Deadline (Mira Grant)

Deadline
The Newsflesh trilogy, Book 2
Mira Grant
Orbit
Fiction, Horror/Sci-Fi
***** (Great)

DESCRIPTION: If Shaun Mason ever had a chance at a normal life, it ended when he was too young to remember, victim of the first Rising: the accidental collision of two artificial viruses, one intended to end cancer and another the cure for the common cold, that created a cocktail capable of resurrecting the dead. Orphaned in the initial outbreak and adopted by the media-hungry Masons with the girl who would be his sister and more, Georgia "George" Mason, the two went on to become top names among the new generation of journalists, the bloggers who rose to the challenge when traditional media stumbled. Their site, After the End Times, broke some of the hottest news in the country, even the world. Shaun and George knew their jobs came with great risks, but the truth deserves it. Besides, Shaun always figured George would outlast him; she, after all, didn't go out in the field to poke zombies for ratings.
When George was turned, victim of a high-reaching conspiracy threatening a senator with presidential aspirations, Shaun was the one who had to pull the trigger.
While his sister may be dead, she's not entirely gone; she lives on as a voice in his head, manifestation of his shattered psyche. The only thing keeping him going anymore is the thought of bringing justice to the doorstep of her killers, the still-faceless people behind the conspiracy that brought her down. Once that's done, maybe they both can rest.
Then a doctor from the CDC turns up at the Oakland After the End Times headquarters... one who was just reported dead. She faked her own death and fled when she stumbled onto information her superiors didn't want seen, a disturbing pattern of deaths and an even more disturbing cover-up. What Shaun and the others are about to unearth will change everything they thought they knew about the zombie apocalypse, and challenge everything they thought they could trust.
Shaun could never imagine living in a world without George. He might well be joining her soon enough... him, and the rest of the population of Earth.

REVIEW: Like the first installment in the Newsflesh trilogy, Deadline starts fast and hits hard. Shaun is a wreck after the death of George, clinging to her ghost as a voice in his head (which can manifest in full-fledged hallucinatory embodiments as his sanity continues to crack), barely functioning as he focuses solely on the only story that has any meaning to him anymore. He has people around him who care for him, but none can reach him like George could, and his upbringing - he and his sister essentially being living props for the Masons, every emotion faked for the cameras - left his ability to form normal human bonds damaged. The fugitive CDC doctor, a side character from the previous book, snaps him from the lethargy he's been sinking into, even as she provides a new lead to track and a dangerous new twist. Along with a core crew of fellow journalists, he delves into the dark world of outcast scientists who have been studying the zombie pandemic and coming to vastly different conclusions than the official party line from the CDC and WHO, who clearly have come to embody the old saying about absolute power corrupting absolutely. This is not a writer or a series that pulls punches, indulges in cheap bait-and-switch tricks, or short-changes characters or plot for the sake of thrills. Once again, it reads eerily prescient in light of the COVID pandemic, in no small part because Grant did sufficient research to ground the zombie virus cocktail in plausible-sounding science, and work out what society would have to do in order to survive: airlocks to get in and out of buildings, bleach showers, blood tests as a matter of course, and so on. (I have read that the author claims that, had she known then what she knew now after seeing the response to an actual pandemic, that she couldn't have written this series at all; it relies too much on people being willing to make some sacrifices for the greater good, and the vocal, occasionally violent anti-mask and anti-vax pushes have put paid to that good-faith assumption.) This is a solid, if dark, adrenaline rush of a story, pitting Shaun and his increasingly-small band of allies against forces with global reach and incredible power who do not like their methods being questioned or exposed. It's a great gut-punch, ending with two hooks that all but require the reader to grab the third installment. (I have it on the Nook, but I think I need a somewhat lighter read or two before I dive in.)

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