Blackout, Mira Grant

Finally, I actually finished reading this series! It was never from a lack of interest: the three books are all thrilling, with great twists and turns, and themes I enjoy. When I first read the first book, I had a lot of health anxiety that was totally on top of me, and the book made me really viscerally uncomfortable the whole time… but it stuck in my head, and I came back to it again and later again.

It’s an uncomfortable world to think about, especially now in the middle of a pandemic, and it has worthwhile messages for us about fear and control and freedom. It predicts, for example, the sort of hygiene theatre we have at the moment with spraying of disinfectant on every possible surface… when in fact fomite transmission of COVID is thought to be rare. That’s a good parallel with the situation in the books where people get tested again and again for signs of “amplification” — sometimes within minutes of each other. It’s theatre to make you feel better, without addressing the real issues.

I think reading this book might give you the impression that it’s a good idea to just face a virus head-on, zombies or not, but I think the message is more subtle than that. It’s about being informed, and about fiercely interrogating everything to discover the truth. If the truth is that you should wear a mask, wash your hands a lot, and sometimes put up with a national lockdown… then that’s what you should do.

It’s hard to talk about this book in detail without giving massive spoilers for something that happens at the end of Deadline, so I won’t go into detail. I found the ending a little abrupt, actually — a little too naive about what it would really take to put a spoke in the wheel of such a massive conspiracy. In a sense, it ends with much left to do, of course, but there is a feeling that the Masons have done their part and their lives and deaths can go out of the spotlight because they’ve achieved something. It feels way too easy when you look at exposures in the last few years that have done nothing to change politics whatsoever.

It’s still really enjoyable, while being emotionally impactful — Mira Grant doesn’t hold back on those punches, so I’m not saying this is a sunshine-and-daisies sort of story.

Rating: 4/5

Deadline, Mira Grant

Georgia Mason is dead, and Shaun Mason is alive. Certain people are going to have cause to regret that, if Shaun can only get beyond his grief and his fragmenting sanity in order to find them. Deadline opens a while after Georgia’s death, when a certain amount of balance has been found in the After the End Times office, and people are figuring out how to be a team after the loss of their leader. But they don’t have long to do that before Kelly Connolly from the CDC shows up with news of a dreadful plot, and then of course the bullets start to fly again.

There’s a fair bit of journalism in the first book, albeit hands-on investigative journalism in places, which fades into a political thriller toward the climax. This second book is more in that category, with less actual reporting — by necessity, since the characters are quickly sent on the run. There’s a lot more of certain characters, like Becks, Maggie and Mahir, not to mention Dave and Alaric, which helps flesh out the team a bit (and makes up for the lack of Georgia to balance Shaun’s personality)… but I do still miss Georgia, really.

It feels a little middle-booky, in some ways, but there are some deeply satisfying reveals, and some real “wait, what?” bits.

Rating: 4/5

Feed, Mira Grant

At the start of the pandemic, I really wanted to reread this. The themes of the loss of freedom, the fear over spending time with other people, the fear of exposure to a live virus and what it can drive you to… I’m pro-lockdown and pro-quarantine, as a scientist, but it just chimed so well with everything that was going on. I got a bit too anxious and stopped for a while, and picked it back up again in the last few days, as the US election comes closer and closer. Gah. This book has got to stop being relevant.

It’s a good thriller, though in the end what gets me every time is the bond between Shaun and Georgia. I don’t think it would get under my skin so much without that. The politics are fun, Shaun’s acts of derring-do are fun, but the story lives and dies with Shaun and Georgia’s bond, for me.

I think that’s all I have to say this time; it’s a fun ride, with a punch to the gut at the end.

Rating: 4/5