I'm Starting to Worry about This Black Box of Doom

Pages: 416
Published: 2024
Language: English

Abbott Coburn drives for Lyft in Los Angeles and streams to almost nobody on Twitch. A young woman calling herself Ether offers him $200,000 in cash to drive her and a sealed black box nearly three thousand miles to Washington, DC. The conditions are simple: leave now, leave every trackable device behind, ask nothing, and never open the box.

A stranger films them at a gas station. Within hours the internet has decided the box holds a dirty bomb and that the pair are the opening move in a coordinated attack. A retired FBI agent, an outlaw biker, Abbott's estranged father and a running commentary of strangers online all converge on a road trip that none of them understand, each certain they have worked out what is really going on.

Jason Pargin writes a satirical thriller about the machinery of internet rumour, told through the people who get caught in it. The chase is real, the danger is real, and the explanation everyone has settled on is not the one waiting at the end of the road.

Prose complexity: 4/10

Funny Tense Satirical Thought-Provoking Dark Gritty

Road Trip Mystery Box Multiple POVs Fish Out of Water

Thriller Satire Humor Suspense Mystery

Jason Pargin

Jason Pargin (born 10 January 1975) is an American novelist who writes comic horror and satire. He published his first four books under the pen name David Wong, a name he retired in 2020, and current editions of all of them carry his real name. He was formerly executive editor of Cracked.com. He writes two series: John Dies at the End, which follows John, Dave and Amy through the supernatural mess surrounding their town, and the Zoey Ashe books, which begin with Futuristic Violence and Fancy Sui...