Black Bag

by Luke Kennard

An out-of-work actor accepts the role of a lifetime—sitting soundlessly in a lecture theater, zipped into a large leather bag—to aid a professor’s psychological experiment. What could possibly go wrong?

In Luke Kennard’s audacious new novel, a penniless and out-of-work actor picks up a job working for Dr. Blend, a university professor who is conducting a psychological experiment. How will Dr. Blend’s students react to someone zipped into an oversized bag, sitting at the back of the lecture hall over a series of Fall lectures? The role, eagerly accepted, soon has unexpected consequences. A professor of post-humanism develops research questions of her own—in particular, can you love someone secreted away inside a black bag?—and the actor’s childhood friend forms a vision for monetizing this new situation . . .

A warped campus novel, an investigation into the crisis of masculinity, and an off-kilter love story, Black Bag is a firework of a blazingly funny and profoundly humane.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary

352 pages, Hardcover

First published March 17, 2026

Reviews

[Kate O'Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/4

Black Bag is a bizarre but compelling novel that follows an unnamed out of work actor who gets a job where he is required to sit in lectures from inside a black bag. Dr Blend, who employs the actor, insists he remain silent and not move; he must not speak to the students and preferably arrive and leave as black bag.

As the experiment continues the actor becomes more comfortable remaining as black bag outside of the classroom and the results of his non-interactions with others begins to bring about surprising results.

Perhaps to appreciate the weird nature of the book it should be noted that the original black bag experiment was first conducted by Charles Goetzinger in 1967 at Oregon State University.

In the original experiment it was the students reactions that were observed but Luke Kennard has flipped this on its head by being solely interested in the person inside the bag.

Black Bag is strange, surprising, funny in parts, most definitely not like anything I've read before and it makes me want to read more of his work.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Zando for the digital review copy.

[Stay Fetters · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The world disappointed them, so they disappointed the world."

There’s no sugarcoating this, so I won’t even try. The cover for this is one of the weirdest I have ever seen. We all know my fondness of weird, that meant that this was a no brainer for me. Weird it was but also disappointing.

I wasn’t sure how the author would take a simple idea and turn it into a full fledged novel, but here we are and the outcome wasn’t as exciting as I had hoped. Now, parts of this were absolutely ridiculous and enjoyable. While others were dull and stretched out. Plus that conclusion bored me. I almost given up on this a few times but there was something about this that kept me going. It was a car wreck and you couldn’t help but look at it.

My favorite character was Justine. She was totally wild and I loved her. You never knew what was going to come out of her mouth, plus she was a straight up freak and didn’t care who knew. She was perfect. I swear, her character was the only standout one.

‘Black Bag’ was an interesting tale but about two hundred pages too long. There were a lot of unnecessary situations happening and it just wasn’t interesting. Everything that took place around campus had me intrigued, other than that I wasn’t impressed. It was worth the read once but definitely not an instant classic.

[Hayden Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh god, I just adored this. I’d read a thousand more pages about Black Bag, then turn back to the beginning and read them all again.

[Lydia Hephzibah]

DNF @ 10%

Setting: UK
Rep: n/a

Sometimes I wish we could read samples on Netgalley as, unless you already know the author, a request is based only on a cover and a description. Based on those this sounded right up my street but I just can't bear the writing style and after 10% I realized I was just annoyed and getting more annoyed and if I push through, chances are I'll regret it.

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Black Bag by Luke Kennard is a book I can honestly say wasn’t written for a reader like me. I only found it moderately funny I did think once Justine joined the story it would get better and it did a bit but not enough to save it I found hardly anything that was entertaining to me I didn’t like his best friend Claudio but then again there were many things I didn’t like about this book. Someone will like it I did not read it at your own risk. #NetGalley, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview,

[Dr. Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bizarre experience this was. A struggling actor is hired to sit in a black bag in the back of a college psychology class. And some weird things happen. I actually started to enjoy this more as it slipped into the absurd towards the end. I think I wish it had gone ~full weird~ instead of mostly being grounded in reality. Thanks Zando for sending me an early copy!

[Megan Magee · Rating 3 out of 5]

An out of work actor- a starving artist- strikes out when it comes to jobs and anyone worthy of keeping his steady attention. When a professor hires him to linger inside of a black bag during his lectures, with the explanation of a social experiment as the reasoning, our MC begins a quite intense exploration of self and relationships. The bag can represent a plethora or things to me- oppression, delineation, submission, sameness. It is up to the reader to choose the "why" for the entirety/ maybe majority of this one. The writing is jilted, sometimes jarring in its lilt, and the way the dialogue is written at times makes this a confusing combination. Our MC is the type to smoke one cigarette a year, and that's kind of his personality throughout. There wasn't a ton about him I didn't find bland, but that may be the point here. I'd like it to have been a bit shorter- I think this would have caused me to rate it higher. Thanks so much to Zando and Netgalley for the digital eARC. All opinions are entirely my own.

