Abbott Coburn is a 26-year-old Lyft driver who is called to a Circle K gas station to take a woman to LAX. When he arrives, he meets Ether, a woman guarding a large black box. She was going to fly from Los Angeles to Washington, DC, but now she needs someone to drive her instead.

Abbott is not into the idea - he has severe anxiety and doesn’t want to spend ten days driving across the country and back, but the $200,000 she offers him soon changes his mind. He agrees, and she tells him the rules: he cannot look in the box, he has to leave all of his electronics behind so they can’t be tracked, and he cannot tell anyone where he’s going or what he’s doing. The problem? Abbott is a Twitch streamer, and while he was at his house packing for the trip, he uploaded a quick video to let his followers know he’d be gone for a while. Oops!

As they embark on their journey, he realizes that someone else wants that black box that Ether is guarding with her life. He’s also about to run out of his anti-anxiety medication. What neither of them know is that a retired FBI agent has gotten involved, and social media comments are flying. On Reddit, people are tracking the pair and discussing what may be in the box. Everything is discussed, from it carrying aliens or a dead body, but the leading conspiracy theory is that they are carrying a nuclear weapon to DC, as they will arrive at their destination on the Fourth of July.

A lot of the book has these threads and comments in it, and it’s fascinating to watch people make up their own minds about what these two strangers have planned. The ending is a huge surprise, but the social media hype leading up to it is even more surprising. We see it every day, but it was really interesting to see the kinds of things people with limited information take as fact.

This book was fun, thrilling, and had great characters. I could not wait until the end to find out what was in the box, and it was definitely a shock. More than the story of Abbott and Ether, this is the story of social media, and how it really does shape the way most of us think. This was super unique and original, and I liked it a lot. This was my first book by this author, but in doubt it will be my last! 4.5 stars, rounded up.

(Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Jason Pargin and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on September 24, 2024.)

Uber driver, Abbott, is hired by Ether to drive her and a mysterious black box across the country. During the course of the drive, we learn that Abbott hasn't done a lot with is life, other than participate in some pretty wacky online chats. Ether has a quite colorful background and together they make their way across the US to deliver the mysterious black box, all the while attracting a variety of people who invent outlandish stories about what is actually in the black box, and why it's being transported across the country.

This book has some fun and humorous moments. It also has a lot of social commentary about our current US culture. I was thoroughly enjoying the story until maybe halfway through when it seemed to just go on and on, and I was really wanting some resolution. The ending was fine, satisfying, I suppose, but I had a sense of relief that I had gotten through it, because it seemed a little too long and a little too much.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

Summary: Abbott is in his twenties and still lives in his father's house, much to his father's chagrin. He is moderately popular on social media and streams himself playing video games on Twitch for income. His father, an ex-Marine who runs a construction company, doesn't believe that's a job and despairs that Abbott will ever make anything of himself. Abbot is also a Lyft™ driver and responds to a call, arriving to pick up an oddly-dressed young woman with green sunglasses who demands that he drive her across the country with a huge black box on wheels, similar to the ones roadies use. Abbott is persuaded by a huge payout and they start out on the journey, although according to the terms of the agreement, he cannot use any technology or be in touch with anyone during the drive. Social media doesn't like a void, and before long, conspiracy theorists are tracking Abbott and GSG (green sunglasses girl) on their journey and expounding outrageous theories about what they are transporting in that mysterious box.

Thoughts: This is a novel with a witty concept and out-there characters. It sounds fun and it is, to a certain point. It reads somewhat like a Guy Ritchie movie in literary form, although some of the characters are much smarter. There are some unpredictable and amusing twists, along with darkly satirical commentary on social media, gender politics, socioeconomic inequality and geopolitical instability. That being said, none of the characters is very engaging or likeable so it is difficult to become invested in any of them. The novel is also bloated with social and political commentary, with some rants that go on for a page and really should be edited down. I wanted to love it, but had to push myself through the final chapters.

