The modern techno-thriller is a tricky one to pull off, not least because the pace of technology is changing. "I'm Starting To Worry About This Black Box Of Doom", as its title suggests, is also a stab at a techno-thriller comedy set more or less in the here and now, and partially told on Twitch and Reddit message boards. It has one of those movie style plots that you don't think would work in real life, and then spends quite a bit of its narrative explaining how the broad ineptitude of modern life means it might just work. Nevertheless it has a bit of a cop out ending to save all of its characters that it has grown fonder of than it imagined in the beginning.

Abbott is a Lyft driver living in LA. Well, he's mainly a full time layabout / gamer / social media obsessive with anxiety, He gets called for a job where a woman (Ether) is sitting on a large black box which she offers him $200,000 cash to take her and that box in his car to Washington, DC. But he is not allowed to tell anyone, ask questions, they have to go right away and he cannot take anything electronic and trackable. Sound dodgy? It does, and he tries to talk his way out of it on a number of occasions but he would really like to move out of his Dad's house, and she is very persuasive when she suggests that he has never done anything spontaneous with his life. And so they head off, with someone who appears to be a crazed killer, a retired FBI operative, Abbott's Dad Hunter and Abbott's Twitch friends all in real world and cyber pursuit.

In the CCTV heavy world we live in, it seems impossible to believe that this vehicle would not be tracked down almost instantly. However the powers that be do not see this suspicious black box with a "radioactive" sticker on it to be any kind of threat. The retired FBI officer sees something very weird connecting cultish behaviour. And no-one links the ruthless bad guy chasing them to the actual case. It all gets increasingly tenuous, and tries to balance on screwball energy whilst having its cake and eating it about the problems with Gen Z/not ruling Gen Z out. Ether is written well inside the manic pixie dream girl stereotype, and Abbott's everyman status is unconvincing, and there are long chunks of arguments / philosophical discussion which don't read as dialogue at all. But it is trying to do something quite interesting, and even as political moments supersede it, and it vaguely wimps out of its own catastrophising, it just about hangs together. But I don't believe for a second none of them wouldn't just get shot.

I like the way Pargin writes and this is a great example. Very fun.
I enjoyed the gambit pileup at the climax and the characters are very well rounded.
The relationship between the main characters developed satisfyingly, as did their arcs
Incisive commentary on society and clear evidence of the author's life experience
Interesting to see a book written with such a tight grasp on internet culture and its effects on the real world

What’s in the box?! No I’m not just quoting the movie Seven but I have to say I was saying and thinking this a lot while reading. Now I obviously will not be spoiling it but I have to say I’m Starting to Worry about This Black Box of Doom was everything I didn’t know I needed in a novel. I adored this book. I literally devoured it in a couple of days, reading on commutes to work, on lunch breaks and at night. I think the main thing I enjoyed was how it was set and cemented in our present. We have numerous cultural and nerdy references throughout including but not limited to cults, reddit and incels.

Now it might be the millennial in me but I loved that and it made me even more engaged. The plot itself is interesting enough to keep me but having moments and things referenced to base this in ‘the real world’ was the icing on the cake. It’s extremely readable not only in style but in tone as well. Smart, funny and also makes you think, not just what’s in the box, but more than that.

I for one will definitely be getting a physical copy and recommending to anyone who listens.

As always thank you to Titan Books and Netgalley for my e-arc. My review is always honest and truthful.

The premise at the heart of the novel is intriguing. I mean, what is in this box? So there's an urgency to find out more and so the novel rattles along at a fair old pace. It's very much a tale of it's time, with references to reddit investigations, area 52, cult tales, incels and much much more. And it sustained my interest for the vast majority of its pages. I thought it petered out a bit towards the end but I was impressed with how fresh and contemporary the book was. It's the type of book I can see getting a lot of positive praise on TikTok and amongst millennial audiences.

I enjoyed this a great deal. It’s fun, funny, smart and very readable. Pargin manages to pull off the trick of taking a dumb (but very enjoyable) caper story and using it to reflect on the modern social media age in a really interesting way. There are a bunch of different threads that get juggled very effectively and come together at the end to make an enormously satisfying conclusion. All in all, a success.

I loved this book! Great characters, a fast-paced race against time, and conspiracies getting out of hand, all accompanied by the acerbic wit and spot-on observations fans of the author will know so well.

While the main story is an entertaining read, there are more layers beneath that will leave you thinking about many issues long after you've finished the book. Highly recommend!

My first time trying this author, and I know I will be going to try out the backlist. At its heart this book is a rally call about the dangers of Social Media, about how quickly the most absurd theory becomes the 'gospel truth'. A darkly humorous thrilling chase across America.
3.5 Stars