Blackbirds [Kindle Edition]

Chuck Wendig (Author)

Book Description

Miriam Black knows when you will die.

Still in her early twenties, she's foreseen hundreds of car crashes, heart attacks, strokes, suicides, and slow deaths by cancer. But when Miriam hitches a ride with truck driver Louis Darling and shakes his hand, she sees that in thirty days Louis will be gruesomely murdered while he calls her name.

Miriam has given up trying to save people; that only makes their deaths happen. But 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.

File Under: Urban Fantasy [ Touch Of Death | The Future Is Written | Free Way | Surviving ]

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Trailer-park tension, horrified hilarity, and sheer terror mixed with deft characterization and razor plotting. I literally could not put it down." - Lilith Saintcrow, author of Night Shift and Working for the Devil "Blackbirds is a horror story, a traveling story, a story of loss and what it takes to make things right. It's a story about fate and how sometimes, if we wrestle with it hard enough, maybe we can change it. Blackbirds is the kind of book that doesn't let go even after you've put it down and nobody else could have made it shine like Chuck Wendig." - Stephen Blackmoore, author, City of the Lost and Dead Things "Mean, moody and mysterious, Blackbirds is a noir joyride peppered with black humour, wry observation, and visceral action. Fans of Chuck Wendig will not be disappointed." - Adam Christopher, author of Empire State... Blackbirds is "one *dark* book. Think Six Feet Under co-written by Stephen King and Chuck Palaniuk... Wendig's surefooted prose means that this ride is well worth sticking your thumb out for." 4 **** SFX Magazine

Review

"Trailer-park tension, horrified hilarity, and sheer terror mixed with deft characterization and razor plotting. I literally could not put it down." - Lilith Saintcrow, author of Night Shift and Working for the Devil "Blackbirds is a horror story, a traveling story, a story of loss and what it takes to make things right. It's a story about fate and how sometimes, if we wrestle with it hard enough, maybe we can change it. Blackbirds is the kind of book that doesn't let go even after you've put it down and nobody else could have made it shine like Chuck Wendig." - Stephen Blackmoore, author, City of the Lost and Dead Things "Mean, moody and mysterious, Blackbirds is a noir joyride peppered with black humour, wry observation, and visceral action. Fans of Chuck Wendig will not be disappointed." - Adam Christopher, author of Empire State... Blackbirds is "one *dark* book. Think Six Feet Under co-written by Stephen King and Chuck Palaniuk... Wendig's surefooted prose means that this ride is well worth sticking your thumb out for." 4 **** SFX Magazine

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 418 KB
• Print Length: 384 pages
• Publisher: Angry Robot (April 24, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B007B2D4DU
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #28,599 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Brash and Brilliant April 24, 2012

By SQT

Format:Mass Market Paperback

When you look at a cover for a book like "Blackbirds" you think you're going to get something in keeping with the ethereal image; but Chuck Wendig offers something else entirely-- and that's not a bad thing at all.

Miriam Black can see a person's death whenever she makes skin-to-skin contact: she knows the exact moment and circumstances and sees it all with disturbing clarity. Miriam has adapted to her strange life by becoming a scavenger of the dead. Knowing when someone will die alone doesn't provide Miriam with a living much beyond subsistence level, but it enables her to drift along the margins of society without having to interact with people beyond a superficial level-- which is just how Miriam likes it.

Miriam knows that interference with fate is not an option-- she's tried to help people in the past but it only seems to cement the final outcome. But when Miriam shakes hands with Louis Darling and sees that he will die in 30 days, while calling her name, she realizes that fate might be choosing to involve her this time around.

I first became interested in "Blackbirds" because of its evocative cover, so beautifully done by Joey Hi-Fi, and I had the expectation that Miriam would have a dreamy way of looking at the world as one of those people who accepts their life with calm stoicism. But Miriam is anything but complacent and that fact is made clear right away as she springs to life, full of piss and vinegar, in all of her chain-smoking, swearing glory.

Miriam is a reflection of the world she inhabits. Any casual contact with another person brings visions of death that can be as benign as a heart attack or as graphic as a gunshot to the head. There's no censor to spare Miriam from the gory details and she uses her abrasive manner to shield herself from life's harsh realities. But the usual strategies she employs to keep her contact with others to an absolute minimum is upended when she meets Louis. It isn't just the vision of his death, or her involvement, that unsettles Miriam but also the unexpected kindness Louis shows her when they meet. So it's especially tragic when Miriam is unwillingly pulled into a cruel con targeting Louis that further deepens her frustration over her inability to change his destiny.

Miriam is one of the best characters I've encountered in modern fiction. She's someone who should be fairly unsympathetic thanks to the nearly-constant stream of profanity that comes out of her mouth, but there is so much more to Miriam than a few f-bombs. She is damaged and yet strangely endearing. Normal relationships are impossible so she compensates by being incredibly verbose with people she feels safe with-- usually among the about-to-die crowd. The connections she makes in those moments aren't much, but they're all she has. She's young but worn out, almost grimy, and prone to bad decisions in stressful situations. And for all that, she still yearns to do the right thing-- even when she's sure she'll fail.

