Blackout by Mira Grant

Blackout by Mira Grant
Buy Blackout by Mira Grant at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Horror
Reviewer: Loralei Haylock
Summary: The epic conclusion of the brilliant Newsflesh Trilogy. Political thriller with a large side order of zombies. Horrific, gory, fantastic stuff!
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 608	Date: June 2012
Publisher: Orbit
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-1841499000
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The last thing Georgia Mason remembers is her brother Shaun putting a bullet in the base of her neck. So how come she's alive and kicking and locked in some CDC facility somewhere?

All she wants is to get back to Shaun, but she knows the CDC brought her back for a reason, and it's not likely to be a nice one. But she's not alone - a couple of infiltrators are on her side, but Georgia's well aware that they have an agenda for her too, and that agenda could be just as nasty.

Meanwhile, Shaun is getting steadily crazier without his sister. His team are starting to become aware he's barely holding it together. This isn't a good thing when the world you live in is populated by crazy scientists, CDC agents who want to kill you, and the flesh eating undead.

But at least Shaun doesn't have to worry about amplification - he's immune to the virus that started the Rising. A small mercy in a world gone to hell. Unfortunately, someone out there doesn't want the world to know this, and the conspiracy to keep it quiet might head all the way back to the White House...

The Newsflesh trilogy was never really about zombies, and that's never more clear than in this last instalment. Big, important ideas, like responsibility, truth, ethics and power are the true meat of this tale, zombies just a delicious garnish that make it that much more interesting.

I loved the moral quandary raised by clone Georgia. She's 97% cogent to the original Georgia Mason, but she isn't her. The identity issues this prompts in Georgia II would have made a fine novel of their own. Grant once again perfectly illustrates a world where medical science has gone unchecked and unregulated for years as the population depend on them for a cure to the virus they all carry.

The conclusion to the Newsflesh series is both satisfying and utterly believable. It's an impressive feat that Grant manages to make the humans more frightening than the zombies, and she never steps a foot wrong in her portrayal of the darkest facets of humanity. Haunting, thought provoking, and likely to keep this reviewer up at night for a while, if you buy one book this year, make it Blackout.

My thanks to the publishers for sending a copy.

For more 'America infested with supernatural creatures' try Half the Blood of Brooklyn (Joe Pitt Novel) by Charlie Huston.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Blackout by Mira Grant at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Blackout by Mira Grant at Amazon.com.

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