“But there are rules,” she said, a finger in the air. “You can’t look in the box. You can’t ask me what’s in the box. And you can’t tell anyone where we’re going until it’s over. After that, you can tell anyone anything you like. But no one can come looking for us.”
If you’re a fan of the horror series John Dies at the End or any of the books in that set, then prepare yourself for another Jason Pargin adventure that is nothing like those.
Having come off the John Dies series (4 books at the moment), I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked this up. I wasn’t even sure what to expect when I was half way through it.
Then I got to the end and I thought, “Huh, that’s not what I was expecting at all.” And that’s okay, because it’s a really fun book that will make you start thinking about the world and questioning reality as you know it. Not in a cosmic existential sort of way, but more along the lines of, how has humanity really gotten to the point where we are now?
Brief Synopsis
Abbott finds himself on the road trip of a lifetime, transporting a mysterious box, and an equally mysterious girl, from LAX to Washington, D.C. The promise is $200,000 in cold, hard cash, as long as he doesn’t ask what’s in the box, try to open it, or pry too much into the backstory of the girl calling herself “Ether”. The gotcha? Abbott is a recluse who livestreams and only drives for Lyft because his ex-marine dad hates seeing him sit in front of his computer all day. The journey starts as most do, with the duo being tracked by an ex-biker named Malort, an ex-FBI agent looking to make a new name for herself, Abbott’s dad, and an entire Reddit community.
And they have no idea what’s coming.
Plot/Pacing
The story is delivered from the viewpoint of around half-a-dozen characters, and takes place over the span of four or so days. Now, I’ll preface this by saying I went into this book with no idea what it was actually about. I was expecting something along the lines of John Dies at the End, so the first half of the book seemed kind of uneventful until I realized what kind of story I was reading. It might seem a little slow at first, but it’s actually setting up the 2nd half of the story when everything goes down, and looking back on it, it’s actually done really well. When I got to the 2nd half, and things started going to sh*t, I had a hard time putting the book down. You just have to realize what kind of book you’re reading and it will all make sense. But even so, the story is paced well, and at first I thought it would be annoying to constantly switch between so many characters, but it actually worked incredibly well and helped build out the entirety of the story that happens in a relatively short period of time.
World Building
There’s honestly not much in terms of world building in this. 80% of the story takes place on the road in a Lincoln Navigator, with the other 20% being in various homes or parking lots from the view points of other characters. If you’ve ever taken a road trip (I’ve driven from Los Angeles to Chattanooga 6 times) you’ll instantly know what I mean and the vibe of the story will make a lot more sense.
Character Building & Development
The characters are simultaneously the most interesting and most irritating part of this book. And that’s what makes it work so well. When you meet Abbott, you either instantly understand him, or you instantly can’t stand him, because he’s such a realistic character. The same goes for “Ether”. They could be anybody that you meet on the street. Abbott’s locked in his introvert shell like it’s a panic room, and Ether? She’s the kind of character you seriously consider smothering with a pillow because she. just. will. not. shut. up. And then you add in the multitude of other characters that although not directly involved (at first) still manage to f*ck things up as the story progresses.
It’s honestly kind of scary how much it reflects real life.
Themes & Vibes
This entire book reads like a train wreck. Once you realize what you’re involved in, it’s really hard to break your focus away from it. I really liked the way the characters interacted with each other, and how they responded to life in general. They are literally the every day people that you meet throughout life, and you wonder how they got to where they are. The story has a slight dystopian feel to it, but as you progress through the story you realize; that’s just life. I think that’s the biggest thing I appreciated about the book. It’s just people making decisions (albeit super wrong ones at times) and then trying to navigate the fallout. And that’s just what life is.
Also, the suspense in this book is tremendously well done. I don’t think there was any point where I had an honest idea of where the story was going to go, and I had no idea how the characters were going to fare. Some books are good, and you can see the ending coming a mile away. This book was not that.
Recommend Worthy?
Definitely. This is a fun book, and I’d absolutely recommend it to anyone looking for a wild read filled with chaos, suspense, emotional messiness, and just the right amount of absurdity. The characters are irritating—but relatable—and you end up getting attached to their stories, because most of them are someone you know… or maybe you are that person.