I was very pumped to get my hands on a review copy of “I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom” by Jason Pargin. I've been a fan since his first David Wong novel, “John Dies at the End,” which opened a series about two friends who ingest a mysterious drug and are suddenly able to see eldritch horrors hidden to everyone else around them. I came for the eldritch horrors and stayed for the wit, the quirky but solid friendship and the cogent observations on the world at large, not to mention the delightful titles like “What the Hell Did I Just Read,” “This Book Is Full of Spiders” and “If This Book Exists, You're in the Wrong Universe.” My fandom now extends to Jason Pargin's social media, where he has turned the cogent observations into an online brand that might be the 21st century incarnation of Andy Rooney (and I mean that in the nicest way) with daily observations on movies, science, modern life, any and all subjects. He's like that one friend you have who's always spouting weird facts and every once in a while a profound thought.

In “Black Box of Doom,” Pargin leaves behind the eldritch horrors and his series characters. We meet some new people, and any horror is all too real as he explores the black box of doom we call the internet. Abbott Coburn is a Twitch streamer with a modest following, which of course doesn't pay the bills, so he's also a Lyft driver. He picks up a fare who persuades him to drive her from Los Angeles to DC with a big black box that has to arrive on July 4, just over a week away. The pay is too good to turn down, so in spite of being a bundle of neuroses and it being his dad's car (which he suspects his dad loves more than he loves Abbott), he says yes, and starts a cross-country trip that fuels an internet frenzy. Jason Pargin's account of the frenzy is pitch-perfect, starting with the small seed of Abbott's quick online post telling his followers he'll be offline for a bit, and progressing through the disjointed chat and speculation, then to people posting online sightings of Abbott and his passenger, and the wild theories that then become accepted facts that fuel even wilder speculation. Interspersed are updates on people who are following the pair not digitally but real-time; a scary guy who has pretty much GOT to be played by Dave Bautista in the movie, Abbott's furious dad, and a retired FBI agent who has her own wild theory about the black box.

I honestly prefer to be scared by otherworldly creatures who can't really get me, but Pargin manages to keep the tone amusing, more of a Donald Westlake or Carl Hiaasen feel than, say, Cormac McCarthy. But Jason Pargin will never be mistaken for one of my Golden Age cozies. As in the David Wong books, the dialogue and narration are profane, whip-smart and unmistakably NOW. Pargin's style works whether the horrors are supernatural or all-too-natural. All thumbs up – go get Black Box of Doom now, and thank me later.

Wildly entertaining and thought-provoking, "I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom" isn't entirely about the titular black box, but rather, it's also about the silos of isolation created by modern technology.

The cast of characters was diverse, interesting, and humorously drawn, while the story was straightforward until it suddenly *wasn't*. Just when I thought that the book was merely hilarious, it would come around and slap me in the face with some truth about a character and how it made them flawed -- or more human.

The verisimilitude of the social media portions of this book had me howling with laughter, and likewise, the insane slapstick of some of the situations in which our MCs wound up. I think some aspects of the 'truth-telling' parts of the story may be a little bit on-the-nose, but I also think they have a lot of heart and thought behind them.

Well worth a read if you have a sense of humor, a Reddit account, and a taste for wacky plot-foo.

As a longtime reader of Jason Pargin's (and formerly David Wong's materials) both on Cracked and John Dies at the End novels, I was excited for another standalone novel. As an internet writer, Mr. Pargin's been astute at keeping up with the internet zeitgeist, creating numerous on point commentaries on Tik Tok and you see a lot of those same themes from his Tik Tok in this novel.

The premise begins as advertised about the protagonist encountering a strange woman who offers him 200k in cash (100k now and another when they arrive) to drive her cross country from Southern California to Washington D.C. As part of the bargain, he has to ditch his cell phone and all tracking devices and also transport this black box accompanying her and he cannot open or ask her what's in the box. What appears to be a potential Bonnie and Clyde adventure soon unfolds in a unique manner told through a variety of related and peripheral characters. Abbott Coburn, the main character isn't the most sympathetic nor is he sadly a rare archetype in 2024 either. Early twenties, lives at home, has no sable job prospects or income, and otherwise streams himself playing video games and reviewing fast food to his online community. The story unfolds through the introduction of other characters along with snippets of the vast conspiracies that unfold online as snippts pick up from his adventure online.