The villains in "Blackbirds" run the gamut from psychopathic to mildly conniving. Characters that could be easy stereotypes are deftly shaped into something different, strange even, yet still convincing in a real-world setting. What I appreciated about this aspect of the book was that each character had a distinct motivation, some as simple as just doing the job and others with more menacing undertones, that kept the narrative interesting and credible even when circumstances get weird.

It would be easy to make superficial comparisons to authors like Joe Abercrombie thanks to the profanity used in "Blackbirds," but I think I like Wendig's style more than Abercrombie's (no disrespect to Joe) because I never felt like there was an underlying thread of nihilism to the story. It's bleak at times, but there's such a ferocious sense of humor in Miriam's character that you know she still has a glimmer of hope no matter how dark things get. I don't want to offer too many spoilers in this review, but I will say that the mystery of Miriam's ability is never fully revealed-- though the outline of a reason is there. At first I couldn't decide if I hated that aspect of the book or not. But I have since come to the conclusion that it is not only appropriate to the flow of the story, it makes perfect sense that Miriam's story can only be partially told because she can't ever get to the right level of connection in a relationship to really have a chance to open up to anyone. The gaps in the story create such a sense of poignancy and add a depth I didn't know could exist by not fully revealing something.

"Blackbirds" is one of those books that lingers with you a bit-- in a good way. Wendig has such a bold style that the emotional payoff is as big as the characters. It's the kind of book that has the potential to put Wendig on the map as a 'must-read' author-- I know he's made my list. Highly recommended.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Smart, seedy urban fantasy October 2, 2012

By Dave Versace

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Chuck Wendig's Blackbirds is the story of Miriam Black, a young woman afflicted by the unfortunate ability to see in precise and accurate detail the manner in which anyone she touches will die. Living a transient lifestyle from one cheap motel to the next, Miriam makes a ghoulish living by hovering close to people whose deaths are imminent and scavenging from their corpses after the event. She's callous, abrasive and bitter, keeping the world at arm's length with a steady stream of sarcasm and profanity. And yet -

Miriam meets someone in whose death she may be implicated. As she struggles to change what horrific experience has taught her is an inevitability, Wendig peels back the layers of his misbegotten heroine. Miriam's fearsome misanthropy is the shell of a heart sorely hurt. The great tragedy of her past is compounded again and again by misguided attempts to atone for her mistakes, attempts with invariably horrible consequences. Years of cruel experience have taught her that she is nothing but a poisoned chalice. Despite that, Miriam spits in the eye of her own completely justified fatalism and sets out to change the future.

On one level, Blackbirds is a snarling, vicious crime thriller populated by con men, druglords and psychotic assassins up against a prickly psychic heroine hauling a truckload of emotional baggage. It stinks of cheap booze, bad sex, greasy food, tire smoke, festering wounds and smouldering cigarettes. You don't have to dig far beneath the surface to get at the good stuff, though. Blackbirds is upfront about asking big questions about free will and destiny, but more intimate subjects, like death, loss and the harmful consequences of deliberately becoming physically and socially distanced from humanity, are laid bare as well.

Which is not to say it's a slow, thoughtful read. On the contrary, Blackbirds screams along, propelled by Miriam's fear, anger and desperate dark humour, not to mention a cadre of vicious criminals out to reclaim what's theirs. Set against a backdrop of highway motels, seedy bars and trailer parks, there's slick violence, black comedy and a sprinkling of supernatural horror. Miriam Black is a broken, jagged wreck of a person with a spiteful tongue and a psychic curse who is forced to decide whether she wants to be human. She's mean and tortured and cunning and compassionate and she'd kick you in the crotch if she thought you pitied her, because it's for your own good, that's why.

Yeah, I love this book. All the stars. ALL OF THEM.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Heroine in Gritty Urban Fantasy September 29, 2012

By Anastasia McPherson TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Despite the overwhelmingly positive reviews, I was expecting Blackbirds to be throw-away pulp urban fantasy. Boy was I wrong and boy was I pleasantly surprised. Miriam is 'road trash' by her own estimation. A homeless woman who wanders the roadways of America running from something she carries with her, the ability to know the moment and circumstances of death of anyone she touches. The writing is staccato, harsh, profane and incredibly polished and engaging. Wendigo knows what he is doing - most of all in the character of Miriam.

Miriam is the kind of person most of us would drive by at a rest stop, the only thought we might give her one of disdain. Instead the reader grows to sympathize and love her and that right quick, from the opening with a trucker who hits prostitutes and dies choking on his tongue while Miriam looks on, to the ending when she tries to subvert fate for the man she comes to love in spite of herself - loving is hard for Miriam not only because of past hurts at the hands of others but because she hates herself and her ability.

Blackbirds is amazing urban fantasy and I will be buying the follow-up without delay to follow this quirky, individual character who has the iconic feel of a trailer trash Buffy with none of Buffy's annoying arrogance about her chosen status. Miriam wishes to hell she hadn't been chosen for this dubious gift or curse or whatever it is. This one really drew me in when I wasn't expecting it.

More About the Author

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chuck Wendig is a novelist, screenwriter, and game designer. He's the author of BLACKBIRDS, DOUBLE DEAD and DINOCALYPSE NOW, and is co-writer of the short film PANDEMIC, the feature film HiM, and the Emmy-nominated digital narrative COLLAPSUS. He lives in Pennsylvania with wife, taco terrier, and tiny human.