Patient Zero

The Joe Ledger Novels, Book 1

By: Jonathan Maberry

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

From multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning author Jonathan Maberry comes a major new thriller that combines the best of the New York Times best-selling books World War Z by Max Brooks and James Rollins’ Sigma Force Series to kick off the start of a new series featuring Joe Ledger and the Department of Military Sciences.

When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week there’s either something wrong with your world or something wrong with your skills - and there’s nothing wrong with Joe Ledger’s skills. And that’s both a good and a bad thing. It’s good because he’s a Baltimore detective who has just been secretly recruited by the government to lead a new task force created to deal with the problems that Homeland Security can’t handle. This rapid-response group is called the Department of Military Sciences, or the DMS for short. It’s bad because his first mission is to help stop a group of terrorists from releasing a dreadful bioweapon that can turn ordinary people into zombies. The fate of the world hangs in the balance.

Jonathan Maberry is the New York Times best-selling and multiple Bram Stoker Award–winning author of Ghost Road Blues, the first of a trilogy of thrillers with a supernatural bite. A professional writer and writing teacher, he has sold more than 1.000 articles, 17 nonfiction books, six novels, and two plays.

©2009 Jonathan Maberry (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Brilliant, shocking, horrifying, it puts the terror back in terrorist.” (James Rollins, New York Times best-selling author)

“Plenty of man-to-zombie combat, a team traitor and a doomsday scenario add up to a fast and furious read.” ( Publishers Weekly)

"Jonathan Maberry has found a delightful voice for this adventure of Joe Ledger and his crew: while the action is heated, violent, and furious, the writing remains cool, steady, and low-key, framing all the wildness and exuberance in a calm rationality (given an almost comic edge) that renders it as palatable as your favorite flavor of ice cream." (Peter Straub)

Unexpectedly great book.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, I would recommend this book to a friend. The plot was never boring and kept me hooked cover to cover. Ray Porter did a great job acting out the different characters and really brought this book to life for me. I also like that Jonathan Maberry did the scientific research and kept those aspects accurate even though this is a work of fiction,

What other book might you compare Patient Zero to and why?

Well, it's kind of like every other Zombie oriented book. There is a "disease" that could wipe mankind off the map that was made by man himself for one reason or another and we can't let it get out, you know? But Mr. Maberry did a great job adding in some plot twists and even a pretty cool twist on the disease itself, which is why I enjoyed this book as much as I did. That's what separates it from others like it.

Which scene was your favorite?

I enjoyed the operation at the warehouse where a bunch of subjects were being tested. The scene where the A/C units cut out and the subsequent heating activates the test subjects. That was pretty cool.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It's hard for me to find time for the whole "one sitting" gig, but I definitely listened every chance I got until it was finished.

Any additional comments?

Kudos to Ray Porter for being a great performer. I've heard him in other works such as "The Fold" or "14". Both of those works were written by Peter Clines, and I was kind of on the fence about those books. Listening to a different author's work performed by Mr. Porter really sold me on his ability. Thanks for the great performance!

Kept me listening and glad I did

I am new to audio books . This is the 5th I have finished . THE STAND being the first at 48 hours ! Anyway , great story . Visual , funny , and compelling . Not rocket science but still had some well described scientific aspects to the story. All in all . Pretty cool .

Cliched but enjoyable

This book was solid and exactly what you'd expect. Every character felt like an archetype, there weren't many surprises, and it was just plain okay.

If you like the genre this might be a good listen, but it wasnt anything special unfortunately.

Fun, not deep, just fun - worth it

It's worth listening to, it's not really a zombie book, it's more of a Tom Clancy-esque military book where terrorists use zombie-like diseases. If you're looking for World War Z, or 28 days later, or Dawn of the dead, this isn't it. If you want something a bit less cerebral and more just simple "fun" than a Tom Clancy book with some zombie elements in it, it's worth it. The audio performance is top notch throughout.

really. liking this...

I have found a new series to enjoy, I've bought the second book and will get the rest.

Loved it!

Loved the book. Kept my interest throughout! Characters were great and the story was grippung and terrifying.

Effing awesome!!!

I absolutely LOVED this book. The story, the action, the humor, and the narration could not have been better. This is now one of my top 3 books...ever!!

excellent book, you should buy.

this is a nice spin on the standard zombie genre and is worth a read.

Best and most possible zombie scenario

Absolutely fantastic research conducted to deliver a realistic portrayal of special operations, police work, and forensics in a fictional book ever. The amount of scientific and medical accuracy made the book 100% believable. This is my favorite book of all time and I hope to see it as a movie some day.

loved it!

superbly written. Expertly narrated. I loved every minute of listening to this book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good thriller based in fact.