Told from the third person perspective with a variety of related characters that we're slowly introduced to along the way, there's a lot of jam packed commentary from the characters, particularly the female character who makes the offer, Ether, that seems to be a mouthpiece for many of Mr. Pargin's Tik Toks. At times it appears Mr. Pargin's speaking to Abbott through Ether with her rants with Abbott serving as a sort of proxy for many isolated young males living only online today. .We also meet Abbott's father, Hunter, a workaholic roofer who owns his own company. Joan Key, a retired FBI agent who follows Abbott and Ether. Malort, an ex-biker chasing the box, and more. Nonetheless, the adventure plays out with the aforementioned colorful characters and ends a uniquely satisfying way that I won't endeavor to spoil any further. If you're a fan of any of Jason Pargin's works, humor novels, adventure, or a story that's keenly attuned to American attitudes in 2024, I highly recommend this novel.

This book was quite the roller coaster. A biting social commentary on the social media age while at the same time entertaining and fun. It is a quick read and quite the zany adventure. Multiple POVs were done well but the author definitely had a point or two to make, all of which are true.
This was my first book by Jason Pargin and I'll definitely look up his other books. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom is a new novel from Jason Pargin that is outside of the John/Dave and Zoey universes. The story focuses on Abbot and Ether as they transport a black box across the country. Who are these people? What are their intentions? And what is inside that black box? A satirical take on the power of social media disinformation where nothing and everything is simultaneously true. Schrödinger would approve. 4/5 stars

Review of Uncorrected Digital Galley

When Abbott Coburn accepts a trip for Lyft, he finds himself at Los Angeles International Airport. His passenger, Ether, seated on a large black box, insists the box must be in Washington, D.C. in four days . . . and won’t he drive her there with the box?

Abbott is understandably reluctant, but she offers two hundred thousand dollars . . . and how could Abbott possibly refuse, even if she won’t allow him to ask any questions?

But what makes the box so important? And, oh my goodness, WHAT IS IN THE BOX?

=========

Filled with complicated, very human, and sometimes unlikable characters, the telling of this dark tale imparts is message concerning social media, internet trolls, and mob mentality. At times the narrative is extremely political; Abbott is given to rants and diatribes that can be frustrating for the reader. Filled with both anxiety and hilarity, crux of the narrative is the control social media holds over peoples’ lives.

Readers will find much to consider as the story plays out . . . much more than the simple [?] transport of a woman and a box across the country. At times, it closely resembles a comedy of errors; other times, the story is thought-provoking and spot-on in its observations.

Recommended, especially for readers who enjoy Jason Pargin’s writings.

I received a free copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
#ImStartingToWorryAboutThisBlackBoxOfDoom #NetGalley

A Lyft driver agrees to drive a mysterious woman with a mysterious box from California to just outside of DC in time for July 4. For understandable reasons, a subset of the internet generates conspiracy theories about it; a retired FBI agent is also concerned; and also it turns out there’s an ex-con after them, willing to do substantial harm to get the box. It’s all Pargin’s unique combination of not-quite-satire and “barely plausible absurd thing happens,” and I enjoyed it despite being the kind of always-online person he suggests is likely in deep trouble.

I liked this book a lot. It is definitely a departure from his other books. It is a comedy and crazy stuff happens but the zany things that normally happens weren't there. I'd say it's his most "normal" book so far. Four stars. It is my least favorite of his but I do enjoy his ridiculous zaniness present in his other work. Definitely worth a read especially of you're a Pargin fan.

The premise of this book was so promising, but I couldn't seem to get into it. Abbott is unlikeable and a hard character to root for. I found myself struggling to stick with this one, despite wanting to know what everyone wanted with the box.

Hard not to compare this to John Dies at the End, but I think to enjoy this it has to be held in a different regard. Put his previous works out of your head, and this is a fun thriller/satirical note on our weird tech and connection obsessed world. Flawed in a lot of ways (weird mid story choices, in my opinion) with some stuff that's hard to swallow when you're not expecting it (suicidality, for one). A solid 4 star read.

