DEADLINE by Mira Grant

But when the springtime turns to dust
(A thousand shades of blood and rust)
And everything is ash and stone
(Contagion writ in blood and bone)
Then what exists to have and hold?
(What story, then, has not been told?)
Let this be my sacred vow
(Oh Mother Mary, hear me now):
I will not fail, I will not fall
(Though Heaven, Hell and Chaos call).
We are the children of the Risen.
This world our home, this prayer our prison.

– From Dandelion Mine, the blog of Magdalene Grace Garcia, April 16, 2041

As I’m sure you all know by now, I have a soft spot for a good zombie book. I will be damned if FEED was not one of the absolute best zombies novels – hell, novels in general – that I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. DEADLINE has been a continued roller coaster of emotion regarding the beloved After the End Times news crew and I never wanted, for one second, to put this book down.

That, my friends, is the trademark of a good novel. When a person will, quite literally, debate on whether or not having dinner is as important as reading the next chapter…Well then, you know you’ve written a damned good story. DEADLINE is a fantastic novel that I cannot praise highly enough.

DEADLINE picks up one year after the end of FEED. If you remember what happened at the end of FEED, you’ll remember who our main character is and why. The whole After the End Times crew is still around, except for the few who were lost during FEED or who, during the last year, took off to do “important things” like become Vice President of the United States. As usual, we open on someone poking a dead thing with a stick. Okay, well, it’s actually a crowbar, but you get the point. There are zombies, and we’re poking them.

The action takes off from there, and never lets up for a second. Unearthing conspiracies that possibly span the globe? Check. Sexual encounters? Check. “Haunted houses”? Check. There’s also escaping from locked down medical facilities, epileptic teacup bulldogs, and cross-country road trips. This book has just about everything one could want from a good sci-fi thriller.

Grant has really done some amazing things with the character development in this installation of the Newsflesh trilogy. We get to meet a few characters in person who, in FEED, were nothing but voices on the phone or faces in a video conference. It’s refreshing to see their mannerisms, and learn about their pasts. Shaun, for one, has become one of my favorite characters. He learns so much in this book: about the world, about himself, and about Georgia.

The last hundred pages of DEADLINE left me feeling as though I’d been punched in the gut a few times, with the end of the story a giant “what the fuck?” cliffhanger. Grant has an amazing way of making the reader care for these characters, care that they live, and care about the fact that they or their families die. She’s done a wonderful job turning characters who started out in the background in FEED to main players in DEADLINE, and making one care about them so much that it moves the reader to tears.

I don’t think that Grant should have done anything differently with DEADLINE. This book was amazing, and an excellent continuation of the Newsflesh trilogy. I know that I will be reading this book, and FEED, again before BLACKOUT releases next year. Probably a few times, if I’m to be honest. I’m looking forward to the conclusion of the story, but at the same time I’m so sad for it to come to an end.

When will you rise?

Note to the Author: Ms. Grant, I applaud you for the creation of this series. You’ve done an amazing thing, making characters that one can love and relate to. I’ve always felt as if you were telling a “no shit, there I was” sort of story, rather than relating fiction; my suspension of disbelief was never forced, and the reasoning behind the Rising feels realistic. I cannot thank you enough for sharing your work with the world.

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