. is the first installment in an urban fantasy series that features a re imagined Asheville, NC where supernatural beings from other dimensions can come and go through portals. The black box in the title refers to the main character, Chase's, ability to create black boxes by controlling materials from the dimensions known as Dim. These black boxes can hide just about anything from severed heads to demonic souls and Chase has built up a business around this ability. The characters are likable enough. Chase provided some sarcastic, snarky humor. Readers are introduce to some non-traditional supernatural creatures you don't typically come across in urban fantasy series, to include a yeti. There was a decent plot presented, but it was just slow going for me.

I have a definite weakness for UF that has "everything but the kitchen sink" when it comes to supernatural creatures. I love reading different authors' takes on various mythological creatures and how they all come together in a big paranormal soup. Because of that, when I read the description for Black Box Inc. it sounded like something that would appeal to me. What's not to love about a book that is based on the idea of an extra dimensional event that opened up other worlds to our own which then allowed all kinds of mythological creatures to show up in our world. The book also promises a lead character who developed a unique ability to manipulate the "Dim" space between various dimensions at the time of the dimensional shift as well as a zombie office manager, a Yeti transportation specialist, a human changeling who provides security for the group, and a banshee lawyer. The tone sounded light and humorous.

Although I loved the premise of the book and found it to be a fast and engaging read, it was not an unqualified success. I liked it, but I didn't love it. There were several reasons for this. First, I found the main character, Chase, to be rather annoying, a bit immature, and occasionally pretty dim. He was written in the "snarky main character" mold, where pretty much everything that came out of his mouth was a quip, an insult, or just inappropriate to the situation. Sometimes I enjoy those characters, but I need some kind of character development, but in this book there was too much action and too little reflection and connection between the various characters for me. The other characters were just stock figures, placeholders, nothing memorable about any of them (with the exception of the zombie office manager. Ironically, she was the only character who seemed to have any emotions). My other problem with the book was the plot and the action. Most of the time, I was scrambling to try to follow what was going on. Plot nuggets were dropped carelessly into extraneous action scenes, and snarky exchanges between the characters and were easily missed. The plot also used made use of ["temporal time shifts" to explain certain plot points. Time shifting/time travel are my least favorite trope in SF or UF, so that kind of put me off. (hide spoiler)]

Overall, I found this to be a mixed bag of a read with elements I really enjoyed along with ones that I wasn't wild about. If you don't mind a particularly snarky hero, and like a lot of action, you'll probably really like this book.

I picked Black Box Inc to read for Halloween both because it looked interesting (which turned out to be true), fun (which definitely turned out to be true) and because the author is best known for his horror stories – even though Black Box Inc didn’t look exactly like horror – which was a good thing for this reader.

In that sense, I got what I expected. Black Box Inc is more like horror-adjacent, and that’s about the way I like it. It’s urban fantasy, in a universe where the things that go bump in the night do come out to play, as well as many of the other standard character groups that populate urban fantasy as well as horror.

And it’s a road novel. The gang, quite literally has to take the road to Hell. The caper, as there often is in urban fantasy, in this case is to steal the soul of Lord Beelzebub. Who both is and isn’t who you are thinking of.

And Hell kind of looks like Detroit – in all of its Motor City heydays. And yes, I meant that as a plural.

The set up of the universe is, while not unique, certainly interesting. Like the break in the wards around New Orleans after Katrina in Suzanne Johnson’s Sentinels of New Orleans series, or the mashing together of the fae and human dimensions in Kai Gracen’s world (by Rhys Ford), there was an extradimensional happening in the quite recent past of Chase Lawter’s version of our world.

All the dimensions have become connected through portals. Earth’s portals, not very surprisingly, are in places where the veil between dimensions has always been a bit thin. Places like New Orleans, and San Francisco, and, Asheville NC, where Chase and his gang at Black Box Inc operate their extradimensional business.

