Mockingbird by Chuck Wendig

Published by Angry Robot on September 6, 2012

Mockingbird fails to equal the emotional resonance of Blackbirds, the novel that introduced Miriam Black, but it is written with the same intensity.  Chuck Wendig again tells a fast-paced, enjoyable story that delivers a solid punch.

If you read Blackbirds, you know that Miriam envisions the death of any person she touches.  Miriam is living a mostly platonic life with her friend Louis in an Airstream on Long Beach Island -- not quite what she had in mind at the end of Blackbirds.  Working the checkout line at Ship Bottom Sundries isn’t for her, a truth she confirms when her smart mouth gets her fired.  To earn some cash, she accepts a gig forecasting the death of a hypochondriac who teaches at a boarding school.  There she meets twelve-year-old Lauren (“Wren”) Marten.  What she learns of Wren’s fate is beyond disturbing … and even worse is the knowledge that other girls at the school will meet the same gruesome death.  To do something about it, to change fate (a task she does not undertake lightly, given the events that transpired in Blackbirds), Miriam must find the man she sees in her visions.  Unfortunately for Miriam, fate doesn’t like to be changed.

The story is delightfully creepy but a bit over-the-top, and for that reason is less powerful than the story told in Blackbirds.  It is nonetheless a story told with intelligence and humor.  Wendig works Julius Caesar and The Waste Land and the myth of Philomela into the plot, not to mention a variety of talkative birds.  I also liked the motivation for the child killings -- it’s original and clever -- as well as the ethical dilemma Miriam must confront.

Mockingbird offers additional glimpses of Miriam’s childhood that contribute to the reader’s understanding of the character.  Miriam’s rebellion against her oppressive religious upbringing explains her foul mouth.  (Warning to readers who don’t like profanity:  this is not the book for you.)  Unlike Blackbirds, however, the Miriam who starts Mockingbird is pretty much the same Miriam we see at the end.  Her character doesn’t evolve in this novel as it did in the first one.  Perhaps that’s to be expected, but I would like to see her continue the journey of self-discovery she started in Blackbirds.

Wendig writes snappy prose that is filled with attitude.  He has a knack for making obnoxious characters endearing.  Miriam won my heart (again) when she made fun of Applebee’s (Crapplebee’s).  The novel’s abundant action scenes are blistering, and just when you least expect it, Wendig adds a touch of sweetness to the story.  Although Mockingbird isn’t as surprising or moving as Blackbirds, it made me anxious to read the next installment in the saga of Miriam Black.

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Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig

Published by Angry Robot on April 24, 2012

Blackbirds is a surprisingly powerful, emotionally appealing novel that poses fundamental questions about fate.  “Fate gets what fate wants,” Miriam’s mother always said, but what is fate?  Is the future immutable?  If you knew your fate, would you be able to change it?  These are old questions, but Chuck Wendig shapes them into a story that might prompt you to reconsider your beliefs.

When people touch Miriam, she knows how they’re going to die.  Not an original concept -- in fact, it’s been done to death (pun intended) -- but Wendig imparts a fresh twist to the old story:  as Miriam watches the murder of a man she has just met, a stabbing that will occur in about a month’s time, she hears the man say her name.  As Miriam gets to know (and like) the man, she dreads the coming moment when he will die with her name on his lips.

Miriam is a foul-mouthed, emotional mess and something of a drifter, but she’s figured out how to use her unwanted talent to eke out a living.  Her method is a bit unsavory but it’s working for her:  she’s a scavenger, picking at the remains the dead leave behind.  Her life isn’t great but it seems likely to get even worse when she meets Ashley, a con artist who won’t reveal the contents of his metal suitcase.  Two lethal criminals named Harriet and Frankie are after Ashley -- or more specifically, after his suitcase.  Somewhere in the middle of the novel the contents of the suitcase are disclosed, probably not to any reader’s great surprise.

Wendig gives Miriam the kind of history that explains her troubled personality.  She’s an appealing if somewhat obnoxious character.  That’s one reason to read Blackbirds.  Another is the high energy writing style that assures the fast-moving story will never be dull.  Blackbirds benefits from snappy prose.  A couch has “fabric so rough it could grate cheese.”  A disagreeable woman is “like a kidney stone lodged in the urethra.”

In a novel about fate, either fate wins, free will triumphs, or fate turns out to be something other than what was expected.  Blackbirds plays it down the middle, doesn’t try to answer the unaswerable qeustions, leaving room for the reader to read in one of many plausible interpretations of the novel’s conclusion.  That was an admirable choice.  The best aspect of the ending is that it sets up the possibility of a sequel.  I hope Wendig writes it.

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