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Bird Box cover art

Bird Box

Written by: Josh Malerman
Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
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Publisher's Summary

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, Malorie has long dreamed of fleeing to a place where her family might be safe. But the journey ahead will be terrifying: 20 miles downriver in a rowboat blindfolded with nothing to rely on but Malorie's 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 motley 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.

©2014 Josh Malerman (P)2014 HarperCollinsPublishers

Featured Article: The Best Horror Movies Based on Books for Fans of Scary Movies

If you’re a horror genre fan, you’ve likely watched all the classic horror films and some eerie new releases. Audiobooks stand at the crossroads between books and movies, where you can enjoy thrilling horror novels and short stories with all the sound effects and acting talent of a Hollywood blockbuster. It doesn’t have to be Halloween for you to have a good scare. Whether it’s ghost stories or scary sci-fi tales that get you on the edge of your seat, we’ve gathered a list of the best horror movies based on books on Audible to add to your audio booklist.

What listeners say about Bird Box

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

glad I did audio

I could not of read this as a physical book. luckily I was sick while I listened to this so I kept at it . the book is tedious , so very tedious, the author feels the need to describe nearly every action of every character such as "she pit the cup down,turned left,breathed out, blinked," etc and along with that the author writes these creative descriptions for a characters emotions like " her heart was beating like the wings of a hummingbird that just had espresso" ( example) so I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for this stuff to happen and all I get is several chapters about how this one woman's arm hurts or how windy it is . its just not my sup of tea, I like my action quick and interesting, and descriptiveness is fine as long as its necessary and not tedious. I almost gave up on this n just went to google to read the end. but the book was redeemed by the last half ,mainly the ending, I feel like this book could of been a short story, we could of skipped a lot of the blah blah and just had the badass ending as the entire book lol my love for horror and sci fi and abnormal is why this book isn't a 1 . I loved the concept and the ending but the story writing was a total yawn and I found myself skipping ahead through long descriptions to get to the juice of the story I also absolutely hated all other characters in this book except Mallory and the kids, I hated them so much! they were flat and ridiculously emotional, I wondered why Mallory liked tom so much but there was no hint of a relationship ,not even really a friendship? so odd and the characters actions didn't make sence a lot of the time. its as if they were just put there to fill in a book that came from an idea about things u see that make u crazy. the characters weren't human ,they were either mad or scared or neutral. it was infuriating and I felt nothing when any of them were in peril. honestly I kinda feel cheated from buying this book I think the author just thought a interesting idea and wrote around it but didn't glue down the edges u know what I mean?

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

It's got what the movie lacked

I listened to this book after watching the Netflix adaptation. While the movie was captivating, most notable because of its mysterious creatures the characters felt flatter and the experience was overshadowed by being able to literally see everything happening. This is where the audio book shines, the events are at times described through the character's experience. How things feel, how horrors are simply unknowable and the unseen terror is shared with the listener in this way. Highly recommend.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Bad narrator, worse writer.

Honestly I don't understand how anyone can give this book more than 2 stars.
I think the biggest problem is that the concept is great, but it's possibly too big of a concept for a writer that comes off very amateur.
Nond of the scenarios or characters feel real. He throws logic right out the window for 90 percent of the book.
He doesn't properly identify the rules of the world he's created and then follow them. It all seems random.
But maybe the most annoying aspect of his writing is that there is virtually no description. The whole book reads like a shooting script, with only basic action and no emotional aspect to the writing. Plus the dialogue between characters is horrendous.
I have to stop this review or I may take another star away.

Let's just say I've listened to 11 books in the last 3 months and this was the shortest one, but took the longest, had the worst narrator, and was flat out boring. I can't hate this book enough. I really don't understand how people loved it.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

I didn't know that there was a book.

to the mother and daughter who went on road trip and listen to it in the car there's already a movie called The Blind Side I'm pretty sure and it's supposed to be a horror book like it's like sci-fi you know a horror movie Not Meant to inspire LOL just to train your 1 year olds with a bug swater to wake up with their eyes closed and then she'd feed them like that's like some apocalypse shit!

The Blind Side?😆 you guys probably missed bits and parts of the book on your trip getting to banter with each other and such or wait .....maybe you haven't even seen the movie maybe that's why you don't understand that it's supposed to be a horror book. have you seen the movie?

listen I'm sorry I shouldn't be ragging on your comment. I'm sorry. you said you couldn't get into it - fair enough. and I agree the lady didn't tell the story very good.

so if you haven't seen the movie..... maybe... give it a go! Sandra Bullok gave such a good performance!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Spooky

Very spooky to read during Covid. Liked the story and the reader had a great tone.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Intense, heart-stopping thriller

I loved it! Campbell was an excellent narrator! Her tone and cadence we're perfect throughout. When the characters were scared, you were scared, when they were sad, you were sad. Edge of your seat suspense. Malerman creates such endearing characters, you can't help but love them. Absolutely loved this book!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

New Favorite Horror Novel

I had actually listened to this book through my library's app, and it was so good that I needed to own it. It is such a simple idea, but is done SO WELL. The writing is super atmospheric and creepy, and I felt like I was the MC walking around with a blindfold on. I recommend it to all.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Couldn't buy in!

We listened to the book on a long journey. The journey was 2 hours longer than the book which was perfect timing for my daughter & I to dissect the events & plotline. The holes in the plausibility are huge. Simple changes would have made it more believable. A better title would be "The Blind Side".

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
  • J.
  • 2019-02-06

Decent story with meh narration

The story was pretty good, but I think I would have liked it more with a different narrator. I felt that the narrators voice was much too soft, in a way that made it seem forced at times. Tense situations were not conveyed clearly at times. Character "voices" acted out sounded misplaced and goofy - kind of the way they would sound if a 6 year old was narrating her stuffed animals.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Netflix show was better

The premise of this story was good, but it seemed to be written by an amateur. The writing seem stilted and not even the good performance could save this book. The only reason I read this book is because I enjoyed the netflix movie. This was one of the rare occasions where I enjoyed a movie version over the book it was based upon.

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