Wednesday 19 March 2014

BIRD BOX by JOSH MALERMAN

Bird Box
by Josh Malerman
Published: 27th March 2014
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Genre: Adult, thriller, horror

"Most people ignored the outrageous reports on the news. But they became too frequent, they became too real. And soon, they began happening down the street. Then the Internet died. The television and radio went silent. The phones stopped ringing. And we couldn't look outside anymore. Malorie raises the children the only way she can; indoors. The house is quiet. The doors are locked, the curtains are closed, mattresses are nailed over the windows. They are out there. She might let them in. The children sleep in the bedroom across the hall. Soon she will have to wake them. Soon she will have to blindfold them. Today they must leave the house. Today they will risk everything."- taken from Waterstones

If you are looking for a play by play instantly horrifying horror story then this probably isn't the book for you. Instead it cleverly relies on your imagination to bring the horror to it. If you want a book that gives you all the answers, then this probably isn't the book for you. What this book does offer is a sensory description that is a extremely unique. There are on the edge of your seat in terror moments with heavily written paragraphs that fill you with anticipation. All of Malorie's descriptions come from behind a blindfold and so you have to rely on her sense of smell, her sense of touch and her hearing as well as the children's. Whilst this sometimes gets slightly tedious, for the most part it is done fairly effectively.

The biggest issue was occasionally this book had slightly too much anticipation and could have done with the novel as whole being shorter. The children's sense of hearing was a little ridiculous, I've never heard anyone say that they would have been able to tell you when their mother itched her arm when she was upstairs? But then again if you were in the situation where you have never seen the outside world and are only relying on what your mother has told you I suppose you would become hyper-sensitive to the senses that you can make use of. 

As a whole, I enjoyed this book. Whilst I wasn't left feeling utterly amazed, I was satisfied and I felt like I had been on the trip with Malorie and was slightly exhausted by the end. Read this if you are into phycological thrillers and a whole lot of suspense. Avoid this if you are looking for constant scares and everything written down for you because this just isn't that type of book, it relies on your mind playing tricks on you rather than leaving nothing to the imagination.


3.5/5 STARS
*I was sent this book for free in exchange for an honest review*

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