Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Unavailable
Blackout
Unavailable
Blackout
Unavailable
Blackout
Audiobook17 hours

Blackout

Written by Mira Grant

Narrated by Michael Goldstrom

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

The explosive conclusion to the Newsflesh trilogy from New York Times bestseller Mira Grant.
Rise up while you can. -- Georgia Mason

The year was 2014. The year we cured cancer. The year we cured the common cold. And the year the dead started to walk. The year of the Rising.

The year was 2039. The world didn't end when the zombies came, it just got worse. Georgia and Shaun Mason set out on the biggest story of their generation. The uncovered the biggest conspiracy since the Rising and realized that to tell the truth, sacrifices have to be made.

Now, the year is 2041, and the investigation that began with the election of President Ryman is much bigger than anyone had assumed. With too much left to do and not much time left to do it in, the surviving staff of After the End Times must face mad scientists, zombie bears, rogue government agencies-and if there's one thing they know is true in post-zombie America, it's this:

Things can always get worse.

BLACKOUT is the conclusion to the epic trilogy that began in the Hugo-nominated FEED and the sequel, DEADLINE.

Newsflesh Feed Deadline Blackout

For more from Mira Grant, check out:
Parasitology Parasite Symbiont Chimera
Newsflesh Short Fiction Apocalypse Scenario #683: The Box Countdown San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell Please Do Not Taunt the Octopus
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 1, 2012
ISBN9781611134605
Unavailable
Blackout
Author

Mira Grant

Mira Grant is the author of the New York Times best-selling Newsflesh trilogy, along with multiple other works of biomedical science fiction. She has been nominated for the Hugo Award, and her book, Feed, was chosen as one of NPR's 100 Killer Thrillers.

More audiobooks from Mira Grant

Related to Blackout

Related audiobooks

Horror Fiction For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for Blackout

Rating: 4.075787480118111 out of 5 stars
4/5

508 ratings48 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    *singing* "So much for my happy ending..."The first book should have killed any dreams I had of a happy ending for this series, but, even still, I feel it was a very appropriate and fitting ending.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This author keeps punching me in the emotional guts, and making me come back for more.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I love zombies, post-apocolyptic fiction, conspiracies, and medical thrillers. So yes, loved this book! It was a ton of fun. If like me you love even a few of those things you will like this book and I can recommend it to you. If you don't though, I feel I have to acknowledge a few flaws. Anyone remember Stephen King's The Stand? In that book King gave us vignettes of action happening to non-central characters around the country, it helped communicate the scope of the action and what was at stake. Grant's use of first-person narration of only a couple central characters gives a much narrower view, sometimes resulting in a tell-not-show story. Even the blog posts supplanting the narrative were pulled from recurring characters and were mostly repetitive. There was a lot of "villain explains the plot" and the final resolution to the vast conspiracy was a little too easy. For me the sheer fun of the zombie world Grant created, running from the bad guys, uncovering the conspiracy outweighed these flaws and I went along with the story. She draws interesting parallels to current events and politics. In summary I loved the book, had a lot of fun reading it, but there were a few flaws that kept it from being a great book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Conspiracy goes too far for me and strains credulity to breaking point.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Picked up a bit from the last one.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Here's the problem with BLACKOUT: the readers needed Georgia back. The plot didn't.

    This wouldn't be such a huge problem if, say, Shaun had found some way to bring Georgia back. He was motivated to do so, should the means have presented themselves. But it wasn't Shaun who brought Georgia back - it was the villain of the series, insofar as a government agency can function as a villain.

    Now, I actually follow the logic that led the CDC to their state of villainy pretty well. They can't afford a partial cure of Kellis-Amberlee. They see the inevitable result - "Maybe this person can recover from amplification, maybe I shouldn't shoot them in the head, oops, now I'm a zombie too!" - and it is awful. I can see a "cold calculation" (to use Mira Grant's phrase) there, where the CDC believes their way will save more lives in the long run. And it makes sense that once an organization has chosen a direction that requires a lot of lying and secrecy, it will foster a pretty toxic environment where the wrong sort of people will thrive.

