Grant demonstrates, sporadically, she is capable of the backstabbing betrayal, the cliffhanger smash cuts to another character, the heart-to-hearts prior to a massive sacrifice. And the truly terrible thing about Blackout is that, for a few shining moments, it manages to be all these things. A political thriller about a conspiracy to conceal the truth behind a deadly pandemic should be tense. A book set in a post-apocalyptic zombie universe should be fast-paced and gripping. It took me a few days, because I had trouble gaining traction. I was lucky enough to read this in electronic form, albeit a PDF of a print version that was apparently 630 pages or so. You know what is? Making your book too long because you have pages upon pages where nothing is happening. This in and of itself is not a cardinal sin. There's no question that Grant is trying hard or that she has a story to tell, but what she has produced here leaves much to be desired. My opinion of the Newsflesh series has much in common with another very popular science-fiction series, The Hunger Games: each successive book has been less satisfying and less coherent. Georgia and Shaun Mason are reunited to kick zombie butt one last time and fight back against the government corruption that has put the entire world at risk. All the mysteries are cleared up, all the questions answered. Mira Grant is back for one last kick at the Hugo novel can with Blackout, the last in her Newsflesh trilogy.
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