Blackbirds

Written by Chuck Wendig

Narrated by Emily Beresford

The first book in the Miriam Black series: “A sassy, hard-boiled thriller with a paranormal slant” (The Guardian) about a young woman who can see the darkest corners of the future.

Miriam Black knows how you’re going to die. This makes her daily life a living hell, especially when you can’t do anything about it, or stop trying to. She’s foreseen hundreds of car crashes, heart attacks, strokes, and suicides. She merely needs to touch you—skin to skin contact—and she knows how and when your final moments will occur. Miriam has given up trying to save people; that only makes their deaths happen. But then she hitches a ride with Louis Darling and shakes his hand, and she sees in thirty days that Louis will be murdered while he calls her name. Louis will die because he met her, and Miriam 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.

“Think Six Feet Under co-written by Stephen King and Chuck Palahniuk” (SFX), and you have Blackbirds: a visceral, exciting novel about life on the edge.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Apr 24, 2012
• ISBN: 9781455885473

Chuck Wendig

Chuck Wendig is the author of the Miriam Black thrillers (which begin with Blackbirds) and numerous other works across books, comics, games, and more. A finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the cowriter of the Emmy-nominated digital narrative Collapsus, he is also known for his popular blog, terribleminds.com. He lives in Pennsylvania with his family.

Reviews for Blackbirds

[Nina Quartuccio · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic, great story telling by the narrator but then she has great material to work with. Love the dialogs and the natural flow that the author created. I love the "bad girl", main character... her gift, although done before but not with this twist. Her sarcastic dark humer keepes you smiling/shocked and turning the page. The story was suspenseful and filled with violence and language and I loved it. Great stuff...going for book 2. I am hopeful it continues to the same level.

[ahs7wolfy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Miriam Black is used to death. It's what she sees if she comes into skin-on-skin contact with someone. She's seen so much of it that even violent death has lost the ability to shock. So it must be that the man in her latest vision calling her name as he looks over the shoulder of his killer that has affected her so much. Was it actually Miriam herself he was looking at and why would she be present at such a gruesome death if it was? Usually she only turns up for those that die alone so she can take what she needs to continue her nomadic drink and nicotine filled lifestyle. Miriam has tried to thwart her visions before but somehow fate always manages to get what it wants. Wanting to have nothing to do with the death of Louis the kind and caring truck driver she vows to be nowhere near the scene of the crime when it occurs. Can she get away or will Miriam become victim to fate once again?This is a dark, gory, foul-mouthed urban fantasy ride that veers towards the horror end of the spectrum. There is a small cast of mostly unlikeable characters (including the protagonist) so if you find this off-putting then this book is probably not for you. Neither if you're a bit squeamish or offended by profanity (there's lots of it - although it does get quite creative at times). Personally I don't mind either as long as they are true to the story or characters involved and here it fits perfectly. The majority of the story is told in present tense with flashback segments of an interview with a magazine reporter used to give insight into Miriam's past and character. It works well and drives the story on relentlessly. This was my first encounter with the author's work but it won't be my last. There's already a couple of sequels to this book with another on the way and I'll definitely be on the lookout for those at the very least.

[aneris-3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

How to create an urban fantasy heroine as unlikeable and trashy as you can, see Blackbirds. The unlikeable part is completely personal. Some will love her. I couldn't. She calls herself garbage twice. That is two times too many.

Miriam Black has a misfortune to see how people are going to die when she touches them. As she herself says, she is a vulture. She waits it out and takes their money and moves on. The ability is not explained though. I am assuming it will be in other books in the series.
She talks a lot, swears a lot. Nothing surprising considering what you find out about her in the course of the story. The swearing is opposite what she was taught, so she does it a lot. She moves from place to place mostly hitch-hiking and that is how she meets Louis, the only character in the book that I don't want to kill. She sees his death but this time it is different - he says her name before he dies. The blurb is a bit too revealing since you find out that happens because he met her later in the book. The other part of the blurb is misleading. It gives an impression of Miriam trying to save him throughout the book. The only thing she, along with all other characters except Louis, was trying is my patience.

The story is written in present tense which, even if I don't like it that much, helps to move this story really fast. What slows it down though is all the actions of horrible people. You move with the characters from place to place and not a single person stands out as someone you would at least tolerate, let alone like.

