DEADLINE - Book Review

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DEADLINE is the second book in the Newsflesh series written by Mira Grant.

The book was published by Orbit Books and it was published in May 2011.

Mira Grant's interests in horror movies and virology inspired her to write the book, but she struggled with the plot until a friend suggested using an election as a framing device.

The novel has been praised for it's detailed worldbuilding, including the characters' awareness of previous zombie fiction - an element Grant found lacking in most horror works.

Without the framing device of a Unites States Presidential Election to use as in FEED. Grant chose to focus more on the zombie virus itself; how a lab-engineered virus developed and evolved, and how humans were responding to it, on both societal and biological levels. Grant also wanted to address the long term-impact of a zombie apocalypse on society and the associated psychological ramifications.

Other themes covered in the novel include medical ethics and human responsibility.

DEADLINE was originally to be titled Blackout, but was changed shortly before publication to avoid confusion with Connie Willis' Novel Blackout, which was published a year earlier in 2010.

Blackout was instead used for the 3rd instalment of the Newsflesh series.

The book was compared favourably with Max Brooks' World War Z that was released in 2006.

DEADLINE was also nominated for the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

SPOILER ALERT

Set after a zombie apocalypse and written from the perspective of blog journalist Shaun Mason, DEADLINE delves deeper into the conspiracy unveiled during the events of FEED, while depicting Shaun's attempts to deal with the loss of his sister Georgia.

DEADLINE delves more into the origins of the zombie-causing virus, and how humanity is responding to it on a societal, biological, and psychological levels.

NOTHING STAYS BURRIED FOR LONG...

Shaun Mason is a man without a mission. Not even running the news organisation he built with his sister has the same urgency as it used to. Playing with dead things just doesn't seem as fun when you've lost as much as he has.

But when a researcher from the Centre for Disease Control fakes her own death and appears on his doorstep with a ravenous pack of zombies in tow, Shaun's relieved to find a new purpose in life. Because she brings news: the monster who attacked them may be destroyed, but the conspiracy is far from dead.

Now, Shaun hits the road to find what truth can be found at the end of a shotgun.

The emotions I felt reading this book, I remember when I originally read this book series, it took me a while to get stuck into this one, because of how the first book ended. I was heartbroken, and even with the 2nd time round, I went into this book with the same feelings of heartbreak. Which I think makes this book so much harder to read, as you're feeling everything right along with Shaun. You really witness his spiral into madness, as well as seeing him fight to reach his goal of getting revenge for Georgia.

We get to meet more characters, as well as getting to know more about characters we met briefly in the first book.

Yet again there are times when my heart sunk, even reading it for the second time. I don't think I'll ever get over reading this series, no matter how many times I'll read these books, they'll always make me feel the same way, they'll still leave me shocked and crying.

I will continue to recommend each of these books, as they show not only different views from the characters, but they show you what life could be like because of a zombie outbreak.

'Gripping, thrilling and brutal' - Publishes Weekly

'A truly Shocking ending' - Daily Telegraph

'The zombie novel Robert. A Heinlein might have written' - Sci-Fi Magazine

Mira Grant Novels

Newsflesh:

FEED

DEADLINE

BLACKOUT

Parasitology:

PARASITE

SYMBIONT

CHIMERA

Into the Drowning Deep

Alien: Echo

Canto Bight

Final Girls

Kingdom of Needle and Bone

In the Shadow of Spindrift House

See you soon!

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