Bird Box, Josh Malerman

Author: Josh Malerman
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 473
Format: Paperback
ISBN-10: 0007529902
ISBN-13: 9780007529902
Publisher: eBook | Hardcover | Paperback | Audiobook

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?

This is an intense read. It actually made me uncomfortable to go outside. Malorie's story is heartbreaking and emotional. Trying to make a safe life for herself and the children. Aware that the place she is in now will not be good enough for much longer and she needs to move. Her feelings and the emotional turmoil she is in just jumped from the pages and made me really uncomfortable. The way she dealt with the children looked cold and distant but on the other hand she made the choice so the children could help with the trip and eventually you have to admire her choices.
The development in the story builds to an exciting end. While Malorie is preparing for the trip she remembers how she got to this point and the reader gets the story about what happened to the world and what Malorie is trying to achieve. The end falls a bit flat though. I am not sure if that is because the whole story is so exciting that there was no way the end could be satisfying or because the end leaves the reader with so many questions.

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