Deadline

[sawyl]

Since I seem to be on the subject of zombie novels here are a few thoughts on Mira Grant's Deadline, the second in her Newsflesh series. The story is set a year after the events of Feed and follows the After the End of Times bloggers — most of whom had cameo parts in the first novel &mdsah; as they get caught up in a vast government conspiracy.

The action begins when CDC researcher Kelly Connolly turns up unexpectedly at the End of Times baring an folder full of worrying statistics and a followed by plague of zombies. After escaping the from living dead of downtown Oakland the team holes up with Maggie Garcia, head of the blog's Fictionals, and tries to make sense of the news that people with reservoir versions of the zombie plague seem disproportionately likely to die of non-zombie related causes. After getting some expert advice from a rogue biologist, and after checking their journalism insurance, the team head out to gather some serious evidence.

Deadline builds on the world created in Feed, fleshing out the basic concept of the Kellis-Amberlee zombie-causing viruses with a whole load of extra details about how reservoir conditions work and how the CDC goes about researching the viruses — I liked the idea that researchers are allowed to create clones of themselves and only themselves because this somehow does an end run around the ethic problems associated with cloning by avoiding the question of whether another soul might be created!

As with Feed, I liked the main characters — even the nerdy and rather neurotic Kelly — but I thought the portrait of Shaun Mason was particularly good. It's apparent from the outset that Shaun is struggling with serious mental illness. He's violent towards his coworkers, he suffers from flattened affect, he hears things that aren't there, and as the action unfolds, he suffers a from a series of psychotic breaks. But, given what he has been though — the events of the election campaign and his alienation from his shallow and selfish parents — it makes sense that he'd be damaged almost beyond repair, with only his responsibilities to his sister George and his friends and colleagues keeping him together enough to keep chasing the story.

So in summary, there's a lot to like. The plot is fast and paranoid. The set pieces moments are good, especially the wild drive across country in the teeth of a storm of world-ending proportions. The characters are good, even the annoying ones (and Grant deserves extra kudos for a rounded, sympathetic portrayal of someone in the middle of a breakdown). And the teaser ending? Well, let's just say I've already checked the release of Blackout...