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

Black Box of Doom Quiz: 20 Questions on Plot, Characters & Themes

Questions

Plot & Sequence (8 questions)

  1. How much money does Ether initially offer Abbott to drive her and the black box to Washington, D.C.?

    • A) $100,000
    • B) $200,000
    • C) $250,000
    • D) $1,000,000

  2. What does Malort discover in the burned desert shack near Victorville?

    • A) A dead body
    • B) A tunnel leading to a dead man’s house
    • C) A cache of weapons
    • D) A charred banner reading “THE FORBIDDEN NUMBERS” only

  3. What item does Abbott leave behind at Ether’s insistence that causes him immediate distress?

    • A) His father’s handgun
    • B) His medication
    • C) His phone and laptop
    • D) His wallet

  4. How does the Navigator finally crash in Tennessee?

    • A) It hits a deer
    • B) It is T-boned by a yellow van after being splashed with pink paint
    • C) Abbott drives it into a lake
    • D) It rolls over after hitting a cactus

  5. What is painted on the side of the Killdozer that attacks Sokolov’s estate?

    • A) ABBOTT
    • B) FORBIDDEN NUMBERS
    • C) BITCOIN
    • D) REVENGE

  6. When the Killdozer crushes the black box, what spills out?

    • A) Radioactive material
    • B) Vintage pornography magazines
    • C) Human remains
    • D) Stolen Bitcoin wallets

  7. What does retired FBI agent Joan Key find hidden inside Phil Greene’s mattress?

    • A) A handgun
    • B) Padded envelopes mailed from a McLean, Virginia PO box
    • C) A map of Washington, D.C.
    • D) Thorium dioxide pendants

  8. How does the group track the black box after Malort steals it from the crash site?

    • A) Through an AirTag inside the box
    • B) With a tracker app on Phil Greene’s phone that Ether recovered from Malort’s van
    • C) By following Sokolov’s private jet
    • D) By monitoring police radio

Character Motivation (5 questions)

  1. Why does Ether (Karen Wozniak) agree to transport the box for $250,000?

    • A) She wants to fund a new YouTube channel
    • B) She needs the money to make anonymous amends to a family she harmed through a swatting incident
    • C) She is in love with Abbott
    • D) She wants to steal the box for herself

  2. Why does Joan Key continue investigating the box even after retiring from the FBI?

    • A) She is being paid by a news network
    • B) She feels a duty to prevent a terror attack and has no other purpose in her retirement
    • C) She wants to prove her old partner wrong
    • D) She is personally connected to Phil Greene

  3. What is Malort’s primary motivation for chasing the black box across the country?

    • A) He wants to sell it to the highest bidder
    • B) It contains mementos of his deceased friend Sundae Greene
    • C) He believes it holds a Bitcoin fortune
    • D) He is hired by the Russian government

  4. What motivates Abbott to continue the journey even after the car crash and his father’s arrival?

    • A) He is trapped and cannot return home, and he wants to see the mystery through
    • B) He hopes to become famous
    • C) Ether threatens him
    • D) He wants to get revenge on the Tattoo Monster

  5. Why does Hunter Coburn fly to Tennessee?

    • A) To retrieve his truck and sue Abbott
    • B) He fears his son will be killed or wrongly convicted and wants to protect him
    • C) He was invited by Joan Key
    • D) He wants to join the online investigation

Theme & Symbol (4 questions)

  1. What does the “black box of doom” primarily symbolize in the novel?

    • Short answer: _________________________________________________

  2. According to Phil Greene’s blog, what do the “Forbidden Numbers” represent?

    • Short answer: _________________________________________________

  3. How does the Killdozer attack on Sokolov’s estate comment on modern society?

    • Short answer: _________________________________________________

  4. What does the character of Gary Sokolov represent in the story?

    • Short answer: _________________________________________________

Synthesis (3 questions)

  1. In what ways does the novel critique online radicalization and hive-mind behavior?

    • Short answer: _________________________________________________

  2. How does the road trip structure help explore themes of trust and isolation?

    • Short answer: _________________________________________________

  3. What does the author’s afterword reveal about the purpose of the book?

    • Short answer: _________________________________________________

Answer Key

1. C) $250,000 In Chapter 2, Ether offers Abbott $250,000 to drive her and the box from Riverside, CA, to Washington, D.C.