The best part of this book are descriptions. I don't remember if I have ever read a book full of one-sentence descriptions that are so sufficient and funny. This book needed funny. 'Harriet Adams is whiter than an untanned ass, bleached like ocean-soaked bone.' * 'Sky's just a Vaseline smear of formless clouds - a bright, greasy layer of grey.' * 'If he were a bagel, he'd be plain.' * 'She tells the bartender, who looks like a pile of uncooked Pillsbury dough stuffed into a dirty black T-shirt, that she needs a drink.' The book is full of these and they brighten the story if only for one moment.

After reading it, you'll realize that there is no strong story. It is all somewhere under Miriam's obnoxious attitude and other people's terrible actions. The main villain wouldn't be out of place in a Monty Python show. This is one of those books very hard to rate.

[vombatiformes · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm a previous fan of Chuck Wendig's work (having been introduced to it after picking up a copy of Double Dead at a Barnes & Noble and enjoying it very much) so I came into this novel prepared for his writing style and anticipating enjoying it as I did with Double Dead.I'm not sure if my level of enjoyment was less on reading this novel than on his other work because I'm less interested in the subject or if it was something else, though I suspect a combination of things. The story follows Miriam, a young woman with a terrible gift -- she is able to tell when and how someone will die, but she isn't able to do anything to change it. Understandably, and due to some past trauma, Miriam has a lot of problems. Her life is a mess and her psychological situation is dubious at best. Still, she is a survivor -- and her character is intense and dynamic and there is a lot to like about her as a person.Unfortunately, while I really like seeing writers I enjoy shine through their work, Wendig's characteristic style of profanity and sarcasm begins to wear a bit thin very early on in this book. A lot of the action seems terribly self-conscious and the dark humor wears itself pretty thin barely a quarter way through the novel. The strengths are obvious -- the mystery surrounding Miriam, the uncertainty about whether she really CAN exert power over her own life and over her visions, these things really compel the reader forward and make them eager to get to the end so they can have some of their questions answered. I think, though, this was actually the major and damning difference for me between this novel and my experience reading Double Dead. I savored the latter, and was disappointed and dying for more when I got to the end. For me, Blackbirds was very much about reaching the end and finding out what happens a-la cheap mystery novels. Blackbirds, of course, is much more than a cheap mystery novel, but I am disappointed by my lack of interest in hanging around the characters longer or getting to know their world better. I am sure that I will read the sequel at some point but as of now I am not clamoring for it, and I do still hope to see more and more work from Wendig as I think his writing is strong and interesting and I like seeing how he strings chaotic elements together into a cohesive whole in his stories, which are often mixed up and complicated in a pleasant way. I guess Blackbirds, and the world of Miriam, may just not be a hit for me. I have seen many reviews weigh in in its favor so I am open to the idea that this may be a matter of personal preference rather than any major failing on Wendig's part as a writer.

[halo_star · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

BLACKBIRDS is the story of Miriam Black, a twenty-something drifter who can see when and how a person is going to die by touching them. Naturally, this has caused her no small amount of anxiety, as well as considerable guilt about not being able to do anything to stop the events (she tried, once.) Miriam has become cold, at least on the outside. Then she meets a truck driver named Louis, who surprises her with his kindness. She falls for him. She sees how he's going to die. And it involves her.Miriam is one of those super-sarcastic characters that is popular nowadays. While she is genuinely funny in the beginning, this quality does start to wear out its welcome after a while. She's also not very nice or likeable, even in a bad-but-charismatic way. I didn't have much sympathy for her.Though there are some potentially interesting logistical conundrums built around the premise that "fate" will always have its way (Miriam tries to avoid Louis for his own safety, but he keeps turning up), but the story never really rises above the level of a decent mystery-suspense thriller.

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I got Blackbirds from Angry Robot on Netgalley, to review. I wasn't sure if I'd like it from the description, and the pre-existing reviews, but I wanted to give it a go because the idea is something relatively simple that could be turned into a really good story. The core idea is that a girl (Miriam) gains a power which means the first time she has skin-on-skin contact with someone, she sees how they die.