[J. Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a rough one, because it has a message and in summary it sounds weird and right up my alley. However, I unfortunately found it rather dull and too long for what it gives back to the reader. This is based on a real psychology experiment, but it felt like either the idea needed to be a novella or that something of more substance needed to be in the prose. A lot of the scenes blended (ha, ironic given the researcher’s name) together and therefore felt repetitive.

I don’t want to only talk negatively, though! The examination of masculinity — specifically the crisis of masculinity — was biting. There were critiques of everything from new school “gamer bros” to old school “refined masculinity” and everything in between. It was full of deep questions about the human condition and how we relax into the comfortable regardless what we personally find comfortable and regardless whether we even wanted that to be “comforting”. I guess I just wish the book’s bones had been filled out differently. It’s not a bad idea, it’s just not executed for me as a reader.

[Aliya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uhhhh??? A wild and weird journey of an out of work actor looking to make some cash wearing a black bag as part of a psych experiment and the weird ways it changes his perception of self and the world. Minus points for the ending, it felt deflated and aimless.

[Chelsea Knowles]

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.*

Black Bag follows an actor who gets a job working for a university professor. The professor is conducting a psychological experiment so the actor will need to sit in the lecture theatre wearing a black bag with eyeholes cut out. The professor is doing the experiment to see how the students will react and whilst this is going on the actor meets another professor and has a relationship with her.

To be completely honest this wasn’t for me. I thought this would be good because of the strange premise but it just didn’t pay off for me. I didn’t understand this and none of it made sense to me. It just felt like a lot of words to say nothing. That said, I would recommend this for readers who like strange books and are willing to take a chance on a different kind of story.

[Charlie Alcock · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are all black bag, and such.

[Chelsea (gofetchabook)]

I liked the premise behind this book, but I was bored from the start and didn’t even get to the actual story. It just didn’t hook me.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

You Too Could Have a Body Like Mine but for British masculinity… fascinating

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Real Rating: 3.75* of five

The Publisher Says: An out-of-work actor accepts the role of a lifetime—sitting soundlessly in a lecture theater, zipped into a large leather bag—to aid a professor’s psychological experiment. What could possibly go wrong?

In Luke Kennard’s audacious new novel, a penniless and out-of-work actor picks up a job working for Dr. Blend, a university professor who is conducting a psychological experiment. How will Dr. Blend’s students react to someone zipped into an oversized bag, sitting at the back of the lecture hall over a series of Fall lectures? The role, eagerly accepted, soon has unexpected consequences. A professor of post-humanism develops research questions of her own—in particular, can you love someone secreted away inside a black bag?—and the actor’s childhood friend forms a vision for monetizing this new situation . . .

A warped campus novel, an investigation into the crisis of masculinity, and an off-kilter love story, Black Bag is a firework of a blazingly funny and profoundly humane.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: I...don't know about the impact, impression, image this one's left on and in my brain. It's kind of a lot as a read. Many will flinch at the punctuation and dialogue tags being unorthodox. Others (me among 'em) will get cold collywobbles from the fact this is based around a real experiment performed in an academic setting.

I'll never be fully easy around stories where people do bizarre, kind of abuse-enabling things for money. Please see Docile by K.M. Szpara for my perfect squeam-book. This story is worse...it basically happened, though this is not non-fiction about the real events.

The premise, as you've seen, is weird...the jacket illustration is about the best match for the subject one will ever find. So there is no ambiguity or misdirection in aesthetic or factual presentation. That's where unambiguous territory ends in this story. Our actor MC, hereinafter "Black Bag" because his name is never vouchsafed to us, is slightly desperate for a paying gig, but as we discover over time he is generally slightly desperate. Dr. Blend (!) chose him well, deliberately, and knowingly as we learn over the course of the story. His job is to be physically present in the back of this psychology class, featureless and silent, for some socially experimental purpose.

It doesn't take long for the students to attempt interactions with Black Bag. Could you resist a looming presence that's giving nothing of any human sort? No eyes? No face? No noises of normal body functioning...breathing, swallowing, sighing...all muffled by the bag? What sounds uncanny would naturally become deeply unsettling, irresistibly fascinating, unnervingly alluring, as it sat among, but not a part of, the entire class. There are characters attempting to get responses from Black Bag. There are characters thinking of Black Bag, not obviously gendered, as a sexual challenge. Others as a gender-wars provocation. Others still as a threat of undetermined severity and unknown nature. What those responses start as, and how they morph through Black Bag's unresponsive presence, is utterly unexpected to the participants in the experiment.

