The author of The Bird Box has done it again. Another fascinating thriller! I could not put this book down. Mystery and intrigue on every page.

Can't wait to share with patrons, book clubs, friends, and coworkers!

Inspection by Josh Malerman. Had difficultly in the beginning in trying to understand what was happening and the reasons why. The story never did never quite resonate, too extreme in it's punishments and non communication between the characters

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

I once met Josh Malerman at Emerald City Comic Con and you could practically feel the creativity flowing from him. I was not surprised to encounter a new and original world in Inspection. Boys and Girls are trained separately to produce genius. The founders believed that the opposite sex was a distraction so neither girls, nor boys were taught that the other existed. A whole world of books, movies and art was created to teach the kids while lying all the while. It worked until a girl and boy meet each other. This book is excellent and I will recommend it to anyone.

Malerman is off his mark with Inspection. Definitely a meh read and not in the Bird Box category. Save your time

26 girls and 26 boys, all raised in two separate towers without knowledge of the other sex. What should be 52 babies has somehow been whittled to 49. These 49 have grown to age 12 as part of a social experiment to show that the opposite sex detracts and distracts. What happens if knowledge of the other tower gets out and awareness of “other” spreads? Fast paced, this thriller had me wanting to call in sick to work so I could stay and read it in one sitting.

Excuse me for a minute, I need to catch my breath and regain my brain. Especially since I stayed up into the wee hours of the night reading this. Years ago I read the original OG by Josh Malerman, you know the one that everyone and their mom is making memes about? It's how my husband felt when Game of Thrones became a cultural icon....

Ok, I'll get of my ranty rant and focus on Inspection now.

Mr. Malerman, you have truly outdone yourself with this one.
Nature vs. Nurture.
Genius vs. Reality
Boy vs. Girl

Except, neither knows that the other exists.

In the middle of a Midwest forest hides a community divided, all for the sake of science.
What is "girl"?
What is "boy"?
Is the Parenthood safe?
What happens in the Corner....

That's what the students are coming to wonder.

.......................................................................................
I could honestly go on and on about this book, but you need to go in knowing you will not be getting sleep. And I'll leave you with a few thoughts that come to mind while reading.

Horrifying.
Atmospheric.
Love story for the ages.
Battle Royale.


That's all folks! Thank you NetGalley for the chance to be one of the first to read this! Yes people, when this is made into a movie, don't make say "I told you to read it years ago" ala Bird Box

Thank you for the early copy!

I recently read and watched Bird Box and wanted to pick up something else by Josh Malerman. I decided to check out this upcoming horror/thriller novel from him. I recommend checking out this thrilling and unique novel. It was unlike anything I've read before, well-crafted and so interesting.

4 Big Time Stars for ORIGINALITY!

Like so many, I love love loved BIRD BOX, (both novel and movie) enjoyed THE HOUSE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE LAKE and UNBURY CAROL, and now after reading INSPECTION, one thing I know for sure is....with Josh Malerman, you never know what you're going to get! So cool......

"They deserve the truth."

Malerman sets the stage by introducing the reader to a bizarre school of trusting young teens living in a secluded world of strict laws and fear of disease. One must ALWAYS stay clean and NEVER EVER become spoiled rotten or consequences could be fatal....with a trip down to T.H.E.C.O.R.N.E.R.

Daily morning INSPECTIONS are invasive and bare all, but innocence turns surprisingly DARK when suspicions bring about dangerous adventures that expose a shocking world of lies.

I prefer the even darker, more suspenseful side of Malerman best, (BIRD BOX) but sign me up for whatever he dreams up next!

*ARC provided by Random House via NetGalley in exchange for review*

Copy furnished by Net Galley for the price of a review.

Experiments do not always come to fruition in the way that is expected.  This is a whole new twist on the concept of Parenthood.  The dreaded daily Inspections, checking for disease and rot.  If there is any sign of spoilage, the Corner awaits.  The Corner hums and croons and sometimes it rumbles.  What goes on behind that door? 

I applaud this author's fresh ideas, how he eschews the formulaic recipes and has yet to use a cookie-cutter.  I loved <u>Bird Box</u> and also really liked <u>Unbury Carol</u>.  Unfortunately, I couldn't gain much traction with this one.  A little too YA-ish for my taste, but that may add to the appeal for plenty of others.

So, confession time: I didn’t love Bird Box. I’m talking about the book, not the movie. I also read Unbury Carol which I did love. Inspection is my 3rd novel by Malerman and I’ve come to a conclusion: Josh Malerman is a very exciting writer.

I loved Inspection.

Our plot is so very different from anything I’ve read before. Within the first couple of pages, I was completely entrenched in this dark fable of our boys and girls who have only letters for names and no clue about any of the truths of life.

While the book starts rather tamely – a slow, but intriguing discovery of horrendous truth – the book eventually reaches a shocking crescendo, and it’s absolutely worth the read!

Josh Malerman keeps surprising me. I have no idea what he has in store for us next, but I already know that it will be utterly different and shocking!

*ARC Provided via Net Galley.

Up until recently my experience with Josh Malerman has been limited to reading his previous book Unbury Carol, which I didn’t care for at all and it being a western certainly didn’t help either. So based on that, not sure I would have tried the Inspection, but then I watched Netflix’s adaptation of his debut novel and it was actually pretty good. The ever quantity over quality Neftlix actually did a good job and the story was terrific. And so when soon afterwards this one appeared on Netgalley, my interest in it was considerable enough to merit a read. And sure it was overwritten and Malerman get occasionally carried away with poeticizing the narrative, but once you either get past it or used to it, it’s really good. The story is dynamic, original and profoundly disturbing. Actually I’m thrilled I haven’t read the description prior to reading the book, because it gives away entire too much. It gives away one of the book’s greatest surprises, which the reader doesn’t discover until 50% in. But since the description deemed it ok to do so, it actually makes it easier for me as a reviewer. And so this is a story of an experiment, an insane social experiment that tests the theory of personal potential uninterfered with by the distraction of the opposite sex. To that end two schools exists, one for boys and one for girls, where the children are raised with strict discipline, demanding study courses and complete lack of knowledge of the existence of the opposite sex. These schools are operated by the mysterious and terrifying D.A.D. and M.O.M., whose idea of fun is playing polygraph test games with the kids. I say mysterious, because the book delves tragically briefly into the lives of those two prior to the experiment, which is a giant waste of potential, really…finding out more about that level of inhumane evil and psychology behind it would have been fascinating. But the book fascinates in other ways, mainly in how much more advanced the girls end up being than the boys. And the world is still operated by men…how? Wow. WTF. And then there’s the stunning arrogance and misguided pride behind the minds behind the curtain…thinking they can somehow override puberty with conditioning, thinking it possible to defy nature, the obscene conceit of it all. Needless to say the experiment isn’t going to go to plan and when it veers off its meticulously preset track, it’ll do so spectacularly and brutally. And it’ll be as strangely mesmerizing as any crash of such proportions. Which is to say you might not be able to put the book down. Plus it also works so cleverly as an allegory on parenting. Every act of parenting is essentially a social experiment, the parents presume to do what’s right and best for their child, paving that road with best intentions and all too often ignoring the road signs. The Inspection is merely an act of Parenthood, albeit extreme. Then again, it’s what makes it such a great read. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.