Deadline is Mira Grant’s sequel to Feed - which I “reviewed” here - and the second book in her Newsflesh Trilogy.
If you’ve read Feed then you already know of its dramatic conclusion and are wondering how the story can move on from there. Well fear not, for the story moves on at some pace and with plenty of twists and turns. Some new characters are introduced as Shaun Mason continues to investigate the genesis of the Kellis-Amberlee virus which makes zombies of those it infects.
As he and the After End Times blogging crew pursue various leads they find themselves at odds with the Centers for Disease Control and mired in a web of conspiracy that grows ever thicker. They track down a secret and unofficial laboratory run by Dr. Shannon Abbey who discloses some surprising facts about the virus and how she is attempting to treat it.
Armed with this information and some unpleasant facts gleaned from the CDC about how the virus is being used to control the population Shaun and his team return to their current base. Travelling under cover of a hurricane they soon realise that fresh zombie mayhem is afoot. There have been mass outbreaks of Kellis-Amberlee amplification across the country. A second Rising has begun.
The second book of the Newsflesh Trilogy is a match for the first in terms of pace and excitement. Mira Grant continues to build her post-zombie-apocalypse world by providing more history and further exploring the nature of the zombie virus. She adds further detail and explanation to the reservoir conditions which allows the virus to be hosted in the human body prior to amplification. And, most importantly, she adds more depth to her characters through dialogue, backstory and exploration of the situations they find themselves in and the emotional consequences they are exposed to. There is no sign of second-novel-in-a-series-slump here. A fact borne out by twists, turns and cliff-hangers that leave you wondering what the hell is coming next.
Deadline deserves a big thumbs up and all the attention you can give it.