    So, in a general sense, I get it. And in a general sense, the plot here hangs together pretty well: the After the End Times crew has discovered that the CDC is at the center of a massive, evil conspiracy. They want to end the conspiracy by making it public, making it news. The CDC is strongly motivated to prevent that from happening. The After the End Times crew makes progress. The CDC keeps trying to kill them. Eventually, we have a winner and a loser.

    And I thought the first half of the book was pretty awesome. We see Georgia again! She's narrating chapters! Man, it was great to have her back. She is one kick-ass reporter. And all the chapters recounting her captivity at the CDC facility are beyond chilling. The creepy doctor in charge of her, Dr. Thomas, made me want to vomit. Georgia's struggle with her own identity - she's not actually Georgia Mason; just a very close copy - was perfect.

    Meanwhile the After the End Times crew hits the road, with Shaun on his way to Florida to save Alaric's little sister from the mosquito-ridden hazard zone the state has become. They run into trouble on the way, and eventually - thanks to an extremely bizarre coincidence that needed a lot more explaining than we actually got - meet up with Georgia.

    I loved Shaun's reunion with Georgia. I loved seeing the rest of the crew react to her reappearance. So great. The coolest thing about it? The way that Shaun's behavior in this book cleared up the issues I'd had with DEADLINE. I'd been really uncomfortable with the idea that Shaun communicating with Georgia by magic, and I couldn't figure out how else he could be having such lucid conversations with her.

    In BLACKOUT, Mira Grant explains it in a way that I found really satisfying. I liked the explanation - Shaun is just nuts but maybe, just maybe, there was a little possibility to see something more and I was willing to swallow that - but I loved the psychological justification, the way that Georgia's presence in Shaun's mind was revealed as a side of his character that he'd suppressed, a consequence of his co-dependency, maybe even an aid to character growth. A disused part of himself that he'd let wither, because he gave it a name: Georgia.

    Unfortunately, after the team is all back together again, the plot completely falls apart. It is a mess. I'm spoiler-tagging this whole review but I'm about to discuss the grand denouement, so this is a cue to stop reading if you haven't read the book yet.

    The whole scene with the Monkey made no sense. Not enough explanation for the double crossing (a problem that only gets worse when the CDC guy tries to explain what their game had been). Not enough explanation for the self-sacrificing. The crazy, animal-named characters felt like an little pocket of October Daye had crept into the Newsflesh series, and I'd rather pretend that whole episode just wasn't in the book.

    But it's not until they go to Washington that things really fall apart. Our protagonists are ferried to the White House for a villain monologue? What? All of those hints about Rick doing some horrible, unforgivable evil thing and...what is it, exactly? Is he so guilt-ridden about bringing Georgia back? How did he accomplish that? It seemed like the CDC was completely running the show there, so I'm not sure how Rick had enough clout to have Georgia revived.

    Are we supposed to believe that Rick suggested the idea, and the CDC only agreed because they planned to run with the 44% version of Georgia? Did Rick know about that too? And then the CDC agreed to have the 97% Georgia introduced to the President anyhow? Because...why? Maybe the CDC figured they'd group them all up and kill them - that was obviously the backup plan - but considering the effort they expended to keep Ryman & Rick biddable, you'd think they'd know better than to introduce new allies, let alone deliver Evil Villain monologues to reporters without a more thorough check for recording devices.

    That whole scene was so full of holes and problems I'd go on for pages trying to list them all. So I'll just hop straight to the biggest problem, the one that really decreased my enjoyment of the book: Why did Rick think he needed Georgia at all? The entire scene at the White House, the extraction of the family, the recording of the villain monologue, all of it, could have happened without her. Hell, it could have happened without Shaun or any of the other After the End Times people (though that would require that either the Prez or Vice-Prez come up with a half-dozen solid friends with arms training; seems doable, right?).

