My Thoughts: Deadline (Mira Grant)

Shaun Mason is a man without a mission. Not even running the news organization 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 CDC researcher fakes her own death and appears on his doorstep with a ravenous pack of zombies in tow, Shaun has a newfound interest in life. Because she brings news-he may have put down the monster who attacked them, 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.
(Goodreads Summary)

Deadline is book#2 in the Newsflesh Trilogy.
This review will contain SPOILERS from Feed only.


Ok. Wow. So. (That's how the end of Deadline left me)

So Feed basically leaves us with the knowledge that the CDC is corrupted. You don't know who you can trust. You learn that there is a lot more going on with the Kellis-Amberlee virus than once thought. The public has been lied to. Shaun and his friends have been lied to. Buffy and Georgia are dead. Deadline immediately picks up where Feed left off.

There were a couple times in Deadline that I felt bogged down with scientific fact talk. While interesting it, at times, crossed over in to eye glazing territory. Things however quickly picked up. Deadline contains a lot of action, but it's a different kind then most readers will be expecting. It's not all apocalyptic face ripping and innard eating violence on every page. Deadline is more about a ragtag group of bloggers searching for answers and trying not to get murdered in the process. The zombies really aren't their biggest concern. That doesn't mean it's not edge-of-your-seat what's going to happen next suspense at times.

To be honest, I was a little worried going in to book 2. Georgia was my favorite character and with her being all dead now I was a little wary about Shaun taking up the slack. Luckily Georgia is still around seeing as Shaun has gone a little crazy and hears Georgia's voice in his head. And can sometimes see her. And feel her. He deserves to indulge in a little crazy, he did have to see his sister get infected and then shoot her in the head after all. So that means Georgia is still very much present in Deadline, through both the crazy talk in Shaun's head and through old blog entries. But Shaun holds his own as a character and I grew to like him quite a bit. As well as Becks, who kinda steps in as a brave, hardcore female character but also has a soft side.

One part of these books I really think adds a lot are the blog entries, both published and unpublished, that the author includes at the beginning and/or end of each chapter from Shaun, Georgia or one of the other members of their group. They give a lot of insight into the characters and how they are feeling about their friends, family, the world as a whole, and themselves.

Things happen toward the end of this book that I absolutely did NOT see coming and have a LOT of unanswered questions about. As soon as I read the last line, I literally put the book down and said out loud, "What the fuck?!?". There's no way I can NOT read the third and final book, Blackout.

Favorite Quotes:
" That was the sort of grief I can handle. Sadly enough, it's the kind I've been on the inside of, because even saying good-bye isn't enough. There's always one more thing you should have had the time to say, or do, or ask. There's always going to be that one missing piece."

"I think that if anything destroys the human race at this point, it's going to be the human race itself."

"I guess in the end, it doesn't matter what we wanted. What matters is what we chose to do with the things we had."

"The truth may, given the opportunity, set us free."

"Sometimes people make mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes are the sort that don't allow for second chances."


Bottom Line: Basically it's simple, if you liked Feed, you should read Deadline. I don't think you'll be disappointed.   4/5