I enjoyed the character of Miriam: she's a tough talking girl who swears like a sailor and does whatever she has to do to get through life, trying to tell herself that all these deaths she witnesses (and can't prevent) don't matter to her, and that she can't do anything about it. There's a lot that isn't explained about her gift, which is equal parts frustrating and intriguing: I'm definitely looking forward to the sequel, to fill in the gaps that Blackbirds has left.

I liked the other main characters, too: Ashley and Louis. Well, Ashley is kind of unlikeable, but I like what was done with him, and Louis... well, you can't help liking Louis and rooting for him, even though the story is telling you the whole time that nothing good is going to come of this.

There are a couple of things that I didn't find convincing enough: the motives of the people who were after her; Louis' attraction to her; the whole Ashley thing. Some of that might be resolved in the next book, but either way, the momentum of the story carried me past anything that gave me pause. I read it in one sitting -- if it sounds interesting to you, then I'd say go ahead and pick it up, as long as you can get past the fact that there's graphic violence, swearing and sex!

[samjehanzeb · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Blackbirds ist der Auftakt einer Reihe, die allen Roadmovie-Fans das Herz höher schlagen lassen wird. Meist in der Perspektive der abgebrühten Miriam wird der Leser in eine Achterbahn von Ereignissen geworfen. Ehe man es sich versieht, jagen Drogendealer und Killer sie quer durchs Land und metzeln alles nieder, was ihnen in den Weg kommt. Es wird mit Wonne gefoltert und zwar auch gerne mal mit Ausführungen des Täters. Es wird zwar nicht zum Splatter-Roman, doch man sollte nicht zu zart besaitet sein, wenn man Blackbirds lesen möchte.Der Roman beginnt mit Miriam, die in einem schäbigen Hotel dem bevorstehenden Tod eines wirklich unsympathischen Scheißkerls beiwohnen möchte – nunja, „möchte“. Vielmehr fühlt sie sich verpflichtet, schließlich hat sie seinen Tod bereits gesehen, außerdem hilft ihr das Bargeld in seinen Taschen dabei, ein paar Tage über die Runden zu kommen. Sie ist knallhart, hat ein ausgesprochen derbes Vokabular, säuft, was das Zeug hält, und bevorzugt den gelegentlichen, aber auf jeden Fall unverbindlichen Sex mit Fremden. Ihre unheimliche Fähigkeit hat sie sichtlich gezeichnet und sie meidet enge Bindungen zu anderen Menschen wie der Teufel das Weihwasser. Als Straßenvagabundin macht sie also keine Gefangenen und kann ebenso heftig austeilen, wie sie einstecken kann, und sie geht keinerlei Verpflichtungen ein. Sie denkt praktisch, egoistisch und überaus zynisch. Kurz gesagt: Miriam ist selbstzerstörerisch. Umso überraschender ist es, dass sie dem vereinsamten Louis ein wenig das Herz öffnet und zum ersten Mal seit einer Ewigkeit so etwas wie Zuneigung für einen Menschen zulässt. Es ist eine wackelige Beziehung, die Miriam aber etwas mehr Menschlichkeit verleiht und den Bogen an einer Stelle schlägt, wo man als Leser beinahe zu genervt ist von der schlecht gelaunten Protagonistin, um noch lange am Ball bleiben zu wollen. Denn im Grunde ist der Ansatz dieser rohen Figur nicht schlecht, nur leider übertreibt es der Autor gerne mal. Es dauert recht lange, bis man mit der Figur wirklich warm wird. Viel zu lange bleibt sie zu oberflächlich, als dass man das Verhalten glaubhaft nachvollziehen oder sich in Miriam hineinversetzen könnte.Nach und nach erfährt man schließlich aber doch mehr über die holprige Vergangenheit von Miriam und endlich wird ihr Tiefe zuteil. Das macht den anfänglich schwachen Start zwar auch nicht wieder gut, doch mit diesem Wandel wird plötzlich die Neugier des Lesers geweckt und auch dessen Verständnis.Den übrigen Charakteren schadet die Oberflächlichkeit nicht, da es sich dabei hauptsächlich um regelrechten Abschaum handelt, der sowieso keine Sympathien wecken soll und stattdessen für Entsetzen zuständig ist. Das betrifft vor allem die Auftragskillerin Harriet, für die zu foltern Kunst und Glücksgefühle bedeuten; und ihren Chef, den seltsamen Glatzkopf, der in seinem Beutel Menschenknochen sammelt.Die Erzählung wird in mehreren Teilen immer wieder unterbrochen und fortgesetzt, so dass sich die Details wie ein Puzzle langsam zusammenfügen und spannende Stellen mit einem „Zwischenspiel“ zum Cliffhanger werden. Im Falle von Blackbirds ist das recht interessant und wertet die Erzählung auf, auch sind die Sprünge nicht so groß, dass man den Faden verlieren würde.Blackbirds liefert eine spannende Idee und ein actionreiches Abenteuer mit ordentlich Blut. Einzig die vulgäre Sprache der Protagonisten ist auf Dauer etwas anstrengend, da hier wirklich, wirklich viele davon sich die Klinke in die Hand geben, zu jeder Gelegenheit. Vielleicht musste der Autor, der sonst Drehbücher schreibt, in seinem Debütroman etwas kompensieren, was ihm bei den Filmstudios aufgrund von Zensuren verwehrt bleibt. Man weiß es nicht. Einen Blick wert ist der Roman aber durchaus. Chuck Wendig hat die Verbindung von Urban Fantasy, Thriller und Roadmovie gut hinbekommen, und wer es gerne rau, teils brutal, auf jedenfall schonungslos mag, der kommt ganz auf seine bzw. ihre Kosten. Man sollte sich allerdings bewusst sein, dass dieser Auftaktroman ganz klar auf die Fortsetzung baut und viel mehr Fragen aufwirft, als welche zu beantworten. So bleibt auch ungeklärt, wie Miriam zu ihrer Fähigkeit gekommen ist und was genau in ihrer Jugend mit ihr passierte. Blackbirds schließt zwar die Haupthandlung letztlich ab, liest sich aber insgesamt doch mehr wie eine Einleitung für das eigentliche Spektakel.Noch ein Wort zum Buchcover, denn hier sind mit viel Liebe zum Detail jede Menge Hinweise auf die Story eingeflochten worden. Und wie oft kommt es bei einem Cover schon vor, dass es ernsthaft durchdacht wurde? Schöne Sache!