    I was also pretty disappointed that the ending was so rushed. I wanted to know more about how the country - and the unfettered leaders - tried to deal with the mess they found themselves in. I want to know what their "cold calculations" were. I had a hard time believing that Shaun & Georgia decided that, in their early twenties, it was time to ride off into the sunset and abandon their careers.

    On the one hand, I loved BLACKOUT. I love the Newsflesh world, I love the smart, almost brutally no-nonsense writing, I loved having George back, I loved seeing Shaun and George together again - one of my favorite moments in the whole book was when they did their "one, two..." blood-testing routine together for the first time after seeing one another again. That was really moving. I'm so glad they got a happy ending.

    On the other hand, the second half of this book was a mess & if it weren't for the first two books in the series, how invested & emotionally wrung out I was by them, I doubt I'd think very much of this one at all.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Read on July 6, 2012A great finish to an awesome series. It answers all of the questions I had at the end of Deadline and then some. Awesome![Spoiler -- See...as I started reading, I was like "Where the heck is Rick?" and then BAM! There he was. I'm still a little "ew" over the Mason's relationship, but I think there's also a good explanation in the book and I respect that they also get the "ew" factor. And man, it was so nice to have those George chapters to take a break away from Crazy Shaun.]
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was more like a 4.5 for me. But I rounded up because the series as a whole has given me great enjoyment.

    I was a little disappointed in the ending, but also disappointed that it is over... SO CONFUSED!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Again with the spoilers - I'm going to be vague but if you intend to read this trilogy, skip the reviews or you will be confused.

    Blackout was also great - it brought the major arcs to a satisfying close. I was not totally a fan of the whole clone subplot - I think it took something away from Feed, really - but it didn't bug me enough to make me not like the book. I also wasn't as bothered as I gather many people were by the reveal about Georgia and Shaun's relationship. There were enough subtle, tasteful hints throughout the first two books that it was pretty much not a surprise at this point, and while I think it's a little baffling, I was delighted not to have to deal with a romance subplot at all.

