You never know what to expect when opening a Jason Pargin novel, this goes the same for I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom. Pargin tells a strange road trip tale with huge consequences that had me hooked from the outset.
Outside Los Angeles, a driver pulls up to find a young woman sitting on a large black box. She offers him $200,000 cash to transport her and that box across the country, to Washington, DC. But there are rules: He cannot look inside the box; he cannot ask questions; he cannot tell anyone; they must leave immediately; and he must leave all trackable devices behind. As these eccentric misfits hit the road, rumors spread on social media that the box is part of a carefully orchestrated terror attack intended to plunge the USA into civil war. The truth promises to be even stranger, and may change how you see the world.
If someone offered me $200,000 to drive across the country with them, it would be a very difficult decision to say no. However, after reading I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom my mindset has changed a little. While the deal seems to good to be true, $200,000 is a lot of money to pass up for a little road trip.
While the premise of the story is taking a black book across the United States without knowing what is inside, deep down the tale is about so much more. Pargin expertly weaves in commentary on how technology and social media impact our lives, highlighting both the positives and negatives of our digital age. This gives the story more depth. The use of social media and websites such as Reddit as a plot device is clever while also pointing out that our ability to spout off whatever is in our heads without any proof can be damming to the world we live in and what outcomes we can skew via this privilege.
I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom offers profound insights into society and culture. Despite tackling weighty themes, the novel has a great blend of humor and thought-provoking commentary making for an engaging read that kept me going without setting the novel down. Giving us moments of humor as well as topics that made me think, I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom challenged me to think while enjoying a fiction novel leaving a lasting impression long after I finished the book.
The characters are extremely well written, some easy to connect with while others are a bit more eccentric, each with their own set of quirks and motivations. Pargin skillfully navigates between these perspectives, providing readers with a multifaceted view of the story’s events. Some stories with this many characters can cause me to get confused. However, Pargin does a fantastic job giving them all unique backgrounds to allow me to differentiate between them and follow along with ease.
I was lucky enough to read I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom via audiobook and it was one hell of a listen. Ari Flakes does a fantastic job of narrating with the right amount of gusto and inflection. Flakes allows us to easily know which character was taking the lead in each chapter and gave us the ability to form visualizations in our minds by reading Pargin’s words clearly and with passion. While cracking open a nice new book is always a good time, this one may be more enjoyable with the voice of Flakes in your ears.
Pargin draws us into I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom with thrilling, complex, and innovative storytelling with plenty of twists and turns. His masterful storytelling is on full display and I deeply enjoyed contemplating technology, society, and human nature while laughing and not taking the book too seriously. I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom is a unique experience and was well worth my time.
I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom hits bookstores everywhere on St. Martin’s Press from September 24, 2024. Pre-order the audiobook, narrated by Ari Fliakos, on Libro.fm!