[amcheri-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've got some mixed feelings about this book. I loved - LOVED - the first third or so but then things crept up that made me love it less. By the end, I liked the book alright but don't feel any desire to go forward with the series.

Some of the things I loved: Wendig's voice and writing style. Love much of the language and imagery and the pacing. Very gory and graphic but in a way that drew me even more into the story.

Some of the things I didn't like: The only time anyone's race was specifically stated was two Black peripheral characters. I'll keep pointing this out whenever I see it because only mentioning the race of people of color continues to perpetuate the idea that white is the norm and everyone one else is "other." White authors need to stop doing this. Thank you.

I also didn't like the small bit about the woman with super short hair either being a lesbian or someone who doesn't give a shit about her appearance anymore. Could be I'm sensitive to perpetuating that shitty stereotype but, yeah, that made me like Miriam less.

There were also some moments toward the very end that relate to Harriet and Miriam that seemed completely unbelievable to me but I won't go those here due to spoilers. Let's just say I would expect Harriet to be smarter and more cautious than she was.

I still did mostly enjoy the story. The premise was great even if I thought the resolution was pretty much what I expected the end of the journey to be. No matter what, I'm glad I finally read a book by the author. He's one of my favorite Twitter people.

[rivkat_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Miriam’s talent allows her to see how people will die, but not to do anything about it. She survives on the road mainly by robbing the newly dead. When a grifter figures out her ability, he plunges her into deadly danger; meanwhile, the nice trucker she met is going to die shortly, saying her name. Gritty noir horror-ish story, edging towards crapsack world without going all the way over.

[chris.bulin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was a surprise. Wending has an amazing way with imagery. I laughed out loud several times. Highly recommended for anyone that doesn't mind a bit of a dirty anti-hero.

[caanderson-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fast paced, sharp, complex characters take you on a scary adventure.

[quondame · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A dark, dark story, this did not drag for a second. The characters are scarily real.

