Review: Bird Box by Josh Malerman

It began in Russia. An outbreak of violence in which victims become murderous before turning on themselves. Quickly, however, it spreads to the United States.  The cause? Something, upon viewing, causes a person to go mad.  No description of this unknown terror exist, for its victims kill themselves shortly after becoming "infected."

There are very few survivors. Five years later,  Malorie lives in an abandoned house near the river with two young children. At one time she had other companions, however they succumbed to the terror beyond the barricaded doors and windows.

The time has come for her to leave this place of relative safety. She and the children must travel 20 miles downriver, blindfolded.  The only thing they have to rely on are their instincts and the children's trained ears.  Their destination promises safety, but so many unknowns threaten their journey. Into the darkness they travel, what lies at the end unknown.

This title is one of many that I read upon hardcover release but never reviewed. The paperback release allowed me to select it as a book club selection and inspired me to write this review.

I’m a huge fan of this sort of horror. Not the overly grisly or graphic sort of horror, but the kind that resides in our mind, our imagination and the mysteries around the unknown pushing us over the edge.

Malerman does an excellent job of doing just this, completely terrifying the reader. We have no description of this…beast…that forces victims into a fit of murderous rage. We are left to create a visage of this monster in our minds, our imagination creating something that is potentially more terrifying than what actually exists.

What Malerman draws on is the human inability to look away, even if what they might see is horrific and deadly.  Think about it. If you are driving down the highway and see an accident, are you the type to rubberneck and look at the carnage or look away? Or when someone exclaims “Oh my goodness, how horrifying!” do you turn away or look?

All in all, this is an incredibly compelling, highly captivating read. Highly, highly recommended.