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)

Must Read

I generally am not a huge fan of reading or participating in the act of reading books but this book kept me truly captivated throughout and I strongly recommend

exactly what I was looking for

Excellent. Hard to stop listening. Great mix of humor and the idea of this being something that could really happen is absolutely terrifying. highly suggested!!

wow, an actual intelligently written zombie novel

I was expecting the typical generic cookie cutter zombie novel buy the reviews were very good. gave it a chance. Soooooo glad I did.

Great story and great narration!

I really enjoyed this story. Joe Ledger is my kind of hero! Ray Porter's narration is always excellent. I'll be continuing with this series.

Excitingly Good!

Loved this audio book. A little of everything. Intrigue and thriller. Kept me on the edge of my seat!

Awesome

what can i say the story was just simply awesome and it got me hooked from beginning to end

Drop Dead and get back up great.

While others are thinking about what to do, Joe Ledger is getting it done. If you take a second to think, Joe will kick your ass, he pulls no punches, he is balls out all the way.

The book is funnier then a John Scalzi novel, Scarier then Stephen King and weirder then Dean Koontz.

The Department of Military Science, seems to be the action side of the X-Files. It is run by Mr Church, but who is Mr. Church? People used to say Who is John Gault, but now they will be saying Who is Mr. Church?

Don't get me wrong this is no comic book fluff, this is well-written stuff. Some say it is not literature, but I dare you to say that in front of John Maberry. He even knows how to use chapters, something that seems to confuse most modern Science Fiction writers.

This is the best book I have listened to since I started listening and that is hundreds of books.

Ray Porter does an excellent, excellent job. If I could give Seven Stars I would give it to him.

My vote for narrator of the year.

This book is (at the time of this review) the first of three books in "Joe Ledger" series. For fellow fans of Lee Child, Joe Ledger can be described as Jack Reacher, with less of a vigilante bend, and far more high tech toys.

This is not, in my opinion, a bad thing.

In my experience it's rare to find a "hero" of a thriller that still expresses disbelief and horror at the things he sees and does, and I found it refreshing. The pace was very good, and the short chapters and constant countdown kept it moving along swimmingly. I appreciated that the various villains had varying levels of "evilness", and the humor inserted regularly kept me chuckling to myself.

The real hero of these books (both this and the following two in the series, which I read in quick succession) was Ray Porter, the narrator. He's absolutely amazing in his delivery, and his performance alone makes this book more than worthwhile. It really amazed me. He lent a depth to the character that really put the book on a whole other level.

I recommend this book, and overall I recommend the following two books as well.

Pretty Good

What did you like best about Patient Zero? What did you like least?

I liked the premise of the story. The different settings & characters at play all seemed believable. What I like least is how the build up for the lead character Joe Ledger painted him as this unrelenting killer, this all time, unfeeling kick butt of a guy. This dude turned out to be the biggest wus ever. He hesitated when having to shoot children that were 'undead' & trying to kill him - musing that 'it shouldn't be this way'. Feeling sorry for everyone around him & doubting his life choices while he should be KICKIN BUTT - I don't want to hear about his FEELINGS. What happened to great build up about this untouchable man? I guess he moved on to a different story. At what I like least is that HE FALLS IN LOVE! Give me a break. While fighting off the undead he's thinking about some chick. 'I wonder if she's ok. I don't want to lose her'. Blah blah blah. How friggin sickening. Ledgers whole persona just pissed me off. And the sneak peak it gave into the next book in this saga is that Ledger & this chick will lead together - oh brother! More of Mr. Wus & his feelings. I hate it when authors introduce chicks that become a 'love interest'. If Mayberry wanted to write a love story this wasn't the place to do it.

Has Patient Zero turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, I've read some other zombie books that I like very much.

Which scene was your favorite?

All the scenes that had to do w/ Mr. Church. He never wavered, he remained KICK BUTT. He remained mysterious & didn't sit down to have a friggin heart to heart with his team. He stayed true & was the only character I really liked.

Did Patient Zero inspire you to do anything?

Like what? Protect myself against a plague that turns people into zombies? No.

Any additional comments?

I'm reluctant to read anymore of this series because I know Ledger is a wus & now he's in love. Gag me with a spoon.

Poorly written

Any additional comments?

The book is a quasi-original take on the zombie genre, but it's inundated with poorly drawn stereotypes, token characters, and shallow relationships. The grammar is beyond horrendous and it's attempts at using Arabic are laughable. I wouldn't recommend wasting your money.