Chase was among the many humans who picked up interesting powers in that happening. But Chase is unique, not just among the humans, but seemingly among the many other species who have suddenly acquired connections to our world. Chase can manipulate the “Dim”, the stuff that exists between dimensions. He can create weapons from it. But mostly, Jake makes boxes – hence the name of the company, Black Box Inc.

Because Jake makes “dim boxes” big and small, that allow him to hide things that people don’t want found, or lost, or stolen, in the dim, where only he can retrieve them.

It’s a living. Sometimes a very good living. Sometimes a very dangerous living. But it’s a living that keeps Jake and his colleagues busy and pays the bills.

About that gang…Jake’s friends and colleagues are an assortment of beings and personalities that could only have existed after the happening. His transportation manager is a Yeti, his business manager is a zombie, and his bodyguard is definitely human – but a human who learned to be an assassin while she was a fae changeling. Oh yeah, his lawyer is a banshee. It seems like ALL the lawyers are now banshees.

And Jake needs every hand on deck – even the ones that he doesn’t know he has – when he and his friends find themselves caught in the middle of a manipulative game between Daphne, the Queen of the Fae, and Lord Beelzebub, the ruler of a dimension that Jake calls hell.

Daphne wants Beelzebub’s soul so that she can get past his defenses and conquer his dimension. Beelzebub wants to use his soul, which he doesn’t really need anyway, in order to trap Daphne and as many of her warriors as he can so that she will stop trying to take over his dimension.

And everyone seems to think that threatening Chase and using Chase and manipulating Chase is the best way to get what they want.

They might even be right. But when both sides are playing you, you kind of get to choose which one you’re playing with, and which one you’re playing against. And it feels really weird that the Lord of Lies is on the right side of anything.

After all, all is fair in love and war, and this is definitely war.

Escape Rating B+: Black Box Inc is a hoot and a half from beginning to end. Sometimes complete with actual hoots – because the snarkitude exhibited by all the characters, but especially Chase, is often laugh out loud funny.

But Black Box Inc basically is urban fantasy of the snarky anti-hero school. While we don’t see nearly as many of those as we used to (Harry Dresden has gotten pretty damn serious over his last few books), it is a familiar trope. Black Box Inc is a damn good example of that trope, but it is familiar territory.

Part of what makes this particular book so much fun is the way that the author pokes at some of the craziness in the real world by holding up the post-happening changes as pointers to how things really are anyway, no matter how they are dressed up in real life. That all the law firms on Earth have been taken over by banshees is clever and feels right – but in some ways it doesn’t feel different from popular perceptions of real-world lawyers.

The best part, however, as with all urban fantasy when it works, is the gang. It’s not just that everyone is smart and everyone is interesting and everyone cracks wise at the drop of a hat, but that they are all different and likeable (even when they aren’t supposed to be) and that the author shows both how smart they are and how much they care about each other.

And just enough things get stood on their heads to make it seem fresh.

The worldbuilding also holds up quite well. While this is not a version of Earth I’d actually want to live in, as a construct, it makes sense and hangs together. Well done.

In a week where real life was going completely insane, Black Box Inc was marvelously diverting. I’ll be keeping an eye out for the next book in the series. I definitely hope there are lots more!

This was pretty much your typical urban fantasy. The plot was action packed with a bit of mystery. The main character was kind of snarky and rough around the edges but not really a bad person. The MC had a crew of all different supernaturals, including a zombie, a yeti, and a banshee (well, kind of—she was actually his lawyer). The writing style was conversational, like the MC was talking to you sometimes. The dialogue was mostly joke-y and banter-y, even when the characters were in serious situations. The MC’s thoughts were usually joke-y too. So I think whether or not you like this book is really going to depend on what you’re looking for. If you’re looking for typical urban fantasy fun with a well-paced plot and lots of banter between character, this will deliver. If you’re looking for something that stands out in the genre, like I was, this might disappoint—or maybe not, it really just depends on your taste. It wasn’t bad; it simply wasn’t what I was looking for.