[tldegray-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I can't quite decide if I liked this book. It was far more of a gangster-type novel (drug dealers out for revenge) than it was anything else, and that really isn't my style. I liked the main character--well, to the degree that she's likeable--and I was interested in what she could do and how she handled it. I very much enjoyed the interludes as info dumps, especially the interview where she discusses her life and her abilities.

The ending circled back around to speculative fiction. The origins of her powers came into question, along with the idea that there is some force guiding or watching her. I'd much rather read that than anything else.

[csdaley-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was barely a four for me. Let's be clear here. This is not an easy book to read. It is dark and very few good things happen in it. A lot of violence. None of these things bother me but something about this book kept me moving forward in the story. It is well written but not going to be for everyone.

[mysterymax_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Finished Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig. It was very dark. Several times I thought, "I can't read this." But I kept going. It's disturbing, compelling, thought provoking. Miriam is in her twenties. She's had a tough life, due in large part to the fact that if her skin touches someone else's skin she sees how they will die. The story is about fate and the possibility of changing fate. I gave it 3.5 stars. Not 4, because I will never read it again, but not 3 because I couldn't stop reading it. Would I recommend it. Conditionally, yes.

[keyboardscoffee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

GAH!

I have not loved a book like this in a very long time. I could not put it down, and it takes a lot to hold my attention.

Urban/supernatural fantasy is probably my favourite genre, and with Blackbirds you get the best parts of that genre all wrapped up into one book. It was gritty, sassy, gruesome and all kinds of fun.

I loved Miriam from the first sentence. She’s pessimistic and full of…angst? I don’t know if that’s the exact word I want. BUT she’s not depressing about it. She’s realistic. Less “woe is me” and more “life sucks and then you die”. Her voice made the story move quickly even if there wasn’t anything intense happening at that moment (but there usually was).

The way Miriam’s “sight” worked was really interesting too. I liked how it wasn’t as straightforward you might think seeing someone’s death is. Instead of using it as a cop out for the storyline, Chuck used it to progress the plot. It brought up more questions rather than giving all answers.

I will definitely be grabbing the next in this series and inhaling it like I did Blackbirds. And if you’re a fan of urban fantasy, I suggest you grab this.

[vibrantminds · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Miriam has a gift or a curse as she would say is more fitting; she can see when someone is going to die by simply touching their skin. As time passes she has learned to use these situations to her advantage. She sees it as fate and despite what she may or may not do fate cannot be changed. When Miriam crosses paths with a truck driver, Louis, and views his death she is taken back. He is to die a torturous death within the month and before he dies he says her name. Bothered by this turn in events she wants nothing to do with him but their paths keep crossing, after all it is fate. A very intense story filled with violence, language, and some sex, despite that it is well written and envelops the reader into their domain.

[nnschiller · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Blackbirds is an excellent book. I didn't want to like it, but Wendig's tight prose and penetrating insight ended up charming me. I'm honestly pretty tired of the antihero/anti-heroine morality play where the "evil" character ends up showing more human value and virtues than the "good" characters, but despite playing with these tropes and genre conventions, Wendig's work ends up mostly just being human.

So, this is a case where if I didn't know anything about Wendig from Twitter, the genre pigeonhole and back of the novel blurbs and reviews would have driven me away. I'm glad I picked it up.

I started the book in audio format, but finished in one night reading the eBook version. It definitely was a "stay up till I finish" kind of read, but it has charms that extend beyond it's pot-boiler plotting.

