“Feed” by Mira Grant (Orbit, 2010)

There have been many books about zombies, many are being written right now.  Almost all of them are about zombie invasions, zombies attacking killing humans, people turning into zombies, and basically humanity’s innate fear of zombies.  Feed by Mira Grant is nothing like these books, and yet it is a zombie horror novel; the first book in the Newsflesh Trilogy.

It is the future, the year is 2039.  Twenty-five years ago the Kellis-Amberlee virus was released and began turning humanity into zombies.  The world is now a very different place: many people rarely leave their homes, or the protected confines of their neighborhoods; many places have been overridden by zombies, while the government does what it can to feebly protect its people.  Georgia Mason (named after someone who understood zombies very well) and her twin brother Shaun are bloggers.  When everything went to hell a quarter-century ago, the media denied what was happening, mocking the bloggers who were purportedly telling the truth.  Now the bloggers have become the media, for they are the only ones brave (or stupid) enough to get close to the zombies and report what’s happening.

It’s an election year and Republican Senator Peter Ryman is running for president, looking to change the country, to make the American people feel safe and protected once more.  George and Shaun and their techie Buffy have been picked as members of the media to cover Senator Ryman’s campaign, launching them into journalism stardom.  But then something terrible happens, at one of the Senator’s events; zombies attack and people die.  As the Senator’s campaign continues, George, Shaun and Buffy try to put the pieces together and work out exactly what’s going on, and why the Senator is being attacked, in an attempt to ultimately find out who is behind it all.

Mira Grant is not simply telling a good story about zombies; she is instead telling a fantastic story about a group of young bloggers covering the campaign of a hopeful presidential candidate in a world where there are zombies and fear is a part of everyone’s everyday life.  And as the book comes to a close, the reader realizes there are things in this world that are worse than zombies.  They’re humans.  If you’re going to read a book that has anything to do with zombies at all, read this one.

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Originally written on April 28 2010 ©Alex C. Telander.

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