Blackout by Mira Grant

Blackout (Newsflesh Trilogy #3) 

by Mira Grant

I was surprised by Blackout. It does not have the high suspense of Feed, or the dark action of Deadline, but it's no less frightening. The CDC is out to prove that zombies haven't taken over the world, mad scientists have; and you're being given a truly inside look at the mad science by the pov of a clone. As you see the story inside the CDC progress, you begin to understand the gravity of the "cold equations"; the corruption, the power, the danger, involved in the science. She may have been created in a test tube, but she's still human... And they talk about her like a used car.

You also get Sean's pov; he's still crazy, but the voices in his head are learning to go from helpful to venomous whenever he doubts himself. There is a severe lack of emotion in this book - not altogether unexpected from the CDC - but the team is coping with the possibility nobody's getting out alive, and if they do survive they have to hide, by shutting down on anything other than what it will take to keep them breathing for one more day. The emotionless outlook, helps remind the readers (as if they could forget) that in a world full of zombies nobody is guaranteed a happy ending.

Your main characters range from the clinically insane to the genetically altered. The doctors you trusted to save the world want to destroy it. The people in a position powerful enough to do something about the madness may have been compromised. The reporters you trusted to tell the truth to the world have been silenced. Yes, the science slows the book. No, it detracts nothing from the plot. If anything, it goes to show you there are worse things in this futuristic world than zombies...and that's really something.

The trilogy keeps repeating the question "When will you rise?" Blackout makes it necessary to ask "Who will you trust when you do?"

Rating: 5/5

Review originally post date:

May 30, 12