Title: Blackbirds (Miriam Black #1)My Thoughts:
Author: Chuck Wendig
Genre/s: Adult, Horror, Fantasy, Paranormal
Release Date: April 24, 2012
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Synopsis:
Miriam Black knows when you will die.She’s foreseen hundreds of car crashes, heart attacks, strokes, and suicides.But when Miriam hitches a ride with Louis Darling and shakes his hand, she sees that in thirty days Louis will be murdered while he calls her name. Louis will die because he met her, and she will be the next victim.No matter what she does she can’t save Louis. But if she wants to stay alive, she’ll have to try.
The Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig is a morbid paranormal story that's oozing with gore and sarcasm. If I will compare it to a carnival ride, I'd say, it's a low-budgeted roller coaster ride inside a horror house. It's fun and I still like it but I didn't love it as much as I would have like to.
Miriam Black can see a person's death - date, time and all the gory details - once she got a skin-to-skin contact with it. Now, living a life like a nomad, Miriam tracked those people down, wait until they die and robbed them. Then she met Louis, a truck driver, and when their hands touched, Miriam saw how he will die. 30 days from their meeting, he will be brutally murdered and with his dying breathe, he will say Miriam's name.
Miriam was hilarious and an amusing liar. At first, I was entertained by her antics, she cracked me up with her unique way of storytelling, over-the-top descriptions and silly metaphors. But I guess, it got old halfway through the story. I like Miriam. I do, but she used her charm too much and too often that I became immune to it.
I also don't like the pacing in the first half of the story with the interview in every other chapter. I know that it was supposed to help the readers know Miriam more personally by means of interviewing her about her life and how she got her ability but to me, it intervened with the momentum and escalation of the story. I like the narration though. The description of the scenes was so vivid, I can picture it playing before my eyes. It was very cinematic and I love that about it.
Overall, it was an okay read. If you like gruesome, morbid and sarcastically funny books this is the right one for you. But I got to warn you, this is an adult book and it has a lot of cursing and other adult stuff so this is definitely not allowed for younger readers age 16 and below.
My Rating
