I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom cover art

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

A Novel

Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

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

By: Jason Pargin
Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £14.37

Buy Now for £14.37

About this listen

A standalone darkly humorous thriller set in modern America's age of anxiety, by New York Times bestselling author Jason Pargin.

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.
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.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

Adventure Dark Humour Literature & Fiction Science Fiction Thriller & Suspense Witty

Critic reviews

"Strident and timely, the dark humor of this wild standalone adventure from Pargin evokes satirists like Kurt Vonnegut and Douglas Adams for a new age... It’s a raucous roller-coaster ride." — Publisher's Weekly

"A road trip through America that is equal parts hilarious and terrifying. Jason understands humanity better than most, and it’s inspiring that his diagnosis is ultimately optimistic." — Daniel O'Brien, Senior Writer, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

"I was hooked from the first page. If I'm honest, from the first sentence or two. Jason has a rare gift for delivering High Weirdness coated in a sticky layer of real life, deeply relatable shit that forces you to see yourself in whatever weirdo or maniac he introduces. It's a rare gift, but he's got a lot of those. You should read this book." — Robert Evans, Host of Behind the Bastards

“Jason Pargin’s curse is a brain that can make sense of what we’re all living through. His gift is an ability to take the key elements -- paranoia, screen addiction, deep loneliness, fear of the end times -- and hocus-pocus them into a comic thriller. Illuminatus! for an even weirder time, and with much cooler cars.” — David Weigel, national political reporter, Semafor

“Jason Pargin has a unique grasp on all the ways our relationship with information technology has warped our brains and our society as a whole. This latest work is a fun, socially relevant, and propulsive work of satire. Well, mostly satire: The way its characters fabricate dangerous narratives out of whatever information they can access is terrifyingly true to life. I felt personally called out a dozen times and I loved every page of it.” — Matthew Kitchen, Editor, Chron

All stars
Most relevant
Jason Pargin tells such wonderful, terrifying stories. Every character is written with such care, especially when they are irredeemably awful. This book is so relevant it hurts, and will appeal to anybody who has had their heart in their throat at the thought of losing their phone. It's uncomfortable, enthralling and worryingly prophetic all at once and I for one demand more.

Jason Pargin does it again!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

his best book so far. laugh out loud moments and some interesting perspectives put across

What's in the box?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Brilliant storytelling,excellent narration, just an out and out five star story. I went in blind and so should you. thank me later!

An amazing book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

What a wacky story. I really liked how it pulled on so much modern pop culture and simultaneously offered thought provoking philosophical concepts that, honestly, I think just pass most folk by. Also, the authors words at the end - brilliant.
Take a bow! I follow him on TikTok and his videos are brilliant. That’s what put me on to this book. I’m now away to look up his other work.

Thoroughly enjoyable and insightful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I really appreciate the effort put into the vocal performance. Each character has their own voice.

Outstanding Narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews