BOOK REVIEW: Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Something is out there, something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse of it, and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from. Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remains, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be safe. Now that the boy and girl are four, it's time to go, but the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat--blindfolded--with nothing to rely on but her wits and the children’s trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. Something is following them all the while, but is it man, animal, or monster?

“The moment between deciding to open your eyes and then actually doing it is as scary a thing as there is in the new world.” 

Wow. What did I just read? I have not been scared by a book in a very, very long time. This book was fantastically creepy and more than a little terrifying in parts. Despite all the thrills and chills, I could not put it down. At one point, I had to go to the bathroom and I hated to put it down because it was so good. Curse my bladder!! 

I have never quite read a dystopian book like this one and I have read a LOT of dystopian, post-apocalyptic type novels. Part of the reason why this one was so scary was because YOU COULDN'T SEE ANYTHING!! The only thing people know is that there is a creature or something alive that mad people go insane if they saw it. And when I say insane, I mean ripping people's faces off and killing everyone you see before killing yourself in the most horrifying way possible. God, I just wanted to know WHAT was out there and so did everyone else!! I am pretty sure I would have been one of the first ones dead because I would not have been able to NOT look outside. 

Another twist is that Malorie finds out she is pregnant just when everything is hitting the fan. Worst timing ever, right? She finds out she is pregnant and then she has to deal with blindfolds and covered up windows and insanity happening EVERYWHERE. And of course, how the hell can you give beth with no doctor and no medication? Talk about terrifying. When the book starts, Malorie and her two four year old children (who she just calls Boy and Girl) are trying to escape down the river to a supposed safer location. The problem is that they have to wear blindfolds during the entire twenty mile rowboat trip down the river. But Malorie has trained them so well that they can hear and smell way better than they can see. It's so weird to see how kids adapt to everything going on, especially because that is all they know. These kids have never even seen the outdoors. Every time have to go outside (like when they go to the well for water), they blindfold themselves. These kids can even tell if you are doing something like licking your lips by hearing alone. Freaky.

The book goes back and forth between Malorie trying to get her kids to a safer place and four years ago when the world collapsed. Malorie had originally found a safe house when she was pregnant where she met several other people and they all lived together in the best way they could. The creepiest scenes were when Malorie or the others in the house were blindfolded to go outside. Every single sound or feeling was magnified and they had NO WAY of knowing what was out there. Was the feel of something against her shoulder just a branch? Or was it the creature? And what is that sound? Was it a bird or a dog? Did they see something too? Really, those were all the questions running through Malorie's head. This author made every single touch and noise seem equally creepy and I just wanted to scream DON'T GO OUTSIDE!!! 

This book was so dark and I have just one piece of advice: DON'T READ THIS AT NIGHT!!! I finished this one at night and then had to take my dog outside to go to the bathroom. I was jumping at every noise. I absolutely loved this book and I really, really hope this author does more. The ending of this one was kind of resolved and yet, kind of open. There is room for a sequel, but I am not sure if the author is planning one. If the author chose not to write a sequel, I would still be pretty satisfied with the ending. That being said, I would love to see what happens with Malorie and her kids. But either way, I am pretty sure that I will read anything this author writes. ANYTHING.

Buy/Borrow/Skip: Buy this one!!