The Cormorant by Chuck Wendig

Published by Angry Robot Books

The Cormorant is the third book in Wendig’s series following the adventures of Miriam Black. Miriam is hard-talking, asskicking heroine with some serious social issues born of her ability to see how people are going to die just by making skin to skin contact with them. Her “gift” has brought her more trouble than joy and things are not getting any easier in this third instalment.

Here’s the blurb:

Miriam Black knows how you’re going to die.

All it takes is a touch — a little skin-to-skin action.

Now someone — some rich asshole from Florida — wants to pay her so he can find out how he’s going to die. But when she touches him, she receives a message sent back through time and written in blood: HELLO, MIRIAM. It’s a taunt, a warning, and the start of a dangerous and deadly game for everybody’s favorite carcinogenic psychic, Miriam Black.

So can you imagine driving a sweet 70s muscle car at high speed through an urban area? Not some sleek sports car, but a heavy, gas-guzzling muscle car that has power up the yin yang but handling it is like wrestling a bear. Imagine the feeling of tearing through shopping malls and along beaches and across busy intersections in that car (maybe a Trans Am Firebird or a Mustang convertible) the wind tearing your hair back off your head, people screaming, knuckles white on the wheel of a ride you can’t get off, but that’s okay because you’re loving the shit out of every second of it. That’s this book. It’s a good description of the writing style, the plot and the crazy protagonist herself.

I’ve reviewed the first two books already (Blackbirds here and Mockingbird here) and I really enjoyed those. But with Cormorant, Wendig has cranked the dial up to 11. His voice as a writer here is more assured and tight than ever. It’s written in third person present tense, which means it’s visceral and relentless when done right. It’s hard to do right, but Wendig pulls it off with style.

The plot is deceptively simple, but with enough twists and turns and subtle complexities to keep it riveting. The chapters are small, addictive little bastards that keep you up at night. Just one more. Oh, just one more. Oh, damn you, Wendig!

I’m gushing a bit here, but that’s because this is a bloody great book. I’m already a fan of Miriam Black and in this instalment we see more of her kickass power, but also a lot more of her vulnerabilities and weaknesses, which is refreshing. We get to see more of how her power is as much a curse as a gift. We see the effect of her abilities and her past actions spiralling away in the lives of so many other people. And it also sets up some very interesting possibilities for book 4. I really hope there’s a book 4.

This is a great example of crime cross-genreing with horror, urban fantasy and action. If you haven’t read Blackbirds and Mockingbird yet, I would not recommend going straight in with The Cormorant. You’ll miss out on a lot. But I do highly recommend reading them all, as each book is better than the last. Wendig has knocked it out of the park with this one. And by “park”, I mean the hot, sweaty land wang of Miami and by “knocked it” I mean cracked skulls clean off with severed limbs, all the while snarking about it with artful dialog. Get yourself some Miriam Black. You won’t be disappointed.

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