Is that an entire over-300-page novel's-worth of story? It's true I was always interested in the read. As it happened, the story flowed from sentence to sentence with pleasurable facility of expression as one would expect of award-winning Author Kennard. At the end of the chapters...and there are 89 of 'em...I'd lose steam in the reading experience and it would take a week or more for me to feel prompted to pick it up again. I'm not entirely sure this is not related to my own participation in the experiment through the read...was I ever not part of the experiment, as in did Author Kennard not envision that the act of reading this story was another facet of responding to Black Bag? Was he also responding to the experiment by getting fascinated by the story, writing it...always an act of externalization as writing requires, at its core, a version of narrative therapy?

As we travel through the course being taught, the effects of the experiment on Black Bag himself morph and grow more and more pervasive. It's not surprising, on the one hand, that he becomes really comfortable in the protective space of the black bag. He's a struggling actor. His career prospects, before the anonymity of the black bag, weren't great. But inside the black bag, his identity is mysterious, intriguing, alluring...all things an actor loves, relies on for securing and doing his job. He wasn't being seen as those things walking around in his normal condition and now he is.

So walking around the campus and the town as Black Bag makes perfect sense, then.

Not to my claustrophobic self. I battled a sense of desperate, breathless resistance every time he put the stupid thing on.

So that might explain why I found the ending...wanting. Justine, a true and complete freak, enters into Black Bag's orbit with the firm intent of making Black Bag a conquest. Claudio, more reserved but still excitable and into Black Bag (apparently platonically though there's ambiguity and vibey-ness enough to make my gaydar ping) is the other side character who interested me. Others are involved, but honestly, they're just not that fascinating to me. Squishy, blah Sophie most of all. All the way through the read he's Black Bag, he's there as a screen for these people to project fantasies, needs, fears onto all blank and visually heavy like black objects tend to be.

The experiment, the last one Dr. Blend will conduct as he is retiring after this course, is ambiguous in design by design. That means it ends ambiguously. I was expecting that. I felt, however, this iteration of the story left the events unresolved in the dramatic sense...the final scene as an ending wasn't, the real ending as in the place the story resolved itself was earlier, with this musing inner speech from Black Bag:

Have you ever met a man who got exactly what he wanted? They always seem a little confused, even shell-shocked, They speak at one remove, as if delivering their own eulogy.
I wish to be alive, to continue to live, even should that mean a state of constant deferral. How much do you want to appear in other people's thoughts at all? As little as possible, I think. If I could, I would take everything I have ever thought about anyone else and delete it forever.

I think the story is fascinating but the not-main characters less so. I'd say this is an ideal library borrow, one that will reward you for reading it but not compel most of us to revisit it time and again.

[Hobart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader. If you like this post, you might like others on that site. Consider checking it out!
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WHAT'S BLACK BAG ABOUT?
A struggling character actor (who seems to primarily pay the bills with dinner theater gigs) receives an unusual offer—a local university professor wants to hire him as part of an experiment. He is to attend three class sessions a week wearing a large black satchel—only his lower legs and feet are to be visible. He is to not interact with anyone—no speaking, no gesturing, no reacting to anything while on campus.

In exchange, Black Bag gets a roll of cash each week.

Easy enough, right? But it's harder to not interact with other people than our actor realizes. And while this inspires him to look for other atypical roles, they're not that easy to get (and he's not that sure he wants them). His childhood friend—a game streamer—starts to see ways to monetize Black Bag (I'm not saying his friend's hallucinogen use inspires these ideas, but I'm not saying they don't). Also, another professor starts to take an interest in Black Bag for their own purposes.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT BLACK BAG?
Let me start by saying that the opening paragraphs to this are among my favorite in the last year or so—the rest of the book is worth the time, too.

Beyond that...I’m finding it difficult to really talk about what the novel seems to want to talk about without talking about events and things said in the last 10-20% of the book. I’m not sure how important it is to avoid plot points when discussing this particular novel, because the plot seems tertiary (at best) for Black Bag, but I have an aversion to doing that.

I’m not entirely convinced that Kennard has an agenda that he’s trying to push—and if he does, he’s certainly not leading anyone by horns to it—but he wants the reader to think about certain ideas/themes. Some prominent ones (I won’t try to be exhaustive here, I’d fail) are: the place of art in society and how it should try to shape discourse; the intensity of online communities—and how fragile they are; sex without emotional attachment; monetization of personal details online; post-humanism; academic politics; contemporary expressions of masculinity—and the various movements cropping up to address the "crisis" of it; the need for attachment to others.