    The series was great as a whole, although I think Feed by itself was the finest accomplishment. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Ok, I haven't read any reviews yet. I finished a few days ago. I loved it, but I felt the ending was anticlimactic.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I am determined to write this without spoilers. There's not much you can say that wouldn't spoil the first two books in the trilogy but here goes. I can say I think it was the weakest of the three books. A lot happened that didn't seem to go anywhere, lots of to-ing and fro-ing, and yet the characters seemed to end up where they needed to be... conveniently. Everything is resolved satisfactorily and yet I feel slightly disappointed. Oh there's action, intrigue, science and zombies that make the book a page turner sure enough. But the baddies are just too cliched (not just the baddies) and the big conspiracy seemed to unravel too easily.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The third and final book in Mira Grant's Newsflesh trilogy and just like the other two, I loved it. It might be one of my favorite zombie series in the history of, well, forever. Not only does the book end the series satisfyingly, it has everything in it (and I mean everything). There's closing, government conspiracies, secrets, lies and one of my favorite love stories. If you've read the other two, you must read this one. A lot of questions are answered and, well, Grant is such a great writer that she manages to make everything work perfectly (without it being a perfect ending, since nothing is ever really perfect).
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Superb. Amazing end to an amazing series. Really picked up the plot again after the slightyl transitory middle book. Just excellant. Read them all and rise up while you can.The opening page is just one of the best WTF moments I've read in the long time. I couldn't believe she was doing this. And in order to preserve that for everyone else I'm not going to write about the plot as much as I normally do; safe to say it does wrap up the series and brings it all to a reasonable end. You can't spoil many things in a book, but that first page is special. Fortunertly it's not the only such moment either. It takes quite a special bit of writing to be able to sustain that, hold the readsers disbelief and bring them through to your side. Blackout does that very well indeed. Of course it's not perfect. There are a couple of detailed errors that grate, and a few less belivbable plot points, but it's basically niggling. My biggest gripe was the use of jumpers to circumvent an electric fence. This will work, enabling you to cut the fence without triggering the alarm - what it doesn't do is allow you to touch the fence! One of those things that could have been got right equally well, but wasn't. Then there's the whole conspiracy thing - which doesn't really work for me, especially the motivation involved, and the required number of people, but that's more a class failing than a problem with this specific book. Finally of course the whole series suffers from the major plot failing of how they keep power and fancy electronics running throughout all the problems they've had. Infrastructure is hard! But if you forgive these fairly minor points it's great.The ebb and flow of the pacing is superb, the character banter, motiviation, resources, emotion and just sheer belivablility is wonderful. These really are people you could run away with. The action is tense, without being overly detailed or needlessly graphic. I wasn't that keen on the character swapping between chapters, but they are clearly labelled in the headings which makes it a lot easier. It's really been a great series, and there are now a few short stories to flesh it out here and there. But I can't see it being continued in a major fashion. Off to go and look up the rest of Mira's (Seanan McGuire) work.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wow. Did not want this one to end. Will have to go back and reread more slowly, when I'm not trying to gulp down the ending of a trilogy -- and it was definitely worth the wait.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I devoured this trilogy. Again, this book was very readable and enjoyable, with characters that I loved and some great twists and turns. I was a little worn out by all the action by the end of the story and I'm not sure I was entirely satisfied with the resolution. But these are minor quibbles and the ride was very worthwhile ...
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Since it's the third and final book in the trilogy, I won't go into the plot. I will say that good old fashioned zombies along with zombie bears were involved, as well as nifty science, virology, and complex government conspiracies. My only complaint is that the ending/climax felt a bit abrupt to me. After loving all three novels and all that's happened, all of a sudden it was just over, much to my shock. I went back and reread the climax, because it wasn't enough; I wanted more. I didn't want it to be over. That said, this book was an entertaining and mostly satisfying conclusion to the Masons' story, and I thoroughly enjoyed the series as a whole.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Deadline ends with some huge revelations. Shaun is immune to Kellis-Amberlee and Georgia has been cloned for who knows what reason. Blackout continues right after those relevations. Georgia discovers she's a glorified lab rat in the CDC and has no idea why they would want to clone her, but she aims to find out and escape. Shaun has gotten a little better. He still talks to the Georgia in his head, but can act in a basically normal way when he absolutely has to. He and his faithful After the End Times crew are send on a crazy mission. The Kellis-Amberlee virus has mutated and it's now possible for insects to carry it. These particular insects are menacing Florida, which is a hair's breadth away from becoming a completely lost cause. Will Georgia escape the CDC and meet up with Shaun? Will Shaun and his bloggers save Florida from complete annihilation?Blackout is told from two alternating points of view, Shaun and George's. This is necessary to get the full experience of both of their situations, but also gave the book a different feel. I like that it almost felt like reading two different books until they met up. I enjoyed seeing their inner mental workings as events progressed; scenes like when George came to terms that she wasn't really the Georgia Mason and what how Shaun's inner George behaved when he saw her again are unique and unexpected. Even though these characters change and go a little crazy and die, both of their goals never change: find out the truth and get it out to the public or die trying. Even when their lives have turned upside down and close friends have died in the process, their goal remains unwavering. Their close knit group of bloggers are like family and they are fiercely loyal. All of these characters are dynamic, interesting, detailed, and, above all, real. I feel for these characters more keenly than most I read and I think it's due to the writing. It can make me sob in public (which I totally did with Feed, in the computer lab at my school; it wasn't pretty) or laugh out loud. Blackout is a lot different from the other books in the series. It has a less zombie action/carnage, but the action and pacing are not diminished in the least. I found myself trying to read slower only to prolong the reading experience. I would have devoured the book in one sitting if I could. The action scenes are tempered with calm ones in a way that feels organic and fluid. The twists and turns in this book are crazy. Some of them I saw coming, but most caught me by surprise. My only issue with the book is the ease that some situations were resolved. The ending felt an eensy bit less awesome then the last two books, but it may be because it's the last book in the series and there is no needed tension to get to that next book. I am trying really hard not to spoil anything in this book, so I'll just stop gushing here.The Newsflesh series is one of the best zombie series ever and I'm sad to see it end. I wish I could explore more about this awesome world, but I understand why it ended where it did. So many facets of this universe are explored and explained that it seems like it should take a lot longer than 3 books to do it. Mira Grant/Seanan Mcguire is an amazing author and I will read anything she writes. I will be rereading this series for a long time to come.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The last book in the Newsflesh trilogy, it's going to be hard to review without spoiling the second book. What's left of the "After the End Times" news team of Fictionals, Irwins and Newsies come together to break open the government conspiracy that's been running through the whole series. There's less of a focus on the infected, and though there are two story lines that eventually converge, this felt like a tightly told story. There was a bit of a "you have to do this to get you where you'll meet X" that felt like lazy writing, so it felt like they were on a railroad at times, but it sort of made sense in the context of events running faster and faster. The human costs were well illustrated, I liked the emotional arcs that the characters went through. There's a novella at the end that chronicles the start of the Rising.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The third volume in Mira Grant's Newsflesh trilogy, about a group of New Media journalists in post-zombie apocalypse America. It's fun stuff, featuring massive conspiracies, mad science, strong-minded and smart-alecky characters, a bit of action, a hint of political commentary, and, of course, zombies. And, like the previous two volumes, for as thick a book it is, it's a remarkably fast read. All in all, an entertaining end to an entertaining series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A very nice wrap up to the story. Conspiracy, zombies and science. What more could you ask for in a book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I don't want to say much - don't want to spoil anything for the vast multitudes who read this. But, if you haven't read Grant's Newsflesh trilogy - go, read. It's a refreshing take on zombies, and will appeal even to those who don't like zombie books. This series is really more of a political thriller - the zombies are just the vehicle that drives the story. And, for those who don't want to read a series until it is complete - Blackout finishes the series. Very highly recommended.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is one of those trilogies I'm sorry to see end. Love the characters, the story, the atmosphere, the twists, and the gut-wrenching emotional roller coaster ride that characterizes these books, particularly the last two. Every book was better than the last and pulled me further in to the story until the main characters seem like old friends that I'm really going to miss now that their story is over.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Zombies, clones, insect vectors, conspiracy, corruption action, news, this book has it all! What a good ending to this series!
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The cloning felt cheap. Really, really cheap. I feel like the author really missed out on an opportunity to explore how grief works and pulled out cloning as a desperate last attempt.

