Although this article is quite long, I made it as short as I could with getting the summary of each chapter across. Some chapters were difficult to summarize as a lot of things happened so I picked what I think best summarizes the chapter. Even though these summaries give a good idea of the book, I highly recommend reading the actual book as it goes into way more detail and creates true suspense. Enjoy!
Chapter one
The book opens with Malorie worrying about the children asleep in their chicken wire beds and acknowledges the purple stains on the floor she cannot scrub out. She is simply thinking about what they house used to be and she is thinking about having to cross the river with the children. She is afraid that she's a bad mother and that there will be an accident ton the river. And she is afraid that is has already been four years and if she doesn't go soon, that four will easily turn to eight. Since she is deep in thought, she impulses and wakes the children and they gather the things that they need and head toward the boat that she docked on the river four years ago. They get inside of the small rowboat and begin their journey on the river.
Chapter two
Malorie and Shannon live in a rental home. Malorie is in the bathroom beginning to realize that she is pregnant from a one night stand when she missed her period. Shannon is watching the news on the "Russia Report" and begins to freak out when an incident in America and Canada is reported. This is concerning because they live in Michigan. Shannon finds Malorie and Malorie begins to cry so they agree to go to the store and get a pregnancy test.
Chapter three
Malorie and the children are on the river and all she can think is "how far can a person hear?" She was raised on sight and trained herself as she trained her children. The children do not whine or complain and she only worries about their safety based on the fact that they can only hear.
Chapter four
Shannon and Malorie are going to the store and they pick up a pregnancy test. Along the way, they are talking about the "Russia Report" and they comment on the people they see hanging blankets over their windows and the people walking with walking sticks that blind people use. They comment on how nobody is ashamed to act this way- that is, of course, if they do not act this way then they will die. They call their mother to find she is still alive and Malorie finds that she is pregnant. As they watch the news they notice that nobody goes outside anymore and Malorie finds the ad to Shillingham in the classified section in the newspaper.
Chapter five
Three months into the "new world" they are living like shut ins. All they do is watch the news and read about the "Russia Report" online. They're parents stopped answering the phone. They are realizing that every result of seeing these creatures ends in suicide. Malorie is feeling the symptoms of pregnancy but continues to watch the news. Even though nobody goes to work anymore, the news anchor, Gabriel Townes, has been sleeping at the news station to report to the people. He developed the saying "we'll get through this together." Malorie calls for Shannon but Shannon does not answer. Malorie warily begins walking toward Shannon's room. Upon entering, she finds the blanket on the window slightly drawn, she enters the bathroom and finds Shannon on the floor in a pool of blood with scissors stabbed into her chest. She grieves and then finds the newspaper ad.
Chapter six
Boy hears something and Malorie takes action to quiet the three of them. She listens but does not hear much. She starts to think it is a creature but when nothing happens, she tells herself that it is only a black bear. She says the children did good and they back to playing with the things they brought with them. Malorie then begins to think of how exposed they are on the river.
Chapter seven
Malorie recalls going to Riverbridge for a New Year's party several years ago. She drives about 15 mph with her eyes closed, looking at street signs occasionally. She parks in front of a house that has the same address as the newspaper, grabs her suitcase and goes to knock on the door to which she could hear Tom respond. The housemates accept her in, introduce everyone, including Victor, and get her settled in. Tom is interested in knowing everything that Malorie saw and she tells him. This is George's house and Tom tells the history of how each housemate arrived. Once he begins explaining some of the theories they had about the creatures, Malorie faints.
Chapter eight
Malorie wakes up and Jules is the first to speak to her, making sure she is okay. Felix is calling numbers, hoping to reach anyone. Malorie and Tom go to the cellar to take stock of food. This is where Tom tells Malorie he thinks the safest room in the house is the attic. He also tells her about his losses. His wife died at childbirth and he found his daughter in the bathtub with her wrists slit after she saw one of the creatures. They talk about a small hole in the cellar that is somewhat covered up. Tom asks if she is ready to go back upstairs and they do.
