2010
Nominations: Hugo
Rating:
★ ★ ★ ★ –
Feed is a zombie
apocalypse novel. Zombies are trendy subject matter. And, as I’ve said before,
zombies are the only fictional monsters that I’m terrified of enough that I
studiously avoid watching even supposedly great movies and TV shows about them.
But this book is really, really fun, and it’s making me rethink my sweeping
anti-zombie-story stance.
The
story takes place in 2047, three decades after a zombie apocalypse has killed
off much of humanity and changed America into a shuttered, defensive, constantly
vigilant society.
What
happened was that back in 2014, medical researchers developed two separate helper
viruses: the Kellis virus, a cure for the common cold, and the Amberlee virus,
a cure for cancer. Both worked as planned on their respective targets. And,
separately, the two cures would have been miracles for humanity.
But
when the two came into contact with each other, as they
quickly did, they combined to form the highly virulent hybrid
Kellis-Amberlee virus, which not only spread like wildfire through the human
population, but also had the unfortunate effect of causing people to die, and
then after they were dead, to rise again as flesh-eating zombies, mindlessly
seeking live people to gnaw on, until they eventually fell apart and died a
final, permanent death
At
first, most people didn’t really know (or want to believe) that a zombie
apocalypse was really happening. It was George Romero fans and people in the sci-fi
internet community who first recognized it for what it was and developed
strategies for survival. They rapidly discovered that everything about the Living Dead movies was true, and the
films became survival guides. To wit:
- To kill a zombie, you have to shoot it in the head (or otherwise decapitate it)
- A zombie bite will kill you and then cause you to become a zombie
- Recently-turned zombies are faster and slightly more intelligent (and thus more dangerous) than longer-turned zombies
The disproportionate survival of internet users meant that by 2047, the primary
news medium has become internet blogging, which provides the world’s only real
information lifeline. And, accordingly, the main characters in Feed are Georgia and Shaun Mason, brother and sister journalist
bloggers, whose job it is to go out into the still-dangerous parts of the country
to report what is going on to the majority of the population that is too afraid
to leave their homes.
Georgia
is the primary narrator of the story. She is snarky, witty, anti-establishment,
and standoffish to all but her closest friends. She is also entirely devoted to
her brother and to reporting the truth. The fact that she has a
Kellis-Amberlee-related eye condition is a constant challenge for her to
overcome, and a constant tension-raising reminder of the virus.
Georgia’s
brother Shaun is a little wilder; he likes to go into the countryside and poke
zombies with sticks to keep the viewers entertained. But underneath the
daredevil image, he is devoted to his sister and to the team of support people
who work for them, and would never seriously endanger them on purpose.
The
book opens with a dramatic motorcycle zombie chase scene in which Georgia and
Shaun barely escape with their lives. It hooks you in immediately and the
action and/or suspense don’t really let up from there. Moments after returning from the
motorcycle chase, Georgia and Shaun’s news team is invited to cover Senator Peter
Ryman, who is running for president. They are embedded with the Ryman campaign and
are thus in the middle of it all when, after a speaking appearance, the
senator’s entourage is attacked by someone who sabotages the warning systems
and injects some of the supporters and security personnel with the zombifying Kellis-Amberlee
virus. Georgia, Shaun, and the remainder of the senator’s staff are able to
fight off the recently-turned zombies, but then the senator’s home is attacked
in a similar way, and one of his daughters is killed.
At
that point, they all realize that someone is set on seeing the senator dead,
and it becomes a race against time for Georgia and Shaun to figure out who and
why before the election—and before they get killed themselves.
Feed is as fun and easy to read as a Stephen King novel, but with an extra Generation-X
snarkiness that is really appealing. This book is proof that you don’t have to have an
obscure writing style or a zillion ultra-clever intertwining plot lines to make
for an absorbing and fulfilling read. Engaging characters, a well-planned plot
and ending, snappy and funny dialogue, and near-constant suspense will do that
just fine. And although the book reads mostly as a light horror-mystery-action
adventure, there is a large twist at the end that adds a great deal
of seriousness and depth to the plot—and probably kills any chance of it being
made into a Hollywood movie.
