Blackout by Mira Grant

Cover via Goodreads.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars.

“Sometimes the hardest thing about the truth is putting down the misassumptions, falsehoods, and half-truths that stand between it and you. Sometimes that’s the last thing that anybody wants to do. And sometimes it’s the only thing we can do.” – Georgia Mason.

When I write book reviews, I usually save my recommendation of the book until the end. But Blackout, and the Newsflesh trilogy itself, should not be put off until the end. Feed, the first book in the series, is a novel that I would recommend to almost anybody – the book and the entire series encompasses zombies, blogging, politics, and a gamut of themes and morals. It’s absolutely amazing. So, before I get into Blackout, I highly recommend that you check out Feed, if you haven’t already. It will blow your mind.

Mira Grant does not lose any steam in this final installment of the Newsflesh trilogy. She continues the story seamlessly from the chilling ending of Deadline, and grabs readers all the way to the gripping finale. Her thickening of the plot and her masterful use of foreshadowing via cleverly-dropped hints does not disappoint, and made it difficult for me to resist picking up the book even when I had work to do.

Her characters were wonderful, as always. The reemergence of Georgia’s cool and collected voice and the continuation of Shaun’s somewhat crazy narration provided for an interesting mix, and the side characters were fleshed out to the point that I hesitate to even call them side characters. In most books there are certain characters who fade into tasteless black, but each of Grant’s gave the story more spice and color.

Like Georgia, Grant’s attention to detail amazed me. All of the minute intricacies and convoluted plot complications were handled and resolved deftly. The chilling cloning procedures and revolutionary scientific aspects of the story were rendered plausible, which, while scary, made the book even more believable.

The only reason I don’t give Blackout a full five stars is because it did not entrench me as emotionally as I would have liked it to. I felt the tears approach once, but they did not actually arrive like they did when I read Feed. I did feel more of a connection than I did in Deadline, though, so it was a step-up from the second book in the series.

Once again, if the plot summary of the first book sounds even barely intriguing to you, I highly recommend you pick it up. This series is different than anything I’ve read before. And, like the Masons did, I’m only telling you the truth.