Chapter nine
Malorie is thinking about how she does not like the word "creatures" but she can't seem to find the right word to replace it with. She feels like the world is empty and she wonders if these creatures know what they do to people. When she is deep in this thought, Boy pulls her out by telling her he hears an engine. There is a man who has a boat who appraoches them and tries to talk sense into them about removing their blindfolds. Malorie makes sure they do not remove the blindfolds and rows as fast as she can. The man is saying that it is the people who do not see the creatures that are the most mad and that it is safe to remove the blindfolds but Malorie tells the children not to listen. She is worried that he will kill them. The boat gets stuck and they break it free and they are on their way. Malorie reassures the children that they did good.
Chapter 10
Malorie has been living in the house for two weeks. On this day, the housemates are enjoying themselves and are drinking and smoking but Malorie does not partake. It is mentioned that each housemate has experienced devastating loss and explains who went through what. Tom plays the piano along with songs that come on the radio. The song ends and Rodney Barrett, the announcer, is talking to the creatures, asking them direct questions, sounding more depressed than usual. After his speech, he kills himself and the housemates are left in shock. Suddenly there is a knock on the door, it is Olympia, who is also pregnant. The housemates let her in and Tom goes through the same process with her as he did with Malorie.
Chapter eleven
Malorie is thinking about how well she trained the children and the methods she used like swatting them with a flyswatter when they opened their eyes when they woke up, walking to different parts of the house and asking them where she was. She would make 20 different sounds and had the children name each of them but eventually Boy started recalling unintentional sounds. The children are hungry so she gives them the food pouches they had brought. She asks herself if she is a good mother but she does not know the answer.
Chapter twelve
Malorie is asking Tom about George and he tells her about the theories he came up with about seeing the creatures through altered or indirect vision like a recording and how they most likely came from a different dimension. He got a recording of the creatures and Don, Jules, and Tom tied him to a chair before he played the recording. Soon, they heard him screaming profanities and growling like a dog. Once it stopped, they destroyed the tape and found George had pressed himself so hard through the rope that he looked like cake frosting, Tom keeps trying to build helmets to at least help but as it falls apart at his feet he says "we can't stop trying."
Chapter thirteen
Felix is getting water from the well while Jules is talking to him from the porch so Felix doesn't stray from the path. Felix keeps hearing something in the woods and begins to get extremly paranoid causing him to trip towards the well and back to the house, and thinking the buckets of water are heavier as if one of the creatures crawled inside of it. This makes the entire house nervous. Once he is finished getting the water, Jules and Felix go inside then every housemate begins piling furniture up in front of the doors. They all sit in the living room back-to-back and listen.
Chapter fourteen
Malorie is now thinkin about a line she read in her baby book - "your child is smarter than you think." She knows this too be true when she recalls a memory of her hearing something in the bathroom in the middles of the night. She grabbed an ax and put on a blindfold and began swinging when she entered the bathroom saying "leave my children alone." She found Boy on the floor and learned that he knew how to unlock the lock she put on both of the beds. On the river, she is clinging to what the book said and is hoping that they really are smarter than she thinks.
Chapter fifteen
The housemates decide whether to drink the well water. Tom decided to drink it in the same room that George watched the videos in and he is okay. The housemates untie him and Olympia asks "how was it?" and they all laughed. Tom then suggests that they put the furniture back together and they do.
Chapter sixteen
Malorie and the children are attacked by wolves on the boat. They get away but Malorie was scratched on the arm.
Chapter seventeen
Tom wants to go out to find seeing eye dogs as they might alert the housemates if something was outside. Tom and Jules put on makeshift armor and search the block and the next block over. They said they would be back in twelve hours.
Chapter 18
Malorie is washing her wound and wants to rest but the birds in the trees begin to screech which ignites a fear in her and she keeps rowing.
Chapter nineteen
The housemates grow anxious as Tom and Jules are away. They are not arguing but they are keeping themselves busy. Suddenly, Victor begins barking at the windows. The housemates think he heard something so they gather tools to use as weapons just in case.
Chapter twenty
Tom and Jules were supposed to be gone for twelve hours and it has been a day since they left. The tension in the house rose to the point of anger and near fighting. Don starts suggesting that they don't let them back in. When Cheryl and Felix are about to start fighting Don, there is a knock at the door.