The idea of the MC being able to create boxes out of the “dim” (the space between dimensions) was neat though, something I’d never read about. There was also a pretty good, twisty mystery, though I’m not sure I quite understood the whole explanation. And there was a nice dynamic among the friends at times.

So overall, while it wasn’t quite what I was looking for, this book was a light, easy urban fantasy read that others might enjoy.

The team is the thing in Jake Bible's "Black Box Inc.", a nifty urban fantasy quest novel. Bible spins a convincing and fun tale, throws in some likable, but unusual characters and good dialogue Sporting some interesting world-building, a main character with a quasi-magical talent and a road trip with continuous action sequences, it is a book that fans of fantasy with modern weapons and action can sink their teeth into. My minor quibble is that Bible seems to assume that everyone has already met his characters. So it feels like there is not enough character introduction in the beginning, but once the story gets going, it is not as important.

Chase Lawter is the leader of Black Box Inc., a company that takes advantage of Lawter's talent to manipulate dimensional energy, that he calls the “dim” to create objects. Lawter speciality is the creation of boxes that he can seal and lock away. He is the only one who is able to open the boxes. Lawter’s partners are Harper Kyles, a weapons specialist, who grew up with the fae, and not in a good way, Sharon, a zombie businesswomen, who is in charge of billing and Lassa, a 7 foot yeti, an oversexed bi-sexual, who you would think would be a gunner, but who is really in charge of logistics and transportation.

After a night of drinking, Lawter wakes up naked covered with blood in his apartment, with no memory of what happened the night before. He is met by Travis, a shapeshifter, who just happened to come by and found him in this state. Meanwhile, the team soon discovers that Iris Penn, the bartender at the local watering hole, and who Lawter has romantic feelings, although unrequited, is missing. While on an amusing visit to the local constabulary, Bible introduces Teresa, Lawter’s banshee lawyer.

Teresa starts to file legal papers, but Harper cannot wait and uses blood magic to arrange a visit with Aspen, a fae assassin. The fae want Lawter to do a job for them and the fae, who are the heavies in Bible’s world do not like Lawter, who they call the “defiler of dimensions”.

So the team and Teresa go to the faerie dimension, where they meet Daphne, the evil fairy godmother, and that is typical of Bible’s fun sense of humor, who wants Lawter and his team to go on a road trip to steal the devil’s soul in Hell, or a world that looks like Hell, which is populated with citizens, who look like evil imps and demons, but who are not really that, year right. While the team has good intentions the road to Hell is fraught with violent predators, who want nothing better than to eat, maim or kill Lawter There will be an attack by harpies, a turncoat, an evil fae guard and a host of other troubles.

Even Hell is not what it seems. Will Lawter and his team trust the fae devil they know in Daphne or make a contract with Lord Beelzebub, who you know wants his contract signed in blood. It’s hard to know which bad guy to trust. But you have to know that the team will be able to turn the tables on somebody.

Bible is able to set up a really fun quest novel with engaging characters. While the quest novel is a standard fantasy trope, Bible’s inventive dialogue, amusing situations, unusual characters and action packed plot sets it apart. It a fine time to join Lawter’s team on their next adventure.

Scrabbling

You know that sound your dog makes when he tries to get up an run fast on a wooden floor? That sound that fantasy books call "scrabbling" when the monsters are coming? It's also a good word to describe the writing in this book. Lots of fast movement with a fair amount of noise, but not much progress.

Mr. Bible's attempt at an urban fantasy breeziness is too wordy for me. Sometimes he slides the plot kernel into the midst of a crowd scene and I missed it entirely. I prefer more tightness.

I received a review copy of "Black Box Inc.: Black Box Inc. Series, Book 1" by Jake Bible (BelleBooks) through NetGalley.com.

Since I didn't get an updated copy I have not been able to read and review this title.

