I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin

Jason Pargin has a way of writing characters and scenarios that make you think. I mean, realllly think.

This novel is a humorous, honest, biting critique of our current internet-dominated society. It opens the conversation about isolation and anger, miscommunication between family and strangers, what it means to be human and happy.

You're not going to like every character (or maybe you are)...but that's the point. Pushing past discomfort to analyze why you're uncomfortable, or, why something doesn't bother you.

If you want an insightful, timely, funny read, pick this Pargin novel up September 24th.

Thank you to @NetGalley and @JasonKPargin for the advance reader's edition.




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This book just wasn't for me. I liked the concept of this book, but unfortunately, I didn't like the end result. Some parts of this novel were fun and clever, but I wanted more depth from the main character. This book is cute and harmless, but I like novels that are quirkier and eccentric.

A couple of years ago, I found myself unfollowing Jason Pargin on Instagram because he had become a Video Observer guy, i.e. he’ll throw up a screenshot of whatever behind him and Talk About It for a while

This felt like an entire book dedicated to that “observing” of reddit, and it reeeeeeeally didn’t work for me. There’s not really any significant commentary to be had, and while Pargin’s author’s note suggests that it’s intended to be “thought-provoking,” the thought I remember having most was, “oh brother.” There was maaaaaybe an opportunity to be had for the “black box” concept to be clever, but the second the title starts appearing within the book, it lands with a fat thud. Additionally, the prose kind of toes a line between humor and seriousness, but it never really tilts in either direction. It’s like, I could observe when I was experiencing either a funny or poignant moment, but I wasn’t experiencing those emotions. Closest I got to a laugh was a few sharp breaths at the Reddit posts

I do feel sad about this, as I have a decade-spanning affection for the John Dies at the End series. I adored it in high school, and when I met my husband, I actually mailed a copy to his house. I’ve gifted it to a few people. I disliked I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom so much that it made me reevaluate ever having loved the JDATE series. Bummer!

"Speculative Fiction "is becoming my new favorite genre. It is nearly always a commentary on our culture and "what if"? scenarios reminiscent of the classic show "The Twilight Zone." And what a title!

Abbott picks up Ether as a Lyft and quickly embarks on a cross country adventure. She has a large black box and they are not allowed top open it, but it must be in Washington DC in four days. $200,000 is on the line. His dad is worried when he sees Abbott is gone and the mind hive of reddit gets involved. Drama ensues!

My favorite part of the book is some of the conversations that Ether and Abbott have on the road. She helps him see things differently and how we can be subject to propaganda through media and how we can become the product instead of the customer. There were 3 or 4 conversations that were definitely intriguing.

The ending was...interesting.

Thanks to @netgalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC. Book to be published September 24, 2024.

What a wild ride. This one is different enough from both the Zoey and JDATE series. I would consider it more of a comedy thriller. There could not be a better time for this book to come out. Abbot and Esther's dynamic is such a wild ride to read. I love that this book has multiple points of view. We get to see the situation from all sides, and it's so much fun. Can't wait for everyone to pick this one up this fall.

I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom is a dark humor novel. I enjoyed the first quarter. But then the narrative just seemed to drag on without going anywhere. It then began to be a tedious read with me wanting to get to the end as quickly as possible. I think part of the problem for me were the many multiple points of view. There were at least six and possibly more. And I got lost with the streaming chats on the main character's social media account.

I was hoping for a bit more substance (thriller/mystery) rather than conversation and thoughts about the situation at hand. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy dark/snarky humor. But this novel didn't deliver or appeal to me as much as it did for other readers. A DNF at 32%

I was invited to read a DRC from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley. This review is completely my own and reflects my honest thoughts and opinions.

What a wild ride and journey you take reading I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom.

Abbott Coburn when approached at gas station to by Ether to drive him and the mystery black box across the country and back for $200,000 he simply cannot refuse.

There are rules Abbot (full of anxiety) has to follow: don't look in the box and no devices that people can track him with.

If it sounds to good to be true then it often is.

Considering someone else wants this black box and the madcap journey begins.

The FBI is tracking, social media is buzzing.

No spoilers here so as not to ruin the fun for the reader with this cast of delightful, quirky and laugh out loud moments.

This was my first but not last Jason Pargin book.

