I was a little leery about getting into this book, but I am so glad that I did. What a great zombie book! Instead of dealing with what happens when the zombie outbreak happens, its dealing with how people go on living when the outbreak is controlled but not gone, and it does it very, very well.
The book opens by introducing Georgia and Shaun Mason, a brother sister duo of bloggers making their living by blogging in a world after zombies. Along with their friend Buffy, they are chosen for the honor of being the first bloggers invited on the campaign trail with presidential hopeful Peter Ryman. While this is great for their careers, it starts to fall apart almost from the start.
Mira Grant has written a great book. The characters are as fleshed out as any character can be, Shaun and Georgia read like a real brother and sister, Buffy is adorable, and I would vote for Peter Ryman in a heartbeat. While obviously you know this is a zombie book and something is going to go horribly wrong, Grant throws curve balls at you left and right. There wasn’t a moment in this book where I was thinking ‘oh yeah, that’s happening because of that and why haven’t these supposedly smart people figured out that person’s evil’ Not one moment. That is the very definition of awesome. (I just decided this is a 5 start book, not a 4 star book)
I also really liked how the book wasn’t straight up horror. There was a lot of humor to be found in the book, and a whole ton of mystery. It reads a lot like a political thriller, which isn’t usually my thing, but helped the book stand out from other zombie stories.
I also loved how well explained the zombies were. Grant made it seem creepily plausible that this could happen. It’s easy to believe in the world she’s created and that is the mark of the best books in my opinion. This one is without a doubt worth the read.