I'm very late to the party with Josh Malerman's Bird Box. I meant to get to it a lot sooner, but things kept getting in my way. It didn't help that I got his novel, Black Mad Wheel, from the library and ended up giving up on it after a few pages. Not for me, at least at that moment.

Bird Box is one of the most successful horror novels in recent memory. An extremely popular Netflix movie was adapted from it. That movie inspired one of those moronic internet "challenges", where foolish people tried to engage in tasks while blindfolded. I have no idea why anyone would blindly accept any online challenge, let alone a dangerous one.

Obviously, Bird Box is a very good book. It's a thin novel, and I got through it pretty quickly. The story is driven by a strong plot, rather than being one that features in-depth characters. That alone prevents it from being on my favorites list. I ended up giving it a seven out of ten in my reading log.

The plot of Bird Box moves along at a brisk pace. Extra points are given for its originality. This novel is very suspenseful and there are some genuinely nerve-wracking sequences in it.

Bird Box seems tailor made for the movies, and I wouldn't doubt that Malerman had an adaption in mind while writing the book. You know the premise by now, so I won't bother going into it.

I liked Bird Box enough to seek out more Malerman. I have Inspection around here somewhere, and like everyone else I have the Bird Box sequel, Malorie, on preorder.

The horror genre needs an adrenaline rush like Bird Box every once in a while, to shake it up from the doldrums. Josh Malerman struck gold with this one, and he has earned himself a place among the field's hierarchy. I'm glad to see it.

Written by Mark Sieber

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