If the plot is tertiary, the themes and issues in focus are definitely primary. I think the characters are, too. At times—and even now—I’m tempted to see the characters as flat, merely placeholders for Kennard to attach arguments/points of view on. Arguably, this is a valid reading. But each of the characters is more than that—they’re all fairly well-drawn, and the depth of each one is seen in the way they react to and interact with Black Bag. Just as Dr. Blend intended.

Do they project their desire for a get-rich-quick scheme onto it? Or perhaps they see it as a tool for sexual pleasure. One student sees the bag as a solid point to discuss the class with (at?) in place of the erratic professor. And then there’s the narrator himself, at times in danger of becoming more than Black Bag—detached from humanity, his career, his reality—losing himself to fantasy during the lectures, observing those around him, doing little more than noting their reactions to him. The more we consider how the characters respond to Black Bag, the more we see about them. And, breaking the fourth wall (the narrator does this himself, inviting the reader to do the same), the way the reader reacts to Black Bag at various points of the novel reveals something about ourselves, too.

The narration itself is deceptively breezy and light. It is possible to lose yourself in the pacing and ease of the narrator’s conversational address to the reader and gloss over details—inherently, this is a strength. It would be very easy for this book to fall over under the weight of its own pretensions, but Kennard protects it from that. It keeps the reader engaged and entertained—Black Bag is frequently funny, both in how he bumbles through life and how he describes that to the reader.

I also find myself asking at this point, how would I react to the novel on a re-read? Knowing where all of this is happening, what meaning that Black Bag finds (for example) in the experiment, how would I react to him at the beginning, and in his early sessions. As a thought experiment, I’m getting nowhere—but I can’t stop wondering.

Surreal and absurd in the best way, full of challenging ideas, and brought to life through a very oddball collection of characters, Black Bag is a novel you won’t soon forget (nor will you want to).

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Zando Projects via NetGalley in exchange for this post which contains my honest opinion—thanks to both for this.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything is absurd, everyone is watching, and somehow the strangest person in the room is the one zipped inside a bag—this is my review of Black Bag. Published by Zando, thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy.

I knew this book would be strange. The premise practically dares you not to look away. An out-of-work actor, low on money and maybe even lower on purpose, takes a job where he sits in the back of a university lecture hall sealed inside a large black bag. No speaking, no reacting, no existing in any visible, human way beyond a pair of legs sticking out the bottom. It sounds ridiculous. It is ridiculous. And yet, somehow, it becomes uncomfortably believable.

What really pulled me in wasn’t the experiment itself, but how quickly it stopped feeling like one. The unnamed narrator slips into the role with a kind of quiet desperation that feels all too real. At first, it’s just a job. Then it’s a performance. Then it’s… something else entirely. There’s this slow, almost eerie shift where being inside the bag starts to feel safer than being outside of it. Watching him unravel, or maybe settle, depending on how you read it, is both funny and a little unsettling.

The relationships in this book are where things really take shape. Claudio, the narrator’s childhood friend, brings this chaotic, slightly opportunistic energy, constantly circling the situation with ideas about how it could be monetized, packaged, turned into something bigger. It adds this sharp commentary on attention, performance, and the way we try to profit off anything even remotely unusual. Then there’s Justine, who is… honestly a force of nature. Unpredictable, bold, sometimes uncomfortable in the way she pushes boundaries, but impossible to ignore. Every scene with her feels like it might veer off the rails at any second, and usually does.

The writing style took a minute to settle into. It’s very stream-of-consciousness, very inside-the-head, and occasionally it drifts. There are moments where the narrator spirals into thoughts that feel disconnected, almost like you’re flipping through someone else’s brain without context. But strangely, that ends up working in the book’s favor. It mirrors the experience of the bag itself. Detached, observant, slightly unmoored.

There’s a dry humor running through all of this that caught me off guard more than once. Not laugh-out-loud in a loud, obvious way, but sharp, quiet, and a little biting. The kind that sneaks up on you. At the same time, there’s this undercurrent of something heavier. Questions about identity, about masculinity, about what it means to be seen or ignored or used. And the book doesn’t hand you answers. It just lets you sit in it.

One line that really stuck with me was:
“Think of the second time you watch it and how much more you understand.”
That’s exactly how this book feels. Like it’s asking to be reconsidered even before you’ve finished it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It’s not perfect. There are stretches where it lingers a bit too long in its own thoughts, where the pacing softens and you start to feel it. And I can absolutely see how this won’t work for everyone. If you like your stories clean, structured, and clearly defined, this might test your patience. But if you enjoy books that are a little offbeat, a little experimental, and willing to sit in uncomfortable ideas without rushing to resolve them, there’s something really compelling here.

