Feed by Mira Grant

The basics

Title: Feed

Author:

Series: Newsflesh #1

- Feed (April 2010)
- Deadline (June 2011)
- Blackout (January 2012)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED. Now, twenty years after the Rising, bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives - the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will get out, even if it kills them.

Read a full summary of Feed by Mira Grant below. If you can’t remember what happened in Feed and you need a refresher, then you’re in the right place.

in short

Georgia and her adoptive brother Shaun are journalist/bloggers who are chosen to cover the presidential campaign. Something naughty is going on, and Governor Tate is behind it. After two outbreaks in Eakly and on the Rymans’ horse ranch, Georgia find out about Tate. Tate arranges to have the group’s car tyres shot, which results in Buffy dying. Which is rude, because Buffy was giving him information. There’s another outbreak just as Georgia is about to tell Senator Ryman about her findings, which results in Georgia being shot with a dart containing the virus, and then Shaun having to kill her. Shaun later avenges his sister, but that doesn’t real help because SHE’S DEAD AND EVERYTHING IS TERRIBLE.

what happened in Feed?

  • Georgia and Shaun are out in a Level 6 zone. Shaun starts to provoke a zombie when a bunch of other ones come along. Since zombies grow more and more intelligent in packs, these ones are pretty smart. They give chase, but Georgia and Shaun escape on the motorcycle and go back to the van, where Buffy has been waiting.
  • Georgia and Shaun drop Buffy off and return home, where they are checked for the virus and disinfected. Georgia sees that they have an email regarding a job they had applied for. They have been accepted to follow Senator Ryman’s presidential campaign as journalists, meaning their blogging career has finally taken off.
  • Their mother and father take them out to dinner to celebrate, which is really just a publicity stunt because their mother and father are also into blogging and stuff.
  • Now would be the time to mention some background information, I guess.
    • Georgia and Shaun were adopted. Their adoptive parents’ son was killed by a zombie dog – the first incident of such a thing – back when the zombies were a new thing. Georgia and Shaun were adopted for publicity and rankings, and there seems to be very little emotional tether between them and their parents.
    • The zombies came about because some guy called Kellis tried to cure the common cold. And he did, except at the same time other scientists were curing cancer. They cured a girl called Amanda Amberlee, who later died in a car accident not related to zombies at all, because this was before the zombie outbreak. Some people stole Kellis’ cure from the labs, and distributed it. It mixed with the Amberlee cancer cure, which resulted in some sort of a mutation and caused people (all mammals over forty pounds) to turn into zombies.
  • Georgia, Shaun and Buffy meet Senator Ryman. He seems to be nice, and he’s happy for them to report everything, as long as they don’t take photos of his wife, Emily. Emily runs a horse ranch, which is dangerous because horses can go through amplification (turn into zombies).
  • Senator Ryman holds a conference of some sort, and it goes really well. He answers a question about the Rapture which wins a lot of people over. After the conference, zombies break in to the area and there’s chaos. Shaun and Georgia go out to record it, and almost get attacked. They kill a bunch of zombies and are then rescued by soldiers. Later on they review footage, and see that one woman was shot in the kneecap, which suggests humans were involved. Buffy looks at the security around the perimeter and discovers that wires were cut to allow the zombies to get in undetected.
  • The next big event is the disaster at the Rymans’ ranch. There was some sort of outbreak that ended with Senator Ryman’s daughter, Rebecca, being killed, along with her grandparents.
  • Georgia, Shaun, and a new guy called Rick go to investigate and report on the incident. They look around the horse ranch, and go to the place where the first horse – a completely healthy horse – turned zombie. They discover a syringe filled with the Kellis-Amberlee virus, so once again humans are involved. Soldiers arrive and tell them to leave. Rick adopts a stray cat.
  • Governor Tate tells Georgia and co. that he doesn’t want them reporting the campaign for Ryman any more. Emily Ryman goes all BAMF on him and tells him to STFU. She tells Georgia that they are welcome to continue on with the reporting.
  • On the road just outside of Memphis, someone shoots out the tyres on the reporters’ vehicles. Georgia goes crashing into the side of the road and falls off her bike. She calls Shaun, who tells her to stay where she is. He finds her, and they find Rick, who is fine. They go to find Buffy, who was riding with her current boyfriend. Unfortunately, they find that said boyfriend died from the impact and bit Buffy’s arm. Buffy, since she is now dying, tells Georgia and Shaun that she shared information with some people, who were probably behind the zombie attacks. Georgia shoots Buffy as she starts to turn.
  • Georgia, Shaun, and Rick are taken to a government facility for tests, and are declared dead because someone reported them so. Lovely.
  • Georgia holds a conference with the employees of the blog. She asks if they want to leave or continue working with them. Andrea is the first to leave. Many others follow. Georgia fires Mahir because it’s too dangerous for him to continue working for them. She suggests he leaves for Ireland since he could well be seen as a terrorist against the United States.
  • Georgia watches a video from Buffy that was to be watched in the event of her death. She explains what happened, and that she was sorry for giving the bag guys information.
  • Georgia and Shaun hear Governor Tate talk about how he was behind what happened at Eakley and the ranch, and probably also the incident on the road as well which resulted in Buffy’s death.
  • They go to tell Senator Ryman while he’s at a formal event, but he gets angry and revokes their press passes. They have to leave.
  • They go to their trailers, where Rick finds his pet cat dead. The trailers blow up, and the trio run for the van. They get inside, and Georgia realises she’s been hit by a dart.

how did Feed end?

Georgia tells them to break out the Apple XH-237 kit so they can test her for infection. This is the expensive kit that is only to be used for the real deal. The lights go red. They estimate that they have less than twenty minutes before Georgia turns. She send Rick away to upload all the data to the site so it will go public. Georgia writes one last blog post and then Shaun shoots her.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shaun rehires Mahir, which is awesome because I like him. Then Shaun goes to get revenge on Tate. He confronts him in front of the Rymans. Tate grabs Emily Ryman, and threatens to inject her, but he injects himself instead. Shaun shoots him.
The book ends with Mahir flying over for Georgia’s funeral. Rick is the new VP, and Senator Ryman is still running for president. Shaun has moved out of his and Georgia’s parents house, because they’re a couple of idiots who used their adoptive children as a publicity stunt.

anything else

The Rising: The zombie apocalypse that happened in the summer of 2014
Kellis-Amberlee: The virus
Mason’s Law: A thing that they’re trying to pass which prevents people from keeping pets, because the Masons’ son was killed by a zombie dog.
To amplify: To turn into a zombie
Newsies: Fact-based reporters (Georgia)
Irwins: The reporters and bloggers who like to poke things with sticks (Shaun)
Fictionals: The fiction writers (Buffy)

This is a full plot summary of what happened in Feed by Mira Grant. Check out our recap list for more recaps. If you can’t find what you need, you can request a recap from us!

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