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Deadline (Grant novel)Deadline, published by Orbit Books in 2011, is the second book in the Newsflesh Trilogy, a science fiction/horror series written by Seanan McGuire under the pen name Mira Grant. Deadline is preceded by Feed (2010) and succeeded by Blackout (2012).

Set after a zombie apocalypse and written from the perspective of blog journalist Shaun Mason, Deadline delves deeper into the conspiracy unveiled during the events of Feed (2010), while depicting Shaun's attempts to deal with the loss of his sister Georgia. Deadline delves more into the origins of the zombie-causing virus, and how humanity is responding to it on societal, biological, and psychological levels.

Reviews of Deadline have highlighted the book's improvements over Feed and McGuire's avoidance of the problems normally associated with the middle work of a trilogy. There is particular praise for the characterisation of Shaun and his attempts to deal with the loss of a loved one along with the ever-growing crisis. Deadline was nominated for the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Plot
Deadline is set several decades after the zombie apocalypse, the Rising. Two man-made viruses (cures for cancer and the common cold) combined to form Kellis-Amberlee, a normally beneficial virus that, on the death of any host mammal over 40 pounds (18 kg) (and sometimes spontaneously, before that mammal's death), "goes live" or "amplifies", and turns them into a zombie. Most humans reside in controlled zones, with rigorous blood testing and decontamination used to stop the live KA virus from spreading. Bloggers, in this universe are respected, credentialed journalists (generally divided up as the fact-based "Newsies", the Steve Irwin-inspired "Irwins", and the entertaining "Fictionals") providing news and entertainment. A year after the events of Feed, Shaun Mason is still coming to terms with having had to kill his infected sister, Georgia, and has stepped back from his role as an Irwin to head After the End Times, in an administrative role.

After returning to Oakland, California, after a field excursion with Rebecca "Becks" Atherton (Shaun's replacement as the site's top Irwin), Alaric Kwong (a Newsie), and Dave Novakowski (another Irwin), Shaun receives a visit from Dr. Kelly Connolly, a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) researcher. Kelly had faked her death using a clone after her colleagues, researching the abnormally high death rate among people with "reservoir conditions" (in whom the active virus is present but confined to one part of the host's body, a condition Georgia had while alive), began dying at a suspiciously high rate: actions possibly linked to the conspiracy uncovered in the previous book. As they discuss this, a sizable zombie outbreak occurs; Dave overrides the lockdown so the others can escape but dies when the site is firebombed.

The team flees to Weed, California, where Magdalene "Maggie" Garcia, billionaire pharmaceutical company heiress and head Fictional at After the End Times, lives. They track down a non-CDC laboratory in Portland, Oregon and head there to learn more about Kelly's findings. A rogue researcher, Dr. Shannon Abbey, reveals that reservoir conditions are an immune response to the virus, and those with the conditions may fight off zombification. Shaun and Becks then head to Portland's CDC office, where they escape a zombie outbreak staged to kill them. The group next returns to Maggie's, and Shaun sends the collected data to Mahir Gowda (a British resident and the website's head Newsie), hoping he can find independent verification.

A fortnight later, Mahir arrives unannounced with news that all Kellis-Amberlee substrains were lab-engineered, and people with reservoir conditions are being killed off before each new substrain appears. Armed with this information, Shaun leads Kelly, Becks, and Mahir to the CDC office in Memphis, Tennessee, to break in and confront Kelly's boss, Joseph Wynne. Dr. Wynne reveals he organised the Oakland outbreak to kill Kelly and the bloggers; he is part of a widespread conspiracy to keep people afraid and compliant while the zombie virus is stabilised. In the following struggle, Dr. Wynne is killed, and Kelly is infected with the live virus. She sacrifices herself to distract security while the others escape. The team heads back to California, driving through a hurricane and finding most of the country deserted.

On reaching Maggie's, Shaun and company learn that most of the country has been locked down following massive outbreaks along the Gulf Coast: a Second Rising. Shaun figures out that the cause is not an airborne strain of live virus as most fear, but it is now being transmitted by mosquitoes. He confirms this with Dr. Abbey and receives an offer to join her in Shady Cove, Oregon. Shaun and Mahir organise the rest of the site's staff to propagate what they have learned, before those at Maggie's evacuate. Shortly before reaching Shady Cove, Shaun is attacked and bitten, and is quarantined in Abbey's lab. Despite several tests, he shows no sign of becoming a zombie. The novel's coda reveals that despite her apparent death, Georgia is somehow alive and well in an unknown CDC facility.

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