Book #123 of 2018:
Blackout by Mira Grant (Newsflesh #3)
I’ve enjoyed Mira Grant’s bloggers-fighting-zombies trilogy far more than I ever expected to, but the plot in this final volume is pretty slow and coincidence-heavy compared to what’s come before. One character spends the entire first half of the book quarantined in a CDC hospital, only to reconnect with the rest of the team when they happen to break into the same facility. That quarantine story actually turns out to be the highlight, offering real stakes and rising dramatic tension; there’s no overall goal or plotline driving everyone’s else’s actions, just a steady series of redirections from one location to another.
When this novel works, it’s thanks to the great characters that Grant has created, not the zombie action, meandering plot, or inevitable government conspiracies. The news crew feels real, their anguish is heartbreaking, and their coping mechanisms are given the ample space in the narrative that they deserve. But that’s all been true in the previous books as well, and generally in service of a better story than we’re given here.
This book: ★★★☆☆
Overall series: ★★★★☆
Book ranking: 2 > 1 > 3
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