Somehow this book is typical Jason Pargin and yet not at all. The humor throughout is ridiculous and pure gold, but this was also a story that made me feel uncomfortable. Uncomfortable in a way that hit too close to home on the realities of being too connected to our social media, smart tech world. It was definitely an unexpected ride!

The premise of the book is undeniably compelling. The author is a masterful explainer of the intricacies of modern living - check out his Instagram/TikTok page for a taste of what I mean. I have followed him since he was back at Cracked.com and make it a point to listen to podcasts he is interviewed on because he always has a fresh perspective on things. His other books are genuinely unique in their storytelling and invention and he has a keen eye for believable character motivation.

That being said, I don't think the payoff quite rises to the level of the set-up. Part of the issue I feel comes from telling the story from the perspective of so many different characters, while remaining in third-person narration. We never get enough of many of the characters to really get a grasp on how their perspectives differ or why we are seeing it from their perspective instead of just telling the story through straight third-person. It is a bit confusing as a framing device - especially in a macguffin style mystery - because we need to constantly be keeping track of what information each character knows and tracking their actions in relation to those facts.

It is super interesting how he tackles the zeitgeist in relation to the intersection of social media, news, internet infamy, and misogyny. I applaud him for his insights on the big questions of our moment in history, however it is difficult to truly separate the characters from the author creating them. They end up thinking and talking in ways that seem centrally controlled and conceived, instead of out of the improvisation of life. In his other books where the narrative and perspective is less fragmented between characters, the unmistakable voice of the author is better obscured or at least more attributable to the singular protagonists.

ok so… i loved most of this book HOWEVER during the mid 200 pages it had a weird habit of breaking off into long ramble rants about society, capitalism, etc that kind of took me out of the book. also like this book is the most gen z thing rive ever read, like bitcoin, furry porn, and buc-ees all make an appearance (seriously). nitpicking aside, i was very impressed how well the 6+ povs were managed, and thought most of the book was lots of fun, especially the climax "fight". solid 3/5

When you previously had a stellar experience with an author’s work, you’re naturally going to compare everything else he writes with that initial book, or in this case, books. I’m a big fan of the “John Dies at the End” series, or JDATE, for short. As I read each of those I went on an adventure with well crafted characters I cared about and found myself astounded by the brilliant twists and turns of the story. I also appreciated the laugh out loud humor throughout.

This one was….very different. I hate to give Pargin a bad rating in general, but I just didn't enjoy this book and had a hard time even finishing it. (More on that, later.) So I have to be honest. The basic concept is interesting and sounds like a fun, wild ride, but instead the story was just stressful, too steeped in political ranting and populated by characters that were nearly impossible to like. (*I don't hide from politics in art, but I generally don't seek them out when I'm trying to decompress or be entertained, is what I'm saying!)

I'm going to try to keep this part short, but my biggest problem was the main character, Abbott. I think he's meant to be the primary protagonist, but he's actual garbage. A woman-hating Incel, (*the book's word, not mine*), a lot of his dialogue consists of long, volatile diatribes. It’s very difficult to go along on this journey with him. It's a very different experience than JDATE, where the characters have flaws for sure but they’re still worth rooting for in the end. In those books the characters are self-proclaimed assholes, but at times they can be assholes with hearts of gold despite themselves. Abbott is insufferable. It got to a point where whenever I saw that he had an entire paragraph of dialogue, I skipped over it. Do I do this often with books? Hardly ever. His partner for the roadtrip, a girl named Ether, was also sometimes working my last nerve but I think she was designed that way. And she at least had redeeming qualities. (But oh boy, was she chatty!)

There are moments in their journey when, despite his personality and extreme anxiety, Abbott just can’t HELP but assist strangers, including women. I was not buying it. Especially since this was sandwiched around the scenes of Abbott in the car spewing hateful rhetoric at Ether for pages worth of dialogue. He wasn’t learning to be a better person, and there was not a better person lurking somewhere underneath. As I stated before with JDATE, the author absolutely knows how to write layered characters though. What was the point of Abbott? He wasn't funny or charming. The anxiety was relatable at first, but he lost me with the whining. Did I buy the possibility that he was even capable of a character arc? Sadly, no. Maybe I'm being too harsh and unforgiving. Wicked sad, I hate that for me.

