Bird Box by Josh Malerman

“You can smell it, too. Death. Dying. Decay. The sky is falling, the sky is dying, the sky is dead.”

My thoughts:

You know a book is good when you finish it in a day! Whilst I had life responsibilities and couldn’t complete this in one sitting (as much as I wanted to), I squeezed in any and all my free time during the course of the day to read this. It’s so good, so addicting, and insanely freaky!

I finished this at midnight and I kid you not I was absolutely terrified of going to sleep knowing the world around us could instantly change at any moment if some foreign entity, spirit or creature existed and started terrorizing the world. This is just an apocalyptic thriller, but it’s unnerving to think about.

The narrative and pacing complement each other—the suspense is built up gradually, to the point where the worst ends up happening and there’s nothing you nor characters can do except accept their fate. There were moments in this that were absolutely heartbreaking and crushing to read, and I had to put it down several times to catch my breath. Malerman’s writing is phenomenal; we experience every suffering, horror and death alongside the characters.

One element that enhances the creepy factor about this book is the ambiguity of the creatures. We’re not told what they look like and are given the space to come up with them using our imagination. The uncertainty and lack of the “thing”’s physical embodiment is what makes it so fearful.

Bird Box is 100% a 5-star read for me, and one I recommend if you love psychological thrillers and haven’t given this one a go yet!