I adored the first quarter of I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom. The plot of a loser paid $200K to move a girl with a box labeled radioactive across country and the various online trolls and redditors “interpreting” found social media images of the pair is an innovative idea.
However, once the road trip started, the book was filled with repetitive road trip conversations. While some were funny, most were just stupid people doing, or usually just saying, improbable things. If I was riding on a bus next to these characters, I would definitely find a different seat. Seriously, they are all annoying, and not in the interesting John Dies at the End type of way. The book is also ostensibly political without actually picking a side. Unfortunately, after slugging my way through over 300 pages, the actual contents of the box and the rest of the ending was the ultimate anti-climax.
After loving the earlier books by this author, I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom was a disappointing miss for me. 3 stars.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an advanced review copy.