Don't miss out on this wild adventure, grab your copy and you wont be disappointed.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press for the copy of I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin. The description was intriguing - what was in the box that was so important? Where were they going? I had a tough time getting interested in the characters. There were so many and they were all too quirky for me to care about, or to be realistic. This had potential, it just wasn’t the right book for me. 3 stars.

This book was a wild ride. It gave me Dirk Gently and Utopia vibes, along with that John Dies at the End feeling, naturally. While it got a bit too pedantic at times, overall I was pleasantly surprised by the story and even how it tied things up in the end.

I've been reading Jason Pargin since he was David Wong. He's so weird and wild, with such a distinctive way of talking about people and telling stories. This book isn't related to one of his series, but it's just as weird. A rideshare driver reluctantly agrees to transport this black box of doom, with no idea of how wild this ride is going to be. The book is a little long, but definitely action packed and with his trademark dark humor. Hopefully, there will be many more to come from this fascinating author. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this.

**4 out of 5 stars**

*An Entertaining and Thought-Provoking Ride*

Jason Pargin's *I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom* is an engaging and thought-provoking read that blends humor, horror, and existential dread in a way that only Pargin can. The novel is a wild ride from start to finish, full of unexpected twists, darkly comic moments, and deep reflections on the nature of reality.

Pargin's signature style—witty, irreverent, and often bizarre—shines through in this book. The story's premise, revolving around a mysterious black box that seems to defy the laws of physics and logic, serves as a perfect vehicle for exploring some of the big questions about existence, technology, and the human condition. The characters are quirky and well-drawn, and their interactions provide plenty of laughs and food for thought.

What really stands out is Pargin's ability to balance the absurd with the profound. While the plot can get a bit chaotic at times, with some threads feeling slightly underdeveloped, the overall experience is both entertaining and intellectually stimulating. Fans of Pargin's previous work, especially those who enjoy his unique blend of horror and humor, will find much to love here.

However, the book's complexity and occasional narrative tangents might not be for everyone. Some readers might find themselves lost in the more surreal aspects of the story or wishing for a tighter plot. But for those who appreciate Pargin's offbeat storytelling, *I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom* is a satisfying and memorable read.

Overall, this book delivers on its promise of a bizarre and enjoyable journey, even if it leaves you with more questions than answers. If you're a fan of dark humor and speculative fiction that challenges your perceptions, this book is definitely worth your time.

With a title like this, I just had to see what this black box was! This was a wild ride; Clever and funny and action packed and suspenseful and just a wild good time! I loved it all.

The premise of Jason Pargin's newest novel would make an excellent clickbait headline: What is in the black box being transported to the nation's capitol, and what do we know about the influencer and Uber driver transporting it? This built-in drama makes sense for a book concerned with virality and the spread of information in the age of social media. I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom begins as a road trip novel and slowly transforms into a philosophical inquiry into a wide range of hot button issues, including misinformation, the rise of incel culture, the intrusion of online conflict into lived reality, and the impact of existential negativity on the way people see the world.

Pargin's interest seems to be more in interpreting and critiquing our particular cultural moment than in the complexities of his characters, and while I found many of the ideas in the novel compelling, I was bored by long conversations that functioned more as explorations of hot button issues than organic outgrowths of character personalities. I loved the inclusion of posts on Reddit message boards to track the way that small mysteries (what's in the box?) take on the weight of contemporary conspiracy (is it Russian? alien? nuclear?), but it wasn't until the end of the novel that I felt drawn into the human drama of the main characters' competing interests and experiences. In general, the bit players were more interesting to me than Ether and Abbott, the drivers. As an artifact of the impact of technology on our self-perception and relationships with others, I'm Starting to Worry is a worthwhile read; as a novel, it leaves something to be desired.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of response from St. Martin's Press for the racist, Islamophobic, and queerphobic comments made by one of their employees I cannot review this title.I tried holding off on sending this "review" to give SMP time to do the right thing in response to this boycott, but I can't have this continuing to hurt my feedback ratio when it's out of my control.

A Lyft driver who would much rather be at home streaming on Twitch pulls up to find a woman around his age sitting in a parking lot with a large black box. The woman (Ether) offers the driver (Abbott) $200,000 to load up the box and drive her and it across the country from California to a Washington D.C. area suburb in time for the Fourth of July holiday in a few days. But there are certain things he must agree to: no phone, laptop, or GPS. No questions about or looking in the box. No one can know about what they are doing, why they are doing it, or where they are going. Suspicious but unable to find a way to say no to the increasingly desperate woman, Abbott agrees, leaving a cryptic video on his Twitch channel and a note for his father before the trip begins. What seems like an exceedingly strange but straightforward job quickly escalates into a cross-country manhunt fueled by rumor, speculation, and conspiracy theories.

