Flash forward to 2014 and a young girl named Amberlee was cured of leukemia, surprisingly via a newly created virus, at about the same time as a Dr Kellis created a successful rhinovirus strain to cure the common cold. Naturally both viruses combined in the wild to form a new virus with an unwanted side effect. Colds and Cancer may be a thing of the past but the dead are re-animating with a hunger for the flesh of the living!

One of the side effects of a war against the living dead, both human and animal, was that traditional news media services failed in their duty to report the outbreak of hostilities to the American public in time, thus breaking a sacred bond and leading to the rise of bloggers as a preferred news source.

Twenty years after the outbreak blogger Georgia "George" Mason, her brother Shaun, and their technical guru Georgette "Buffy" Mesonnier, receive the break of a life time when they are selected to cover the Presidential election campaign of Senator Peter Ryman, a Republican. Unfortunately the campaign is marred by a series of zombie attacks, who is behind the attacks and what is the agenda?

Mira Grant's, yes Mira is a pen name, novel Feed is one of the new breed of zombie tales. While we have a bunch of flesh eating ghouls rampaging about the book, the real focus is on a political intrigue. A who dunnit if you like. Someone is out to derail Senator Ryman's run for the Presidency and it's up to George and team to uncover the reasons behind the plot or pretty much die in the attempt. Of course with zombies ever present that's going to be a hell of a lot more difficult than you would normally expect.

The one thing that will strike you immediatly about Feed is just how good a Writer Mira Grant is. The prose flows from the page in the modern U.S style, with no breaks from the pace and flow of the writing to take you out of things. While the underlying idea is foreign to local readers, we never trust our news media at the best of times, the use of an undead plague to further individual agendas is certainly a concept that sits well in the dark genre. Grant's ability to mix in political intrigue with undead tropes is a solid approach to plotting that will have even the most cynical reader taking note and nodding their head in approval.

I had a lot of fun with this book, which is just as well as it runs to a lurching 560 odd pages of mayhem, and was generally surprised at just how well written it was. Okay the whole media thing isn't a Down Under perspective but I could get with the program there and go with the flow. I have seen the future of the zombie novel folks, and am now simply dying to get my hands on the next novel. Wonder if Mira Grant has thought about a sequel or another novel set in her undead world?

If you like a good horror novel to cuddle up with on a stormy night then I would suggest giving Feed a go, nice use of pun in the title, the book is going to amply pay back your time in country and will surprise you with some of the twists and turns. Mira Grant has visualised a believable post apocalyptic world and then ventured away from the tried and trite "survivors in a farm house" approach, and gone with something a whole lot more interesting for our benefit. Full recommendation, grab yourself a copy today, you will thank me as the dust settles and you reach page last.

Feed is being unleashed in Australia by Hachette, official site right here. Check it out and then go grab yourself a copy of this exciting entry in the zombie sub-genre.