Chapter twenty one
Boy's blindfold is hurting him and Malorie tells him to wet it with the river water. As she is rowing, she thinks back to what Don said when she and Olympia were pregnant, "you oughta blind those babies as soon as they come out." She thinks to when they were six months old, she would study their breathing to make sure they were healthy. She thought about a can of paint thinner that was in the house and decided to pour it on their eyes while they were asleep. As Girl woke up and began to cry, so did Boy and she dropped the paint thinner at her feet. As they were crying, she left them there and threw up. Don's proposal was not a moral dilemma but was something that Malorie couldn't bring herself to do. She thought she could do it but obviously could not.
Chapter twenty two
Tom and Jules arrive with two huskies and a box full of birds that they found on a farm. Everyone is happy to see them except Don. Malorie thinks that Tom has lost the twinkle in his eyes. Felix think the birds will be eaten but Tom tells them he got them as an alarm system because they get louder as they get closer. They decide to hang them up in front of the door. Tom and Jules sit down in the dining room and tell the housemates about their trip.
Chapter twenty three
Tom and Jule's are explaining everything they saw when searching the block. They found four dead people, including a child. The reason they took so long is because Jules was feeding the dogs and forming bonds with them until the dogs trusted them enough to go with them.
Chapter twenty four
Malorie is in pain and Boy keeps asking if she is okay. She lies to them and thinks of how she trained them to hear emotions. They detect emotions with the way someone is breathing. Malorie lies again and tell them that it is because she is tired from rowing. Boy decides to help her after Girl points out that they are going the wrong way.
Chapter twenty five
On Tom and Jules' trip, they find a tent in the middle of the street and find another house to raid. Once inside, blindfolded, Tom searches the kitchen and finds a body in a chair with their eyes scooped out into a bowl. Finding this, they decide to head back to their home. On the way, the dog that they found starts barking at a garage. They decide to go in and they find another husky and the box full of birds. After finding these animals, they head back to their home.
Chapter twenty six
Malorie reflects on memories and reveals why she waited so long to go on this trip, It's not so the children could listen for her, it's because she has to open her eyes, which she is terrified of doing. She has seen the same colors for over four years and doesn't know what awaits. Her mind starts spinning, thinking about everything all at once, and she passes out.
Chapter twenty seven
Malorie is thinking of how she will be having her baby outside of a hospital and imagines how it would have been before the creatures showed up. Gary knocks on the door in the middle of the night and the majority of the housemates do not want to let him in but they do anyway after they take a vote. Tom stays awake and asks him the same questions he asked Malorie and Olympia. His first question to Gary is "What's in your briefcase?"
Chapter twenty eight
The housemates talk to Gary and Tom fills him in on everything that has happened since he moved there. Malorie is suspicious and think he speaks like an actor. There is a lot of foreshadow in this chapter about Gary as he tells his story and includes his theories about the creatures, saying that it is a matter of the mind of the person who sees them. At the end of the chapter, Malorie senses that there is the beginning of a divide between the housemates.
Chapter twenty nine
Malorie wakes up, Boy and Girl kept rowing because the boat got stuck, she doubts herself but takes back the oars and keeps rowing. The children only thought she took a nap.
Chapter thirtyÂ
Cheryl feeds the birds outside and hears something but thinks it is a leaf. This, along with Felix's encounter, makes Malories think that the creatures are closing in.
Chapter thirty one
Tom and Felix are planning to travel while teaching the dogs commands and measuring distance. Don and Gary are talking about theories about the creatures and Malorie and Olympia are talking about their deliveries. Malories think about what is really in Gary's briefcase as he is always talking about Frank but never about himself.
Chapter thirty two
Tom and Felix leave the housemates to go to Tom's old house. The housemates start to panic, resulting in arguing but the Malorie asserts herself and tells them the things that need to be done around the house. They listen and busy themselves.
