Bird Box by Josh Malerman

I love when I start the New Year off right with a fantastic book!
---This is more of a book vs movie review then an actual review of this amazing novel.

Published: May 13, 2014 by HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
Genres: Fiction, Horror, Thriller, Suspense, Post Apocalyptic, Dystopia

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Description:

Something is out there, something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse of it, 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 remains, 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's 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. Something is following them all the while, but is it man, animal, or monster?

Review:

YES, YES, YES! I absolutely loved this book. Page one had me hooked immediately. The movie came out on Netflix and there was a lot of hype over the novel in all my book circles. So of course I had to check it out. I was a little hesitant as I had read on of Malerman's books last year and I was not impressed. However, this one held my attention all the way through I couldn't put it down. The suspense was built perfectly.

Post apocalyptic novels are quickly becoming one of my favorite genres. I have not read one yet that I haven't really enjoyed. Its fun to me to think - what would I do in this situation. Would I handle situations like the characters are. Its fun for me because unlike in regular horrors there is no feeling like the character is being too stupid for going into the basement because "we all know what is going to happen". Each Post apocalyptic novel really has to set things up and take you down an experience that you have never been apart of.

Then I watched the movie on Netflix.... big mistake. I don't think I have ever been so disappointed in a film adaptation. I can count on one hand the number of similarities between the book and the movie. The movie lacks any of the suspense needed. Doesn't make the point of how well the children trust her and will listen to her no matter what. In fact, it shows them deliberately disobeying her numerous times and even refusing to come to her because they fear her. This part really made me mad. It made Malorie look like a bad mother instead of doing everything she can to trust them. There is zero demonstration of the children's exceptional hearing ability, yet in the book she completely relies on them to keep them all alive. They don't even call her mom in the movie.

I highly recommend the book... maybe not so much the movie.