2. B) A tunnel leading to a dead man’s house In Chapter 1, Malort finds a burned shack with a tunnel connecting to a dead man’s house. He also discovers a charred banner reading “THE FORBIDDEN NUMBERS,” but the tunnel is the primary discovery.

3. C) His phone and laptop In Chapter 2, Ether insists Abbott leave his devices behind to avoid tracking, causing him physical distress.

4. B) It is T-boned by a yellow van after being splashed with pink paint In Chapter 19, the Navigator is blocked by a van, splashed with pink paint, and then T-boned by a yellow van, sending it rolling into trees.

5. C) BITCOIN In Chapter 26, the Killdozer is painted with the word “BITCOIN,” referencing the driver’s motive of revenge over a Bitcoin bar bet.

6. B) Vintage pornography magazines In Chapter 27, the Killdozer crushes the box, revealing only vintage pornography magazines, not a bomb or corpse.

7. B) Padded envelopes mailed from a McLean, Virginia PO box In Chapter 11, Key discovers these envelopes inside Phil Greene’s mattress, linking the conspiracy to Gary Sokolov.

8. B) With a tracker app on Phil Greene’s phone that Ether recovered from Malort’s van In Chapter 21, Ether retrieves the phone and uses the app to track the box’s location.

9. B) She needs the money to make anonymous amends to a family she harmed through a swatting incident In Chapter 15, Ether reveals her past as an influencer whose actions led to a swatting call that disabled a girl’s father; she wants to send money to atone.

10. B) She feels a duty to prevent a terror attack and has no other purpose in her retirement In Chapter 11 and Chapter 18, Key admits she has nothing else in her life and wants a heroic end, driving her to pursue the box.

11. B) It contains mementos of his deceased friend Sundae Greene In Chapter 28, Malort reflects on his past with Sundae and realizes the box holds her remains and mementos, which he had hoped to retrieve after his release from prison.

12. A) He is trapped and cannot return home, and he wants to see the mystery through Throughout the novel, Abbott’s father’s truck is destroyed, his belongings lost, and he feels compelled to see the journey’s end, as shown in Chapter 20 and later chapters.

13. B) He fears his son will be killed or wrongly convicted and wants to protect him In Chapter 12, Hunter calls Key expressing fear for his son’s safety; in Chapter 20, he arrives at the crash site in tears.

14. Short answer: The black box symbolizes humanity’s tendency to focus on catastrophic possibilities while ignoring progress. In Chapter 17, Ether explains that media algorithms train people to see only disaster, though global indicators are improving.

15. Short answer: Phil Greene’s “Forbidden Numbers” represent social media algorithms that quantify human worth, erode free will, and prime society for authoritarian control, as described in Chapter 23 and Phil’s blog.

16. Short answer: The Killdozer attack illustrates how personal grievances (a Bitcoin bar bet) escalate into destructive acts, and how social media amplifies conspiracy theories (many Reddit users later call the driver a hero), reflecting real-world polarization.

17. Short answer: Gary Sokolov represents the “aggrieved narcissist” (as Key calls him in Chapter 12) who uses wealth and privilege to exploit systems, embodying the self-made myth and the dangers of unchecked power.

18. Short answer: The novel shows this through the Reddit community r/DCTerrorAttack, which spreads competing, false narratives (dirty bomb, alien corpse, missing girl) and through characters like Zeke who try to maintain nuance while the mob amplifies fear.

19. Short answer: The cross-country drive forces Abbott and Ether to confront their prejudices and build trust in a confined space, while being tracked by online mobs and law enforcement, highlighting modern atomization and the difficulty of genuine connection.

20. Short answer: In the afterword, Jason Pargin states the book is fiction, meant to provoke thought rather than provide solutions. He clarifies that the FBI procedures and bomb-making details are not accurate, and characters’ opinions belong only to them, not the author.

For more insights, read the book summary, explore questions and answers, or check the ending explained.