Chapter thirty three
Malorie think of Tom's idea to get microphones for her and the children. She leaves and attempts to find a bar that had microphone and an amp. Upon the ninth try, she finally made it with Victor as her seeing eye do. Victor found a cellar that he saw a creature in and went mad, killing himself by biting through his legs, and cracking his teeth as he snapped at the air. Malorie made it back to the children with the microphones and amp but she cannot stop crying.
Chapter thirty four
Malorie steals Gary's briefcase while he is sleeping and finds a notebook, she reads it. They are exactly what Gary said were Frank's notes but they are Gary's. He is writing about proving that these creatures won't make you go mad. He proved it to his former housemates. Malorie returns the briefcase and finds Olympia in the kitchen. She walks upstairs with her and thinks about how the house is a box just like the birds are living in and the globe is closing in.
Chapter thirty five
Malorie decided to tell all of the housemates about Gary's journal. As she is about to enlighten them, Tom and Jules arrive. They also went to a grocery store and found a phone book and more food. They begin to prepare dinner soon after their arrival.
Chapter thirty six
Malorie thinks something is following them on the river, Boy doesn't know what the sound is but he keeps rowing with Malorie.
Chapter thirty seven
As Tom is showing the housemates the bicycle horns and rum he got from the grocery store, Malorie tells the entire house what she found in Gary's briefcase. After reading his journal and voting, the entire house cast him outside. Gary is gone and Don is angry.
Chapter thirty eight
Malorie is rowing and Boy hears a sound like someone is walking in the water. Malorie notices the birds sound like they are screaming and it is revealed how scared of Gary she still is. She thinks he watched her for all those years from the day they cast him out to the day she is rowing on the river. She keeps repeating the words he wrote in his journal "Man is the creature he fears the most" and keeps rowing.
Chapter thirty nine
Malorie is worried that Don is always in the cellar. Gary has been gone for five weeks and doesn't know what it has done to Don or what he has been doing down there.
Chapter forty
Victor is growling at the cellar and Jules, Tom, and Malorie go down to check on Don. They get him to come upstairs and soon after they start talking Malorie begins feeling light headed. Jules helps her upstairs and the while house is around her, watching as she passes out because they know she is going into labor.
Chapter forty one
The birds in the sky get louder as they approach the recording which is Tom's voice. Malorie knows she'll have to open her eyes to see the four channels and choose the second from the right. Boy and Girl try to listen but the birds are too loud. Suddenly, they start raining from the sky. The birds are killing each other but Malorie is focused on the recording.
Chapter forty twoÂ
Malorie wakes up and Jules helps her to the attic where Olymipa has already been in labor for two hours. As they are giving birth through rain, there is an argument that breaks out downstairs. Malorie also thinks there is something outside and they run down, leaving Malorie and Olympia alone in the attic. As lightning flashes, she sees someone standing where Don was standing. It's Gary. He had been hiding in the cellar with Don. As Gary is talking to Malorie, she hears someone yell that Don had pulled the blankets down and unlocked the door. Someone is banging on the attic door syaing that it's Tom. Malorie begs Gary to open the door but the lock breaks and she looks at Olympia who's expression goes from pain to awe. Olympia chews her umbilical cord and gives Malorie her baby, even thouh she has gone mad. She decided to jump out of the window where Malorie hears a thud against the house. She is hanging by her cord. Gary leaves and so does the creatures. The phone rings and it is Rick who runs a safe Haven, Malorie answers and he explains that Tom called, asking Malorie if she wants to go there. Everyone in the house is dead except for Victor, who was locked in the cellar. Malorie has to clean the house of bodies and blood and takes care of the babies.
Chapter forty three
Malorie's vision explodes with colors but does not bask in it as it is still dangerous to look. She chooses the correct channel and soon they get caught in the net that Rick said they would get caught in. Some people come after them and bring them back to the place that is revealed to be a school for the blind. Rick is explaining and welcoming them and apologizing for the recording being Tom's voice. Malorie sees a group of people with their eyes gouged out and immediately reacts. Rick explains that one of the creatures got in and it was the ultimate protection but they do not resort to that anymore. Malorie takes the blindfolds off of the children, giving them the names Tom and Olympia and they stay at their new home.