This feels like a book for readers who don’t mind not having solid ground under their feet. People who like character-driven stories where the plot is less about what happens and more about how it feels while it’s happening. If you’ve ever been drawn to stories that explore identity in strange, almost abstract ways, or if you just like the idea of a novel that takes a bizarre concept and commits to it completely, this one is worth picking up.

What I keep coming back to is how oddly human it all feels, despite the absurdity. Strip everything away, and you’re left with someone who wants to matter, who wants to be seen, even when they’re literally hidden. And maybe that’s the quiet punch of it.

I finished this book not entirely sure how I felt, but very sure that I wouldn’t forget it anytime soon. And honestly, that counts for a lot.

So now I’m curious… if you were given the same job, decent pay, no interaction, total anonymity… would you take it, or would the silence get to you first?

#BlackBag #BookReview #LiteraryFiction #ExperimentalFiction #DarkHumor #CampusNovel #Bookstagram #ReadersOfInstagram #2026Reads

[B.S. Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The question of what to do with my weekends now that I am gainfully employed as a black bag is a tricky one."

Kennard writes books that should be pretentious, but just aren't. Like this, which is like a version of Blind Date directed by Franz Kafka.

They're absurd, wickedly smart, full with ideas and symbolism to make you think - existing on the precarious line between overt preaching and layered, metaphorical prose to create the perfect balance of entertaining writing and social commentary.

His characters are always a strange pastiche of humanity, heightened and elaborate individuals that capture an aspect of life and hold it under a microscope to really dissect it. Take our narrator, holding us at a distance, their storytelling just formal enough to make us uncomfortable but personal enough to allow us to slowly see them develop from the archetype of the insufferable penniless artist into a slightly less insufferable nuanced person with a new definition of the self. From their quiet existence in lectures, to a very strange, sexually charged potential romance - to their out of bag life, each page moves us forward and brings something that makes it impossible to stop reading.

"If you met anyone as whiny, disobliging and egocentric as the average narrator of a novel in real life you'd find them unbearable."

They lead us in a very loose narrative through their odd experience, thoughts and realities flowing into one another, making a quick pace that switches between these in a way that almost seems haphazard. They speak right to the reader with a first person perspective, the fourth wall almost transparent.

We're invited to step into his mind as his two lives begin to blur together. An actor, someone fuelled by external praise, by pretending and vanity, now living a life of quiet reflection now living a life of quiet reflection, of anonymity - the contrast was delicious.

Their life in the bag not only provides an interesting reading experience, but draws out so many questions that makes this either the best or worst book to read at book club. Does our superficial perceptions affect how we relate to people? Who are we beyond how we're perceived? Do we treat people worse when there's anonymity? How do we relate to ourselves without the opinions of others? And when sex, power and looks is stripped away, what does the concept of masculinity really mean?

Stylistically, this may be a little divisive as I'm also one of those people who isn't a fan of books that omit speech marks, but after a while I was so transfixed in the story that I honestly stopped caring. An irreverent existential crisis hidden under an off-kilter romcom and journey of self-discovery.

"There are things, he says, that are worth losing yourself over."

[Off Service Book Recs · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of people dream of a job that allows them to sit around and do nothing. Out-of-work actor Luke Kennard has just landed it. Down to his last month's rent and quickly approaching annihilation, Luke manages to snag au unusual position with Dr. Blend, a university professor who is conducting a psychological experiment. The gig? Discovering how will Dr. Blend’s students react to someone zipped into an oversized bag (Luke), sitting at the back of the lecture hall over a semester's lectures? This eagerly-accepted-if-bizarre role begins to have unintended consequences - from a professor of post-humanism who wonders with questions of her own (for example, can you love someone secreted zipped inside a black bag?), to the black bag's childhood best friend-turned-internet-streamer who sees a way to monetize the ridiculousness of it all, to Luke himself as doing the bag job slowly morphs into BEING the bag, this wacky story of off-kilter love, masculinity, and wondering if there is indeed a naked man zipped into that ridiculous costume, you'll never look at black bags the same way.