The read eventually became tedious. If Abbott wasn’t ranting about everything being awful then Ether was going on and on for pages about nonsense that I didn’t care about. I wasn’t invested in a single one of these people. The only character that I kind of liked and found to be interesting was Key, the ex FBI agent, and in the end another character that I can't elaborate on because it's kind of a spoiler. I’ll be completely honest: I skimmed through the last 20% just to see how the story ended. I didn’t want to completely DNF it, (okay, I did), but I figured I should at least see the resolution. I was left with an empty feeling.

What did Pargin do well here? Good mock-ups of Reddit posts, usernames, etc. (A Hellscape, basically.) Although, I think that adding typos to the posts would have made them even more realistic. Abbott is a Twitch streamer and my personal experience as a participant in the chat rooms on that app is very different from the one depicted in this book, but I also mainly watch content creators who are funny, creative and amazing and most of them are also part of the LGBTQA+ community so that makes a big difference. Pargin did a decent job of portraying the frightening mob mentality of humanity. This is a very political book. It's about the stupidity of internet trolls, about letting negativity and fear (and pessimistic media) control your life. Oddly enough, it's also about how you can never fully tell who the good guys and the bad guys are just by their appearance. I liked that one. (I’m sorry to keep harping on this, but I think Abbott was the worst character even at the end of the book and so were his followers.)

I still think Pargin is very creative and has a great sense of humor, but personally I recommend reading the JDATE books.

Biggest TW: Suicide, Substance abuse, Domestic terrorism, Incel ranting, Sexism, Mention of animal harm, Mention of child harm

OH MY GOODNESS but I LOVED this book!! I have had "John Dies at the End" on my TBR list for years, yet somehow it always seems to sit on the shelf. No more. Now that I know the wonder that is the snark of David Wong/Jason Pargin, I'm immediately going in search of John, then Zoey, then anything else he's written...

This man gets it.

I'm so over social media and the whinging and whining and over-analyzing that surrounds it, yet I can't seem to avoid it. Pargin has taken on the topic of the madness that is online rage and grievance and absolutely nailed the challenges, problems, and idiocies associated with it - and he's done it in an entirely engaging, entertaining, hilarious way that drops pearls of insight on every other page but without ever losing sight of the main objective of the book: to tell a hilarious journey-adventure story.

I loved absolutely everything about this one. The pacing, the characters, the language - it's all spot-on perfect for the tale he's trying to tell. It doesn't hurt that I, too, am a Gen Xer who seems to relate intrinsically to the type of story he is telling. I share many of his character's inherent concerns/biases/confusion about certain aspects of the modern world, such that the way he crafted his fictional world resonated with me on so many levels.

This was a hilarious, dark, scary and spot-on look at the way the internet has opened up so many potential caverns under the feet of the unwary (which, unfortunately, seems to be most of us in the end). It was an incredibly fun read and I can't say enough good things!

This book takes so many twists and turns it was a wild ride. It starts with the simple task of transporting a box and then the wild journey continues. This book is the perfect example of how a simple concept can be so entertaining. I highly recommend this book because of the wild ride it takes you and the twist and turns that occur.

"I'm Starting to Worry about this Black Box of Doom" by Jason Pargin offers a darkly humorous take on modern America's age of anxiety through a thrilling road trip narrative. In this standalone novel, a driver outside Los Angeles encounters a young woman with a mysterious black box. She offers him $200,000 to transport her and the box to Washington, DC, under strict conditions: no looking inside the box, no questions, no telling anyone, and they must leave immediately without any trackable devices.

As they journey across the country, speculation swirls on social media that the box is central to a terror plot aimed at destabilizing the nation. Pargin expertly mixes suspense with dark humor, crafting a story that is as engaging as it is reflective of societal fears and conspiracies. The plot thickens with each chapter, building to a revelation that challenges the reader's perception of reality. This novel is a clever, satirical look at trust, truth, and the power of secrecy in a hyper-connected world.