    Which is a shame, because I really enjoyed Feed and (to a lesser extent) Deadline.

    I really wish more books were one-offs.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A great conclusion to an outstanding trilogy, where the zombie apocalypse is just the lens through which human behavior is examined.
    What I most admire about Mira Grant's writing is the capacity to make you *feel* for her characters, and not just the main ones: there is a host of people - good people - surrounding Georgia and Shaun, the protagonist, and readers root for them just as much as they do for the siblings.
    This choral approach is indeed one of the winning sides of these gripping books.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a fitting final installment in the story of the Masons, with lots of wild twists and turns along the way. I loved the ending and thought it did justice to the story that's been building over the course of three books.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Not quite so exciting or surprising as the first two. Stretched my ability to suspend disbelief a bit too much. The ending was a bit dull for me as well. Still fun overall.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A near-perfect ending to a really outstanding series. I was a little disappointed (although not surprised) at the loss of a character I liked, but hey, if you've read the first two books in this series you know you'd better not get TOO attached to anyone in particular. It was so nice to find some books that really just gripped me from beginning to end. I find they're few and far between in recent years. The only downside is that I read them so fast, but I don't want them to be over. :)
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Oh how I'll miss the After the End Times gang!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Satisifying to an interesting zombie trilogy which is really not about zombies at all but about information, journalism and the manipulation of people through fear.