I love a book with a ridiculous premise, especially if it's one baked in real-life facts - so this book was right up my alley, and immediately caught my attention with the eye-catching cover. I think "what would happen if I just wore a bag over my head" has intruded on my mind more often than not the past few years - the draw of anonymity in an increasingly online and face-forward world is alluring, especially if you're getting paid. I thought this book did a great job of addressing the inane, bringing up some incredibly valid food-for-thought in the realm of philosophical musings on relationships, masculinity, belonging, and commerce in a digital age while also really continuing to up the ante with how off-the-rails the story got - there were times I had no idea where were were going, and there's definitely some cheesy pun about the wool (or, bag) covering one's eyes in there that I'm too tired to parse out. Overall, a great off-the-beaten path read with some thoughts to chew on from the comfort of your own black bag (or equivalent), and I'd definitely read another book by this author bag or no bag.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the most bizarre & interesting stories I have ever read. I truly had zero idea what direction it was going in with each page. It kept me on my toes the ENTIRE TIME, and was a true workout for my brain.

Reading this story felt like i was rummaging through someone elses junk drawer. It was jam packed with strange things & crammed with little treasures that revealed the complex dichotomy of how we perceive ourselves and how others see us.

The story is told in first person POV and the MC is a non descript narrator, and very peculiar. It is giving vibes comparable to the MC in Odd Thomas. Not in the saccharine persona but in a very straightforward and blunt attitude way.

I found that I both liked and disliked the MC. I think there is something to be said about both; because either way, the author is writing and evoking emotion from me. The main character was very up front with things, and too carefree with others.

Internally, it conveyed anonymity and feeling freed. About being able to take in your surroundings through a lens without a filter of purposelessness… but sometimes still seeking approval from others while having free rein to be your full unpolished self.

Externally, it conveyed a message about how you may be nothing, a literal black bag of nothing and people still want something from you.
Your friends, strangers. They will use you (as an “instrument” lol, or a cash grab). I think it’s a contemplation of, do you want to be used? For most, it’s probably yes, and the exploitation then becomes collaborative.

For humans, something uncomfortable for LONG enough can slowly become a complacent and unnoticeable thing or dare I say, sometimes a positive thing.

Thank you so much to Zando for my gifted finished copy of Black Bag! This was by far my most interesting read in a long time!! I am looking forward to reading Luke’s poetry!

[Celeste · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very weird and enjoyable! It starts with the very simple premise of an out-of-work actor who is very dedicated to his craft taking a job as part of a psychological experiment to sit in the back of a lecture theatre inside of a black bag. But it spirals outward into something about identity and the lack thereof, about conection, about relationships, about fading into the background about being looked at high art low art the death of art the online finance world ai/nft bros....and so on. There were some places where I thought there was just too much going on. but I also really enjoyed reading this quite a bit!

I really liked how distinct the narrator's voice and personality were, and I really liked the tenderness to his friendship with Clausio. I also loved Justine and how you absolutely never knew what she would do next. Some of the sexcapades she told the narrator about seemed a little.....weird (weird as a completely distinct category from the fact that they were kinky) but she seemed to thoroughly enjoy all of it, so. I also really liked the way Claudio's investors were written as a simultaneously absurd and plausible vision of ai/finance/crypto bros. And I really liked how "black bag" was used as a name, like it became a character in and of itself.

There were some points where I felt like we'd lost the thread of the black bag at the core of the story, that perhaps this wanted to be a novella instead....but it also never felt bloated to an unnecessary length. Sometimes it was too random but sometimes the randomness was perfect. It's all hard to explain!! I also didn't find the ending particularly satisfying but at the end of the day this was still weird fun.

Thanks to Netgalley for the arc!

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Luke Kennard's BLACK BAG is not for everyone. It's a bit absurdist, and more than a bit surreal and, yeah, even hallucinogenic. About an out of work actor who takes a job dressing as a black bag for a university class (based on a real experiment conducted in 1967 at Oregon State University), BLACK BAG is more than the sum of its parts. Kennard explores masculinity, cults, university life, and friendship/sexual relationships/need/success in a format both experimental and absolutely captivating. What's more, the book is laugh out loud funny in parts, especially if you are a fan of novels that explore art, performance, and what it means to inhabit a character. The narrator admits at the opening that he's not like one of those narrators who you'd find unbearable because they are disobliging and whiney; instead, he loves life and writes in the present tense, the "silliest tense, the closest we come to talking directly to God." And he follows through with his promise, first finding the job, then working to inhabit the character (following the rules of never speaking to acknowledging anyone), and finally, being swept up in his friend Claudio's plan to see where the black bag "movement" may take him financially. While he has little agency over his own life, we watch him grow, change, and make decisions both understandable and head scratching, even refusing to describe his parents as anything but stone objects. By the end of the novel, though, we've learned more about masculinity, identity and friendship than most other books twice as long (this clocks in at around 335 pages). I loved it. You might not. But a five star for me without a doubt.

