• Patient Zero

  • The Joe Ledger Novels, Book 1
  • By: Jonathan Maberry
  • Narrated by: Ray Porter
  • Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (17,052 ratings)

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Patient Zero  By  cover art

Patient Zero

By: Jonathan Maberry
Narrated by: Ray Porter
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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)

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What listeners say about Patient Zero

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    10,490
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    4,499
  • 3 Stars
    1,410
  • 2 Stars
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Performance
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Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    9,361
  • 4 Stars
    4,016
  • 3 Stars
    1,424
  • 2 Stars
    391
  • 1 Stars
    269

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good story, well told. Worth a credit

I liked it, I have used credits on better books tho. I would not use a bunch of credits for the series

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Chilling...

I loved the voice of the Narrator, Ray Porter, and I loved the story itself. Just thinking about something like this actually happening in today's world gives me chills.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Surprisingly Great Book

I was shocked at how much I love this book. I'm not a zombie book fan but this one was thoroughly engaging and very well done, I highly recommend it

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

GREAT Story!

What did you love best about Patient Zero?

Joe Ledger

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes, great story and narration.

What about Ray Porter???s performance did you like?

He is my new best friend.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Made me laugh (at the right times)

Any additional comments?

Loving Joe Ledger, maximus badassisness for sire!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Loved Ray Porter

What a great narrator! I never imagined listening to a zombie book as they do nothing for me. This book is more military/police/special ops/terrorist than zombie. Very cool story I will be listening to next in series for sure.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Don't let the cover art fool you!

I almost passed by this book because of the cover art (I know, I know... don't judge a book by it's cover), but after reading some other reviews I decided to give it a try and was not disappointed.

This fast paced story kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I loved the character development and the sarcastic attitude of the main character provides a lightness to the otherwise more serious story line.

Ray Porter does an incredible job of narrating though out the book.

This is definitely worth the listen!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome story, will be getting the rest of the series!

Great and gripping supernatural/cop story....I loved this book!
The author in his writings drew me in, it felt like I was a witness to the story

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Really Great Book

This book keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Very good book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

amazingly twisted

this story is amazing, listened to it 3 times this week! I will definitely recommend this series to anyone

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Pretty good.

The book was read well, and the characters well written. it didn't have as much action as I preferred, but I will probably get other books in this series.

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