Georgia Mason, online journalist, must uncover the political plots of Governor David Tate in a reconstructed, post-zompololypse society, with the aid of her brother Shaun. Two disease cures combine to create the Kellis-Amberlee virus, which prevents cancer and the common cold but dooms all humans to eventual reanimation as zombies. Initially society collapses, but eventually the government reasserts itself and the human world is rebuilt, albeit in highly-altered form. The decentralized nature of internet journalism leads to the rise of blogs as a dominant form of reportage.
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Georgia Mason is a political blogger on a popular site; her adopted brother Shaun is a daredevil "Irwin." Gerogia also suffers from a weakend form of Kellis-Amberlee expression that makes her vision bad. The Masons apply to follow the presidential campaign of Republican Senator Ryman, the leading candidate in the primary. The siblings are accepted, and prepare to cover the event, with their compatriot Georgette "Buffy" Meisner. At a campaign stop, the team is attacked by zombies under highly-suspicious circumstances.
Later, at the Republican National Convention, Ryman defeats religious-extremist darling David Tate and Kristen Wagman in the balloting. However, their triumph is tainted by the news that a virus outbreak at the Ryman's horse ranch has cost the life of the eldest Ryman daughter. The Masons find themselves being drawn farther in to the campaign's inner circle, and come to believe Ryman to be a decent and upstanding man. The Masons are also joined by Rick Cousins, a former journalist working for the Wagman campaign who decides to re-enter the reporting game.
In the aftermath of the convention, Tate is announced as the Ryman ticket's VP nod, in an effort to presevre party unity. The Masons distrust Tate, who seems to be a shady operator with little sense of the importance of the government in the control of the zombie plague. While in-transit on the dangerous interstate highway system, the Masons' vehicles are attacked by a sniper and left for dead in the wasteland. Buffy is fatally wounded in the wreak, and reveals that she has been feeding information to a religiously-motivated anti-Ryman group with ties to Tate, due to her Catholic beliefs. Georgia makes an emergency call to the CDC, and the survivors are airlifted to the agency's facilities for testing.
The Masons continue to accumulate evidence of Tate's nefarious deeds. When Georgia confronts Ryman about the evidence at a campaign stop, she is banned from the campaign. As they leave, a large-scale zombie attack occurs, and in the melee, Georgia is shot with a dart containing concentrated virus, dooming her to zombification. Georgia, Shaun, and Rick assemble their evidence, and manage to post one final blog detailing Tate's involvement with shady doings, including the ranch incident. As Georgia begins to turn, Shaun is forced to execute his own sister.
Shaun confronts Tate as the politicians shelter from the outbreak. Tate reveals that he is only one head of a larger plot. He injects himself with Kellis-Amberlee virus, and Shaun shoots him. The novel ends with the blog team dedicated to continuing to follow the leads and find the true culprits.
Best part of story, including ending:
Grant is better at building a world than telling a story; her prose is tepid, but the depth of her constructed post-apocalyptic society is engaging.
Best scene in story:
The final confrontation with Tate caps off the book nicely.
Opinion about the main character:
Georgia's intellect and cynicism makes her a fun protagonist, mostly, although she borders on precocious at time.