[Ty -Ty's Teatime Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title was an eye catcher. After reading the synopsis, my thought, "Wow, I wonder how this will turn out."
So, I picked up 'Black Bag' by Luke Kennard expecting a weird, awkward, interesting and engaging read. A starving actor, out of work, agrees to take a job by wearing a black bag.
Interesting, yes! The idea of being in a black bag, sitting in a college classroom without being able to interact with the students, does make for an interesting situation. Some students attempted to interact, others ignored, some even "poked" black bag.
Weird also, in the dialogue. No quotations took a bit to get used to so it slowed the flow down for me a bit. But, by 2nd half of the book, it flowed well. Particularly around the introduction of Justine, a kinky freak. I also wasn't sure if Black Bag and Claudio had a bit more than friendship at some point, but their relationship worked for what it was. Another weird thing, we have no clue as to the name of the MC.
Awkward, Justine's approach to Black Bag and the office follies. She too is interesting in her own way and may have a fetish fantasy that she got to explore.
Engaging, was a hit and miss. Some parts kept me enthralled; other times it felt like it dragged out. Especially when Black Bag takes one topic and drift into 15 others down a rabbit hole so to speak. I don't feel this book needed to be that long. 3 out of the 4 descriptions allowed me to finish through to the end. This is definitely for an open-minded audience, which I am.
Thank you to Zando Publishing and Net Galley for the Advanced Reader Copy.

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC review

Thanks so much to Zando for the review copy. All opinions are, as always, my own

An out-of-work actor struggling to pay bills takes a job from a university psychology professor to be part of a semester-long experiment. The assignment, encase his entire upper body in a larger black leather bag. Only his bare legs and feet can be seen. And then to be there, present but not speaking, for two sessions a week.

The goal is to see how the students’ perception of and attitude toward Black Bag change throughout the semester. But as readers, we get to see how BEING Black Bag changes our main character.

Punctuated by rambling thoughts and darkly cutting humor, Black Bag’s inner monologue is impossible to look away from. This really shows when we witness his discomfort at being himself again, confronting his own reflection and being SEEN, literally and figuratively, by those around him. He finds release and safety in the anonymity of his Black Bag persona.

It’s a fascinating psychological study, but I was glad it was broken up by Black Bag’s relationship with Justine (an experiment all of its own!) and the man inside the bag’s relationship with Claudio. These provided necessary real world connections for me to make the story work.

Per the afterword, this is based on a real life experiment in 1967.

This is legitimately one of the strangest books I have ever read. I’m not even sure if I enjoyed it, but I’m positive that it changed me and I couldn’t put it down.

[Tonya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fans of exceptionally rare and unique plots and prose will absolutely adore Black Bag by Luke Kennard. When this advanced physical copy showed up on my doorstep, I was immediately intrigued by the peculiar premise: an actor paid to perform in a psychological experiment wherein they observe a college lecture for the entire semester completely enclosed in a black bag with only holes to see out of. To be perceived without reciprocating interaction, to watch as hesitance turns into curiosity turns into heated chemistry, to quantify social behavior and acceptance while being nothing more than a body bag - what an extraordinary concept.

Black Bag provides readers with a new experience, not just in plot, but in composition and prose. While first person narration is common, this felt more like we were being spoken to directly by the narrator, almost like a fourth wall break. The frequent variation in pace was intriguing as well, sometimes moving quickly like a stream of consciousness, while other times it slowed down significantly, but each felt intentional. It was a novel experience.

Black Bag is coming to shelves on March 17, 2026 and you simply must nab it while you can!

*Thank you to @zandoprojects, @penguinrandomhouse, and @luukekennnard for providing me with an advanced physical copy of this book. All opinions are my own!

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confession: the cover for Black Bag is definitely one of the strangest covers I’ve come across in a while.

This book takes a pretty simple premise and stretches it into a full-length novel. While there were definitely moments that felt delightfully ridiculous and entertaining, there were also stretches where the pacing slowed down for me and the story felt a bit drawn out. I found myself wishing some sections had been tightened up to keep the momentum going.

That said, there were still parts I genuinely enjoyed—especially the campus scenes, which were some of the most interesting moments in the book.

My standout character was easily Justine. She was chaotic in the best way, totally unpredictable, and completely unapologetic about who she was. Every time she appeared on the page things got more entertaining.

Overall, Black Bag is definitely a unique and unconventional read. While it didn’t fully land for me in terms of pacing and payoff, it still had enough oddball charm and intriguing moments to keep me reading to the end.

Mood Reader Confession: sometimes the weird books don’t fully work for me… but I’ll still pick them up every time.