Ever since the extradimensional happening a decade ago, every sort of creature, monster, and fairy tale creature has shown up in Asheville, North Carolina (and every other portal location). As a result of the happening Chase Lawter is the only human who's gained the unique ability to draw material from the Dim, the space between those dimensions, and shape it into whatever he wants, but boxes are his specialty. Boxes that can be used to hide smoking guns, severed heads, and the like - and only Chase can hide them in the Dim and later recover them, if needed. Plus, Chase and his team at Black Box Inc. don't work for free. Chase's crack team at Black Box Inc. is made up of a fae-trained assassin, a brainy zombie, and a charming yeti - and together they'll get the job done for a tidy sum. There's an uneasy truce between all of the races that have come through to our world since the happening, but Chase and his team's work put them right in the center of many dangerous crosshairs.

Black Box Inc. is the first novel in a brand new series by Jake Bible and I have a feeling that this series could be amazing. If you like your urban fantasy with a lot of gritty, fast-paced action, a diverse range of supernatural creatures that you won't usually see in one story, and healthy sense of humor, you need to meet Chase, Harper, Sharon, and Lassa, the team behind Black Box Inc. Everyone gets their moment to shine, even the minor and supporting characters like Teresa, Flip, and Aspen, a banshee, a gnome, and a member of the fae. Sure, sometimes it's a little over the top, but this story is such a fun adventure. I really liked this author's take on fairies and the fae which are some of the most dangerous creatures out there, who in this case can and will lie. I also particularly enjoyed the look at the "Not Hell" dimension and "Not the Devil" character - I can't resist Depression-era gangsters!

Overall, I'm so glad I came across Jake Bible's newest release on NetGalley and managed to get approved for it. If you need a new urban fantasy series in your life, I bet you'd like this if you also like The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher and Supernatural. I will need to try more by Jake Bible and I can't for the next novel in the Black Box Inc. series to be released because there is still so much to explore.

3 stars = I liked it with nits. Black Box Inc has a world with lots of potential - Multiple dimensions have access to Earth now, so pretty much any mythological race you can think up can turn up. And it has an interesting cast of supporting characters, a sexy Yeti, a banshee lawyer, an uber savy office manager zombie and a banished-from-Faerie weapons expert/assassin. And then there is the main character a human who has the ability to create little dimensional boxes to hide away items for his clients, Chase.

I have a feeling that this is one of those books that would have worked better for me in audio, there is lots of wacky banter between Chase and his crew and the bad guys, that didn't quite click for me in the way that the dialog was laid down on the page, but which might have been a hoot if voiced. And Chase is not at his best in this story, for reasons relating to the plot, which made it hard for me to connect to him, so I am not sure that I would have this problem with the next book. There is a lot of violence in this but it is presented in a insanity fueled way, so I didn't find it that hard to grapple with.

Bottom line, this book had a great mishmash of things that I found interesting and the second book might be worth another look, there is a whole universe of dimensions for the Black Box Inc crew to exploit - em, I mean explore:)

ARC via netGalley

”I’m the defiler of dimensions because my nasty, dirty, human hands play with something that others say no one is supposed to play with.
Fuck ’em.”

An awkward beginning to what could be a great series. Chase Lawter can create boxes out of interdimensional essence, Dim, to hide whatever troubles you in the newly paranormal city of Asheville, North Carolina.

The world building is reminiscent of The Hollows and The Dresden Files, only bigger. Infinite dimensions mean infinite possibilities for the author, but also infinitely available lazy plots. Definite rules make characters, and authors, work harder to be clever. We’ll see.

The ensemble cast was generally likable and I can see how they could grow on me and each other. Teresa the banshee lawyer was my favorite.

There were fun bits of writing:

”Her laugh was like the high tinkle of bells right before the guillotine came slashing down.”

“Don’t be glib,” Teresa said. “There are many races that enjoy that kind of brutal violence. No need to be racist.”

“He laughed a jolly laugh. Like if Santa Claus had a penchant for whores and bathtub gin.”

And painful bits of writing:

”I mean, it’s great you two are chill enough that we aren’t all DEFCON two and shit, but let’s not break Sharon before the cops get here.”

Ugh, don’t speak to me like that unless I’m drunk.

Overall three stars. I’d like to see where this goes.