I have told this story before but since we are talking about the sequel it seems fitting. During the 2014 World Horror Convention held in Portland I was setting up my books to sign and there was a very long line for one author I never heard of. Then I kept seeing people everywhere at the con holding his book and talking about it. Years before Birdbox became the most-watched movie on Netflix and a global meme with taking the "Birdbox" challenge Josh Malerman's novel Birdbox was the talk of the World Horror Convention.
After the con, I knew I wanted to read this book but of course, I had already decided that it was impossible for this novel to live up to the hype. I am starting to see a pattern with the Bird Box series - living up to impossible hype is just what this story does. I am sure there are a few of you think there is only a cash not story reason to do a sequel here. As powerful of a hit as Bird Box was as a book there are forces that would push and pull an author on a project like this.
As great as Bird Box was the pressure to deliver an equally scary and emotional ride would be a burden for any writer. Because goddamn was the first book was both of those things. As someone who read the book long before the movie I feel sorry for those of you who saw the movie first. (I am going to assume you at least saw the movie and spoil the first one) Honestly, the movie was good, but for my money, it missed the key part of the first act.
In the film, you know the creatures and the madness is real. I read Bird Box cold, no idea what the novel was about. So while Malorie was heading down the river with the blindfolds on her and the kids I didn't know if the monsters were even real for a good 70 pages. I thought this novel was about a crazy and abusive mother. That misdirection is void from the movie because the creatures while still unseen are very real on the other side of the blindfold right away.
Personally I trusted Malerman who has not been cash-grabbing and repeating the same kind of horror story over and over. There is nothing overly commercial about a supernatural western spin on Sleeping Beauty like Unbury Carol. I enjoyed that novel but it is not exactly mainstream, and the cool thing is readers were willing to follow him.
I understand the first question I need to answer in this review is the sequel a worthy follow-up and in every way, I would say it is as good as the first book and surpasses it. The main way Malorie passes Bird Box is an unhappy accident. Malerman could not have know when he wrote this book pre-pandemic that he would be releasing it into this environment. While America is debating the virtues of wearing mask verses and the idea of safety taking away a person's freedom.
The blindfold debate between Malorie and her son is almost eerie at moments in this book. It added a level of importance to the themes in a way I was not expecting. The power of this debate in the novel is set-up in the first book because Malorie knows that the thin piece of fabric is keeping her alive and sane.
The peace of the school for the blind where the first novel ended is broken when a blind woman suddenly goes mad. This is a few years after the events of the first novel. Malorie escapes with her children but the events put into question even her own rules for survival. What if the mask is not enough, if a blind woman went mad, then maybe the creatures can just touch you.
We have a huge time jump while Maloire raises her kids to their teenage years in social distancing to the extreme. Her adopted children Olympia and Tom are teenagers now and for Tom, that means a streak of rebellion. He has started to resent the isolation and is not convinced that they must live by Malorie's rules and he starts to question the blindfold he has lived with most of his life.
One of the most powerful moments of the novel comes early when Malorie goes to visit another survivor that lives alone nearby. They have been friends and helped each other for years but Ron and Malorie have never seen each other. When Malorie comes to say goodbye they take off their blindfolds for the first time.
"They stare at each other a beat. Take each other in. Malorie sees fear and exhaustion in his face. She wonders if, in the old world, Ron hardy was wealthy"
It was painful, even in the presence of this person she was growing to know to take off the mask. It is an important reminder in the first act of the stakes. Both in the monster storyline but also the emotional push and pull between Malorie and her son. It is such a grand theme of the times. Tom desires freedom from isolation and his mother. He has only known a world with these monsters and that desire for freedom pushing against safety is at the beating heart of this novel.
The drive of the story comes when a blindfolded census worker comes to count them as survivors and leaves a copy of the names of those safe in other parts of the state. Two of those names are Malorie's parents who according to the book are surviving up in northern Michigan. It seems impossibly far, except Ron tells Malorie the rumors of a train that travels the state north and south.
The Train and the weird dynamic of it becomes one of the major parts of the novel. One of the strongest moments that nearly broke me came from Dean who runs the train. He has the most powerful moment of the novel when explaining how Dean lost his children to the madness in his sealed-off protective bubble...
"...And you know what?"
"What?"
"I Never found the sliver."
This is the heart of Malorie's darkest and deepest fear. After losing her sister and the world itself Malorie is scared that no matter what she does she can't keep out the insanity. She can't no matter the rules, or the blindfolds ever be free of the fear and doubt. This drives Malorie as a character and her fears that she might have gone crazy as she says "the old fashion way." Goddamn.
I don't want to give away anything from the final act, and the ending but the themes and debates at the core of this novel carry on to the last moments. The debate between safety and paranoia. Can the thin piece of fabric that Malorie has worn like armor protect her?
The final act leaves me wondering has Malerman set-up a perfect lead-in for a third book or provided an ending that we were constantly building to? I don't know the answer. This could be the end but I will tell you the journey is filled with emotionally intense moments of fear and suspense that will reward any reader who connects with these characters.
That is the heart of every horror story ever told. Will you connect and put yourself in the shoes laid out for you. Malerman could not do more to build empathy here. Malorie, Tom, and Olympia are the perfect horror characters in the sense that I was nervous for them through-out the reading experience. That makes it an effective novel, an effective horror story, and in this case a sequel equally as good as the masterpiece it followed up. No easy task but it is another reason Malerman is one of the best we got.
Stay tuned as Malerman is coming on my Podcast "Postcards from a Dying World" soon, when the link is live I will post it.