Thanks to Zando and Netgalley for the gifted galley.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

My initial reaction to seeing that this book was over 300 pages was, “how is he going to carry this premise on for over 300 pages?” Well he does it by bloating-droning on-wait, let me be nice. He fills the book with a lot of the narrator’s thoughts about things and experiences outside of the central premise that don’t enrich it, or the story overall, or make me connect with the character. I saw someone on Goodreads said they DNF’d at 10% and I realized that is exactly where I wanted to give up too. The opening of this book and its premise were so promising. I fear the execution ultimately failed the premise and its potential. It takes so long for the book to get to the point of the black bag that I didn’t even care anymore once I got there. I tried to make it through this one, I really did. It was as my mother would say “ not worth the calories!” My time felt better spent writing and posting this review than finishing the book. I applaud the author for writing a book. That’s an accomplishment. However, you don’t need to read it. I would respectfully recommend that you don’t.

Thank you to #netgalley and Zando for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Alia · Rating 3 out of 5]

What if you were paid (pretty handsomely) to be a “black bag” and just sit silently in class twice a week… and you’re so desperate for a job??! 😏

Thank you so much NetGalley for the e-ARC. I leave this review voluntarily.

The main character gives adult Anne of Green Gables vibe but make it a guy — imaginative, a bit odd in a charming way, and always observing the world with quiet humour. We never learn his name, which adds to that sense of mystery around him.

But wow… the writing. The way Luke Kennard tackles real-world issues in such a strange, creative, fictional way is really impressive. I love when an author can weave modern problems into a story that feels imaginative and unique.

My one complaint: the dialogue formatting. The first half was genuinely confusing — no quotation marks, no clear indicators of who’s speaking, and I kept rereading paragraphs to understand properly. Maybe I just got used to it, because the second half was much easier to follow.

This book won’t be for everyone. It’s short, it’s weird, it’s smart, and honestly… a little fun too. I appreciate what it tried to do, even if it left me with more questions than answers.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I imagine that male bisexual underemployed pretentious self-absorbed British actors who cope by abusing controlled substances feel very seen by this book.

Having been attracted by the high-concept and the promise of a campus novel, I was repelled by the borderline non-consensual sex, and the lack of any real explanation about the black bag. There’s a scene at the end claiming to shed light on it, but it’s more “this is what I did”, rather than “this is what I hoped to accomplish, and the data I gathered.”

This book describes two students carrying library books as “sentimental.” That’s it-- that’s the entirety of the context. They are sentimental because they are carrying library books on a college campus. I got the feeling that if they had both been naked and one had been carrying the other, the POV character wouldn’t even have noticed them. It’s that kind of book.

It’s also the kind of book that ends mid-sentence, because it’s 2026, and we don’t deserve nice things any more.

I did smile once at a throw away line about an energy drink. Otherwise, I found it depressing, from the hyper-sexual Justine to the hyper-capitalist Claudio.

[Katrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Black Bag by Luke Kennard is a quirky, peculiar novel, peppered with humour throughout. Loosely inspired by a real experiment conducted in the 1960s, the story centres on a struggling actor who, desperate for income, accepts an unusual job: dressing as a black bag and sitting silently in a university lecture hall twice a week. Inevitably, the role begins to take over his life.

The novel features an array of odd and memorable side characters — the love interest in particular stands out — and overall I found Black Bag an enjoyable read. The novel’s oddness is mostly delightful. That said, the complete absence of quotation marks (a personal pet hate) took some getting used to, and the book could comfortably have lost around a hundred pages. There were moments where it really dragged.

Still, the positives outweigh the negatives, and the book’s weirdness is part of its charm.

A definite pick-up for fans of Kafka and the like.

Worth a look.

With thanks to John Murray for the ARC.

[Kristie Kieffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black Bag is strange in that sharp, unsettling way that creeps up on you. It feels almost ordinary at first—clean prose, quiet observations—and then suddenly you realize something is deeply, deliciously off.

Luke Kennard plays with tone in a way that keeps you slightly unsteady. There’s dark humor threaded through the narrative, but it never undercuts the unease. Instead, it sharpens it. The story explores secrecy, identity, and the quiet distortions of modern life, all wrapped in a voice that feels detached yet painfully observant.

What I appreciated most is how restrained it is. The tension isn’t explosive—it simmers. Kennard trusts the reader to sit in the discomfort, to notice the subtle cracks forming beneath everyday interactions. It’s cerebral without being cold, unsettling without needing shock value.

If you’re drawn to literary fiction with a psychological edge—stories that leave you thinking, “Wait… what just happened?” long after you’ve closed the book—Black Bag absolutely delivers that lingering, slightly haunted feeling.