Now a Netflix film starring Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson, and Rosa Salazar!
Written with the narrative tension of The Road and the exquisite terror of classic Stephen King, Bird Box is a propulsive, edge-of-your-seat horror thriller, set in an apocalyptic near-future world—a masterpiece of suspense from the brilliantly imaginative Josh Malerman.
Something is … brilliantly imaginative Josh Malerman.
Something is out there . . .
Something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse 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 remain, 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 is 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. And something is following them. But is it man, animal, or monster?
Engulfed in darkness, surrounded by sounds both familiar and frightening, Malorie embarks on a harrowing odyssey—a trip that takes her into an unseen world and back into the past, to the companions who once saved her. Under the guidance of the stalwart Tom, a motely group of strangers banded together against the unseen terror, creating order from the chaos. But when supplies ran low, they were forced to venture outside—and confront the ultimate question: in a world gone mad, who can really be trusted?
Interweaving past and present, Josh Malerman’s breathtaking debut is a horrific and gripping snapshot of a world unraveled that will have you racing to the final page.
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What a novel!
Bird Box is a standalone horror novel written by musician, poet, and author: Josh Malerman. While reading Bird Box, I was thoroughly creeped out, on the edge of my seat, and definitely disturbed at the choices some of these characters made or at least considered. The group dynamics and just the thought of being responsible for the safety of …
I watched Bird Box on Netflix a few days after it came out (the FOMO was real). I really enjoyed the movie (I love dystopian stories in general), but there were so many unanswered questions that I simply had to buy the book immediately and glean any more insights the original source material could offer. Luckly, BookBub was offering a Featured …
This is one of those awesome surprises – a book that suddenly pops up on the ‘recommended for you’ page and the bots get it right. Bird Box was gripping from the first sentence and I was so disappointed when it ended. The author’s writing is crisp, his mind incredibly inventive and his story telling seamless. I highly recommend this book.
I loved this novel! Bird Box is deliciously suspenseful, creepy, and sad, in perfect proportion. The premise requires characters to go blindfolded, and while this might cripple some stories (vision being the go-to sense for describing scenes, action, characters…well, everything, really) Malerman’s treatment of it adds depth to the novel. As a …
I saw the movie first —and I still wasn’t prepared!! I couldn’t sleep last night and thought I’d read more of this… yeah, that didn’t work. My eyes are burning because I couldn’t put this book down.
This was a hard book to walk away from the narrator really held my attention and made it easy to feel all the emotions of the characters. Crazy intense from the start to finish! All Malorie wants is to survive and for her children to survive. When she hears of a safe haven she has to make a hard choice that could put her and the children in …
I’m a little bit saddened that I only found this book after it became a Netflix hit. I haven’t watched the movie but plan to, soon.
This book is pretty cool, and very creepy. The idea of the unknown always kind of bothers me, but when this unknown is a potential creature that causes the kind of distraction portrayed in this book? Well, let’s …
I cannot recommend this book enough. For those of you who enjoy any sort of post-apocalyptic (or just plain weird and scary) fiction, this book feels like a breath of fresh air. The plot is pretty simple: something is causing people to go insane the moment they see it. What is it? No one knows. A creature of some kind. Maybe. The only hope is to …
When it comes to scary, I think that scenes from The Bird Box, the 2014 debut novel by Josh Malerman will join my collection of singular shudders. Through years of reading horror novels, some images have lingered, like Stoker’s Count Dracula, crawling like an insect up the steep castle wall or what Danny Torrance saw in the forbidden room at the …
Very, very unique and awesome. Makes you realize how much you need your vision, and how terrifying it would be to have chaos all around but you were blind. Main character and her two children are trying desperately to escape a world where seeing causes madness, due to mysterious creatures that are lurking around. Ending was different but …
I thought this was an interesting premise. Didn’t watch it on Netflix but I completely enjoyed the book, good horror and a fine way to pass some time.
I wish I had written this story. It’s one of the best reads ever and marked in my “to be read again” box. Great dystopian world. Great characters. Great conflict.
I was gripped from the first pages and the psychological terror held on to me to the end. But it was terrifying because I have sight, something I take for granted. The world is run by people with sight but the blind live in this world every day of their lives, yet not so bleakly. Perhaps that’s the point here, not to take anything for granted …
I am listening to the audio book of Bird Box and had to quit listening when I went away for the week on my own to a friend’s lodge in the mountains… a beautiful, swanky place with lots and lots and lots of uncovered windows. I knew it would freak me out too much. Different in some ways from the excellent Netflix adaptation (book to film always …
I adore this book so much that I do not know how to describe it from the splendor of magnificence that it is wonderful
fallow me, please
Josh Malerman crafts stories the way artisans craft furniture. It’s a careful, deliberate structuring of an intense tale followed by meticulous attention to detail and even more meticulous polishing. He is an amazing wordsmith.
“It’s better to face madness with a plan than to sit still and let it take you in pieces.”
“How far can a person hear…” So after all the hype from the movie, I had to read the book. Let me tell you that this book is terrifying! It makes the movie look like people playing a game of blind man’s bluff! It takes a lot to scare me, and that’s exactly …
I read birdbox and I loved it!There was no moment when I was bored of the the book I enjoyed the whole time I read the book and I think it was easy read to do as well totally recommend for people who like action packed books
Excellent, post-apocalyptic thriller. Read it as fast as I could.