The Zombiepocalypse Continues ...

Mira Grant continues the adventures of Shaun Mason in her book Deadline, book two of the Newsflesh Trilogy.  Shaun with his sister tagging along in his head, is put in grave danger after a CDC employee shows up on his doorstep with a bunch of moaning zombies in tow.  With some quick thinking and an unexpected tragedy (from the reader's perspective), Shaun and his team are able to flee to relative safety where the find themselves mired in the conspiracy that George, Shaun's sister, only hinted at in the first volume of the series, Feed.  Some minor zombie killing and much investigating ensue.

Where the first book was clever, this one reads a bit more like an unpolished Michael Crichton novel.  There's lots of investigating and getting in trouble, but not so much of the fun zombie killing from the previous novel.  Basically, this is more about the conspiracy and Shaun searching for the truth rather than reacting to the zombie threat.  Not that that's a bad thing, but it does tend to bog the story down a bit when the action bits would keep the flow going.

Unfortunately, the excessive repeating of 'important' information continues in this book.  I'm not sure if it's bad writing, bad editing, or both, but within the first two hundred pages, there are at least three moderately in depth incidences of the way Kellis Amberlee came into being, two more than necessary for those who have read the first book in the trilogy.  The best bits are when Shaun and co. are fighting zombies or on the run from the government.  As soon as they slow down, the story bogs in too much science and explanation.  While a bit of background is good, the repetitive nature of certain parts and confusing narrative of others makes this middle volume a challenge for those of us looking for an easier read.  That being said, Deadline is still smart and clever in its way.

The new cast of characters is refreshing.  Most are carryover from the previous book, just with increased presence.  Becks essentially has Shaun's previous role as the enforcer when it comes to zombie killing and has the sort of semi damaged personality that female warriors always seem to come with.  Alaric is the Newsie, telling the story like it is when possible.  And Mohir, thankfully given a large role in this story, is the one character who really has a lot of lose and still manages to find his way into more danger while still being clear headed.  Along with the Fictional Maggie, the team has to dig deep into the conspiracy behind the spread of KA and into themselves to soldier on.

While Deadline is still a decent book, the writing begins to work against itself after a time, either being too repetitive or not moving fast enough.  Essentially, the cast in is danger, they threaten to release important information, and then they go into hiding, waiting for their chance to escape to a new 'safe' location.  In other words, this feels like a middle book, and not one of the better ones.  This might be because Shaun is the new narrator and his talking to the George in his head seems a lot less like he's crazy and a lot more like he's actually smart enough to figure things out as he manages to do much of the way.  Pretty good for an Irwin who is apparently crazy enough to hallucinate a dead sister in the flesh.

I wasn't thrilled with the book in the end, but it was by no means horrible.  A step below the first one for sure, but should be read if you enjoyed the first one.  Read at Your Own Risk.

Work Cited.
Grant, Mira.  Deadline.  New York: Orbit, 2011.