• 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
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    10,490
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    269

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great book ... read

I have listened to many books about walkers and zombies and give this book high praise. Had me listening till early in the morning many days.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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On your seat action

I felt like I was watching an action film in my head ! Narrator was excellent. This is a real thriller. There were moments I was angry at some of the stupidity, but that is good in a way since it means I was engrossed in the story.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic!

Mission Impossible meets The walking Dead meets Zero Dark Thirty. Action packed and smart. Will keep you entertained

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Excelent !

I love this series. It is none stop action ! Ive heard all the books in this series and am never disappointed!

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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 but...

I really enjoyed the story. Save the world with violence and death.

Pro — great concept, done with original thoughts and process.

Cons- characters should have been more developed
Once you are introduced to the characters they don’t seem to grow and expand with circumstance.


I did enjoy the books however, a solid four.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Gripping!! Great reading

Loved this reading. Highly recommend this novel if you are a fan of this genre. One of the very best.

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My goodness...

secret government agencies, cool gadgets and zombies! This book was utterly cool. I couldn't stop listening.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

GREAT ACTION THRILLER/SUSPENSE/HORROR

What did you like best about this story?

It's not the typical "Horror" story in which the main characters just try their best to get out of the zombies' way and stay alive, etc...the usual cliche..this one has lots of action and lots of suspense and a pretty good story line. I was really surprised!

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

Zombie Fix

As a skeptic, I am ashamed of my zombie fixation. I know that the human body is a machine, and once it is broken, it will not not come back to life. There is no scientific principle that would permit the existence of zombies, but here I am listening to yet another zombie book and liking it.

Joe Ledger is a badass. The novel is well written and the kept my attention all of the way through. I thought the narrator reproduced the "Joe Ledger Voice" that I envisioned well.

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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

Reminds me of Mitch Rap with a funnier mouth.

Joe Ledger is a lot like Mitch Rap with more of a mouth. Add in a lot of science fact and fiction and this is what you get. I love it!!

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