[lancasterways · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Profanity. Sex. Violence. This is the depravity a reader must enjoy in order to appreciate Chuck Wendig's Blackbirds (Angry Robot, 2012). I loved it.Miriam Black is like that creepy kid from The Sixth Sense if he were older and more inclined to dropping the f-bomb. Miriam is more macabre, too: Instead of seeing dead people, she sees how they die. The merest touch imparts to Miriam knowledge not only of how a person dies, but also when, information that comes in handy to a drifter living by the seat of her pants. (Think scavenger.) Blackbirds opens with Miriam moving from one encounter to the next, a glutted vulture seeking out her next meal. She's picked up by Louis, a kindly truck driver, after she encounters two rednecks. (Whom Miriam roundly beats. Thanks, Louis, but she don't need no man.) Miriam accidentally touches Louis and receives a vision of his death in which he appears to be calling her name and looking at her over the shoulder of his murderer. Thus Wendig sets Blackbirds' story in motion. If its premise is straightforward--urban fantasy chick with special powers gets into trouble--Blackbirds is anything but simple. In a postscript interview with Adam Christopher, Wendig admits that Blackbirds went through seven or eight drafts, including from a book manuscript to a film script and back again. (The visual style of the book is indicative of its time as a script.) And it shows. There is nothing rough or extraneous about Blackbirds. Wendig distilled the story down to its essence, and then sprinkled it liberally with profanity. The care Wendig put into telling this story shows. His prose is whip-smart, each sentence a revelation in its own way, whether it's creative vulgarity or unexpected observations, for instance, the "chemical stink" of Philadelphia (a smell this reader knows all too well). Each sentence builds upon the last, lending the story a propulsive feel. Readers will find themselves impatient to know what happens next. Blackbirds is the definition of a "page turner."Wendig's prose is punchy, conversational. (If he speaks in any way resembling his writing voice, I would love to have a beer with him.) His dialog is natural; readers will recognize the rhythms of characters' speech. If there is an exception, it might be Miriam herself, whose incessant patter sometimes reads as forced, or, perhaps, too clever, almost as if she's a Gilmore Girl gone to seed. Still, Miriam's dialog is in character. She isn't stupid, and the endless string of wisecracks, vulgarity, and observations speak to her nervous energy, a trait indicated, too, by her chain smoking, drinking, and, ultimately, rootless lifestyle. Wendig is at his best (and that is saying something) when it comes to characterization. Miriam is a compelling and charismatic protagonist, of course, but it's with the characters that revolve around her that Wendig really shines. Wendig can summon up a sense of character with just one or two sentences. Consider Ashley Gaynes, a conman whose whole being is summed up in his shit-eating grin. Or Frankie and Harriet, a pair of odd couple cutthroats who make small talk about crazy old cat women. Their reactions to a story about a particular cat woman, something told almost in passing, points to their very natures. Readers should be warmed: This is not a PG book. You will have by now noted that I've mentioned profanity several times, and there is a lot of it. If you don't crack a smile at creative cursing, if you find such language tasteless, Blackbirds isn't for you. Blackbirds is violent, too, practically from the first page, and it is graphic. I wrinkled my nose a few times, and I'm not squeamish; indeed, I like my stories bloody. Readers with weak stomachs should consider themselves warned. Those concerns aside--and I don't consider them my concerns--Blackbirds is a wonderful book. The story is well plotted, the characters, even the minor ones, fully drawn, and Wendig's prose is outstanding. A sense of "writer's craft" permeates the entire book. A dark urban fantasy, Blackbirds will be best enjoyed by readers who like their fantasy to have elements of mysteries and thrillers, and for fans of the quirky and offbeat. Highly recommended.

[ladycato · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is one of those urban fantasies that's on that gritty, grimy edge of horror. Wendig is a visceral, punchy writer. He wields profanity the way a teenage girl says "like." That's typically not my thing, but the Miriam's voice works well here. She's hurting because she knows she's hurt others, and her snark is a method of defense. It's an intense read that zooms by--which is great because there's so much violence and gore, but it never dwells on it. The brisk pace pushes things along.

[branimal · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Miriam Black doesn't want your help. She’s a loner by choice. Why? Well, Miriam can tell you with 100% accuracy when and how you’re going to die. With a little simple skin on skin action, she can peer into the future and find out when you’re going to meet your maker. Big deal right? If Miriam knows how you’re going to die, why doesn't she just become a superhero and save the day? The thing is – fate ain't got time for superheroes. What fate wants, fate gets and avoiding the grim reaper isn't something she’s equipped to deal with.

Unfortunately for Miriam, she can’t always choose her battles. Crossing paths with a kindly trucker forces her to let her guard down which allows a friendship to take root. However, when she sees how he’ll kick the bucket, she opts to get as far away as possible, hoping to somehow avoid the whole mess altogether. Remember what I said before? How fate always gets its way?

