A review by sparklepony503
Black Mad Wheel by Josh Malerman

2.0

I wanted to like this book. The concept was interesting and I normally don't have a hard time with letting some things slide if it builds a good narrative or has a good pay off in the end. Black Mad Wheel unfortunately didn't seem to be worth the journey for me. Phillip the main character didn't seem fully formed and it was hard to really care what was going to happen to him next. The love story between Phillip and Ellen seemed forced as well. What really got me with this book is that we never really understand what the sound in the desert was. I understand that for Phillip it was a piano but for other people it might be something different but I don't understand how that would manifest itself in the same way. For all the Danes, it was a sound but for the World War II musician, it was a canvas? I am not sure I understand what Josh Malerman was trying to go for there. I really wanted to like this book, especially since I loved Bird Box but I feel like it was just a bit to complicated without a pay off at the end of getting a clear explanation of what was happening through out the book.