I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom is a book that defies easy classification. It has humor and action, suspense and mystery, family conflict and untraditional friendship. Author Jason Pargin also uses his pages to write about our current culture at the extremes, how much has changed in culture and society, and the arguments offered that we are better off or on the edge of annihilation.

The book is likely longer than it needs to be. Maybe Pargin goes on too long at times, expounding on conspiracy theories and using his characters to explain diverging viewpoints on deeply divisive topics. It feels like a little much at times. Even so, the story is propulsive and interesting--even if you just want to finally find out what, exactly, is in the black box.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advance reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions.

Jason Pargin (aka David Wong) is a master of the catchy titles: after his “John Dies At the End” horror series, he’s written “This Book Is Full of Spiders,” “What the Hell Did I Just Read?,” “Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick,” and “If This Book Exists, You're in the Wrong Universe.” “I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom” is also specifically descriptive since we’re reading about an anxious Lyft driver named Abbott hired to transport a box that he’s forbidden to open cross-country for a $200,000 fee.

There are a lot of characters, a story told via social media concerns, some tilt towards politics and corporations, and lots of weird (the word “weird” or “weirdo” is repeated 50 times). It was a challenge to make sense of the plot, but, of course, I needed to know what was in the box, too. I’m not sure who the target audience is — this is an esoteric humor (who still gets laughs out of “titty bars?”), but I know Pargin has a dedicated audience who will probably enjoy this. 3.5 stars….not for me but maybe for you.

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): NO No green ones, but just the normal concern about aliens with big black eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO Discussion occurs about the benefits of flower delivery vans.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

A departure from his earlier titles, this book from JP seems like more of a social commentary, albeit one full of car chases, murderous showdowns and internet misdirection. All in all, a lot of fun and it’s brought up some things I’ll be thinking about for awhile.

This book was wild! I don’t know what I really expected going into it but the ride the story took me on was incredible.

This is a great and original book combining so many elements. of character, humor, farce, and social commentary.. When a YouTuber/ne'er do well gets recruited to help a woman transport a mysterious box to Washington DC by July 4. The Internet chatrooms where he is active become obsessed with the contents of the box and the motives and relationship of the people, digging up all kinds of real or imagined backstory based on assumptions from the few photos and quotes they have. People try to interfere with the delivery and the pair have amazing adventures and discussions around the very internet phenomena that brought them to notoriety/infamy. There are tons of examples reinforcing their concerns about people doing things for shock value, cancel culture and the forbidden numbers that break people's self=delusions.
This is a great book for both fun and just a step past our world.

This darkly humorous novel is a very entertaining look at our changing society and internet culture. An eccentric-looking young woman with a large black box in tow hires a Lyft driver for transport. Ether is flustered, under a tight deadline and strict instructions of confidentiality by her employer . . . a rich man who will spare no expense to receive the package by the date given. The nervous driver, Abbot, is taken aback when Ether offers him a large sum of cash to drive her across the country. To travel from their current location in California to D.C. in the span of five days, reaching the requested destination on July 4th. Ether lays down some heavy ground rules for Abbot that bring his anxiety levels to new heights. Is the money truly worth enduring the stress of taking off so suddenly without his phone, without any word to friends or family . . . to endure all the eerie urgency and secrecy?  When Abbot’s concerned father returns home to find a strange note and his son gone under somewhat suspicious circumstances, he reaches out online, to fish for information. Has Abbot naively put himself in danger? He relays his fears to the faceless group who claim to be his best friends and in just a few hours . . . his little fishing expedition ignites into a full-blown feeding frenzy. During their cross-country travels, rumors abound and stir some net users to action.
What’s contained in the sealed box? Neither of them knows. To risk finding out would forfeit all payment for the job.

The hive mind conglomerate amasses into a hunt for Abbott and his shady female companion . . . to thwart the growing threat that’s headed straight for our nation’s capital.

Can the duo avoid capture and deliver the box in time? Will the mysterious contents of the box change the landscape of our nation and launch a civil war? Find out September 24, 2024!

I thank NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom for my unbiased evaluation.  3.5 stars