This book was straight up awesome. Wendig has a way with words; like he’s cooking with literary hot sauce. And don’t give me any of that crap about how Wendig wrote Miriam like she’s a dude; as if there’s any set way a man/woman is supposed to act within fiction. Miriam is Miriam. She’s a loose cannon. She’s fun to read, she’s a breath of fresh air and the girl can trade verbal barbs with the best of them. Seriously, there are some of the best one-liners in here. If you’re not laughing out loud at what Wendig throws at you, your funny bone is broken.

Not only is Miriam memorable, the supporting cast shines in their roles. The two thugs on her trail, Frankie and Harriet, provide excellent entertainment while Miriam is off screwing something up somewhere. Her boss, Ingersoll, is obsessed with tracking down Black, hoping she’ll help him expand his operation beyond its minimal existence. All three are solid foils for Miriam. Despite knowing there are two books that follow, they’re not written as simple obstacles for her to overcome. They have a serious mean streak and will linger long after you close the book.

I loved the hell out of this and I can’t recommend it enough. On to book two!

[psutto_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Miriam Black can see how someone dies just by touching flesh to flesh. Obviously this has turned her into a pretty damaged character. From trying to stop the deaths she soon becomes fatalistic and takes what she needs from those destined to die soon in a peripatetic existence rattling round the USA. When she is targeted by a con man and gets involved with an organised criminal gang things start to go awry. This is a dark and bleak story but is blackly amusing with some great turns of phrase, it’s what you’d expect from Wendig really if you follow his blog or twitter. I enjoyed it but think it may not be for everyone, there is also a strange lack of women populating the world of Blackbirds, 90% of the people Miriam meets are men and Miriam and the other main woman character are basically men with breasts which could piss you off. I’m willing, based on the writing to forgive it some but this drop its rating. She puts her hands on her hips and cocks them this way, then that. With the back of her hand, she wipes away a smear of lipstick from where Del kissed her.“The lights need to be on,” she says to nobody, foretelling the future.She clicks the lamp by the bed. Piss-yellow light illumines the ratty room.A roach sits paralyzed in the middle of the floor.“Shoo,” she says. “Fuck off. You’re free to go.”The roach does as it’s told. It boogies under the pull-down bed, relieved.Back to the mirror, then.“They always said you were an old soul,” she mutters. Tonight she’s really feeling it.Overall – Smart, sassy first book in an interesting series, I will read the sequels despite problems with the first

[alwright1_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

People keep calling it "gritty." Apt enough I suppose. It is dark, but there's a lot of humor in it, and I enjoyed the main character and her powers. First time reading Wendig off Twitter.

[halkeye · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

worth finishing though I found it a very slow start

[rmagahiz · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A blood-drenched and profane book that follows a bunch of twisted people (all except for one character) down some dark byways. It's more of a thriller than an urban fantasy story, given that it only has that one key characterization relating to the paranormal. The flashback scenes in between the main action chapters were not much of a relief, either, and not just because of the way they end up badly. There is a raw kind of energy that gets expressed in grotesquery which readers just a little more squeamish than me might have a hard time getting through. Most readers should be able to tell whether this is the book for them in the first dozen pages.

I've been to Barnegat Light and I'm not really buying the idea that someone could fall from the top to the bottom of the staircase and survive. But that's not a major point.

[girlmisanthrope · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Loved it. It's dark and gritty and it ain't pretty. Miriam is cursed with the ability to visualize a person's death with any skin-on-skin contact. Some she's tried to prevent, but that's against the rules. Now, she scuttles along the fringes of society, through motels, back lots, bars. The prose is like staccato gun fire; the grotesque words fire into your brain. Miriam attracts the attention of some individuals darker than she, who want to exploit her "gift". Refreshingly, Miriam is not the typical urban fantasy chick (beautiful but unaware, blessed with martial art fighting skills, develops a tough skin, blah, blah, blah)---instead she is truly cursed. She didn't want this. She tries to find a way to live with it, she's vulnerable. She still has hope for friends, a boyfriend, a job. She gets beat up and stays down sometimes. Can't wait to read the rest in the series. Oh, and the cover art is gorgeous.

[srearley · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoy Wendig's blog, and knew going in to Blackbirds that it would likely contain a lot of profanity. I don't think I was expecting quite as much as there actually was...

