Changes

However, Jane has other ambitions. Almost at the end of her training all Jane longs for is return to the home she was taken from and to see her mama once more. But when families around Miss Preston's School of Combat in Baltimore start to disappear, Jane in investigating finds herself caught in the middle of a conspiracy and against powerful enemies. Against the threat of ring-wing Survivalist politics developing towards the East, who believe in returning America to its days of glory, Jane will need to use every skill at her disposal in order to survive. It seems that rather than the restless dead, it is those alive who pose the greatest threat to all her hopes for the future. For those alive are far more dangerous than she could have ever imagined and will kill her in plain sight without hesitation.

The pace of ''Dread Nation'' is relentless and addictive. It draws you in from the start and one page leads to another and then another, until you're wondering where the rest of the novel is. The plot is clever and embroidered within it are handfuls of mysteries spanning the entire novel. These mysteries including the pasts of our protagonists and the true state of undead America, are structured brilliantly with each chapter creating more intrigue. A great feature is the inclusion of diary entries at the beginning of each chapter. Through them readers slowly uncover the details of Jane's past such as how she came to leave her home, whilst being fully immersed in her present.