A prequel to Feed on ebook only, I couldn't resist reading Countdown.
The wait for Blackout is killing me. I'll do anything to ease the pain.

The good news is that Countdown was a quick, fun read for anyone that already loves the series. Meeting the people whose names we've heard throughout the series...The Mason family (especially Phillip) Amanda Amberlee, Dr. Kellis, the Mayday Army...all were such a treat to get to know. Reading about the melding of these two virus's and the effect they had on the world as it happened was delicious. I loved it.
The writing was spare - yet stylistically similar enough to Feed and Deadline that I was hooked from the first page on. Fans of the series that haven't read this little filler yet should do so ASAP.

The bad news is that as a stand-alone novella, it was only so-so. I can't imagine anyone reading this that wasn't already a Newsflesh fan. I wouldn't recommend it to someone to hook them. It wasn't that kind of story.

Honestly, though - who cares. This piece was written for the fans - and I'm a fan. Thanks, Mira Grant. Now push up the release of Blackout already, will you?