This was a little outside of what I normally read, it was a lot more violent and there was a lot more...well gross stuff, for lack of a better phrase....but at it's heart, it had some really interesting characters, and I wanted to know what happened.

[ktp50 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Fast paced thriller. Main character can tell when and how people are going to die by touching their skin. In addition she cannot do anything to change what is about to happen to them. The reader can kind of guess how the story turns out. But still-and-all and entertaining read.

[stefferoo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oh man, what can I say about Miriam Black? Funny how Chuck Wendig was able to hook me on his Blackbirds female protagonist the way he couldn't with Mookie Pearl in The Blue Blazes, my first book by this author. I may have mentioned my aversion for rough, brutish, brawn-over-brains characters like Mookie in my review of that book, but here I find myself completely taken with Miriam and her snarky, foul-mouthed, firebrand hellion devil-may-care badass ways. This chick had me at, "That's me. My fair fuckin' lady."Miriam also has a very special ability -- she can foresee the manner in which a person will die and know exactly when, down to the very micro-second. All she needs is any skin-on-skin contact and the visions will trigger, the deaths playing out in her mind in their entirety but lasting only a couple seconds to anyone watching from the outside. She used to care, used to want to save others from their preventable demises, but quickly learned her lesson: What fate wants, fate gets. Now she's a vagrant, hopping from city to city trailing those she knows will soon meet their end, so she can swoop in and rob them at the time of their deaths and no one will be the wiser. Then one day she meets Louis, the random truck driver who gives her a lift and is the first person in a long time to show her even a hint of kindness. She finds she likes him, but then she shakes his hand and sees his death -- in 30 days, Louis will be brutally murdered. Miriam is shocked; she's seen hundreds of deaths from accidents, suicides, and health problems, but very rarely has she seen murder. And the kicker is, in her vision right before Louis dies, he looks up past his killer and calls Miriam's name...like he sees her there.It was difficult to put this book down. Obviously, the plot being such a tease was a major draw, but like I said before, I was also very much taken with Miriam. I still don't know why, really; it's not like I can relate to her all that easily since I am nothing like her, but I felt connected to her regardless. She's definitely unique, and it'll be a mistake going into this book expecting her to be just another independent, tough-as-nails paranormal fiction female protagonist. Miriam would probably just beat someone like her up, but only after cussing her out and drinking her under the table.A lot of the criticisms I've seen directed at this book claim Miriam's character doesn't read like a "real girl", but I have to disagree. Not only do I know women who act just like Miriam, I also think that her rough, trashy badass exterior reflects the kind of life she's had growing up with her disturbing power, making her behavior and personality convincing and refreshingly honest. At the same time, I sense that underneath is someone more perceptive and complex, with a introspective, kind and caring side to her that you just have to dig a little bit beneath the surface to find. Okay, maybe make that dig A LOT beneath the surface, but I still know it's there.This book also made me start appreciating Chuck Wendig's style a lot more than I had before. His writing, topics, and characters are infused with this attitude which to me is a little reminiscent of the transgressiveness in books one might find by authors like Chuck Palahniuk or Bret Easton Ellis. I also love the paranormal spin to Blackbirds, but I would also hesitate to categorize it as urban fantasy because it throws so many of that genre's conventions out the window; my guess is that a person can be really put off by this book if caught completely unprepared by it.Sometimes, it does feel like the book is deliberately out to shock you, what with some of its violent and graphic scenes as well as Miriam's potty mouth, but I was strangely cool with it. The subject matter also had a way of making me feel deliciously unsettled, but it at least made this book memorable. I admit I was somewhat initially hesitant about tackling another Chuck Wendig book after enjoying but not being completely blown away by The Blue Blazes, but I definitely liked Blackbirds more than I thought I would.

[sfcc_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Miriam Black is a scrappy drifter with a peculiar supernatural ability: touch anyone flesh-to-flesh, even an accidental brush of the hand, and Miriam sees in an instant every gruesome detail of how they will die. This ability, as much a curse as a superpower, leads Miriam down a gritty, bloody path toward a confrontation she knows she’s powerless to stop. A solid work of witty and unapologetically dark urban fantasy. --Brian Vander Veen