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)

Don't write in the 1st person as the hero...

I want to like this. I really do. I like the premise and it is well performed.. but I'm really struggling with the protagonist talking in the first person. He's not the narrator of others deeds, but the hero of the series. It feels like one of my own testosterone fueled day dreams (e.g. - where I'm the hero, rockstar, sage, star of the show, etc..) It gets old quick and it's hard to get invested from the point of view of "I said", "I did", "I knew" instead of "He said", "He did", "He knew". Sometimes Joe thinks and acts like me and it works great. Then sometimes he doesn't and when he doesn't from the 1st person it pops me out of the story. That just doesn't work.

I'm a few hours in, but I had to put this down for awhile. I switched to The Hunter From The Woods. The difference was night and day. Story yanked me in to it and nothing has popped me out. It so clearly illustrates that essential and fundamental difference between telling a story about a group of characters and telling yourself a story about yourself.. The former works SO much better for the reader (listener).

Best 99 cents ever

I got this book on one of those deals where you can get books for 99 cents. I'd never heard of the author or narrator and I'm not really a zombie story fan (or wasn't until I listened to this book!). The book sat in my library for a couple of months. After I finally listened to it I kicked myself for not listening sooner! I LOVE the story - funny, exciting, down to earth, and realistic (except, maybe, the zombies).

Joe Ledger is, seriously, the best character ever written in the thriller setting I have every read. Out of hundreds of books. my only complaint is the books aren't longer - I want more!

Maberry tells a superb tale that has had me laughing and crying by turns. I've since listened to everything he's written and have pre-ordered the next book without a doubt about spending the credit.

And Ray Porter - a totally amazing narrator. By far my favorite. You can tell who the characters are even when the writing doesn't identify them. His voice, inflection, and interpretation are spot on. I have listened to other books specifically because Ray is the narrator.

Eh...

The narration by Ray Porter is great! He did an excellent job creating the characters and bringing them to life! The story however was only ok.
I love apocalyptic zombie tales! But like many others, Mayberry fills this with way too much bravado, machismo, and ball scratching testosterone. There always seems to be this gifted warrior underdog that climbs out of the trenches to save the day with a sarcastic crooked smile, and self aggrandizing swagger. It’s been done WAY too much, and gets really old. It’s like your listening to the braggadocios tales of greatness of a serious air soft gun enthusiast after a weekend of LARP like, make believe, moments of greatness, between him and 10 of his closest misfit buddies.
Just once, I would appreciate a realistic, down to earth hero. Ya, know... without the special forces skills, ninja like reflexes, and self taught warrior capabilities. Sigh!!!
Just sayin’!

Why didn't I know about this author??

What was one of the most memorable moments of Patient Zero?

The action was very well described. It moved the story along very well.

Have you listened to any of Ray Porter’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Ray Porter does a great job as always.

Who was the most memorable character of Patient Zero and why?

The main character as we learn about him as time goes on.

Any additional comments?

The volume of this recording varies so I had to either turn up the sound or turn it down from chapter to chapter.

I Hate the Zombie Genre but Loved this Book

Jonathan Maberry’s writes so well and the narrator that performs the accents and voices of the characters so skillfully that I was fully engaged from start to finish. I’d like to add that there for me personally the genre’s of movies, television shows and print/audio books sometimes wear out a theme to the point that I cannot bear to read, watch or listen to anything about zombies, dragons or vampires without feeling like I have been forced to eat the same meal of peanut butter on stale bread every days for years. There have been a few new exceptions to the Vampire theme that present a unique new take or use the classic elements with such skill and craftsmanship that I can thoroughly enjoy them. Jonathan Maberry’s book are so well written and performed I think if he wrote technical manuals I would still enjoy them.

Leery

I was leery about getting a zombie book, but I was very pleasantly surprised. Great story and performance. Maberry created some great characters and the dialogue was fantastic. The performance by Ray Porter top notch.

Artist

Jonathan Maberry is a true artist of literature to the doors of artful writing. Well done to a greatly enjoyable read.

Superior performance of a great story

I am not a big fan of the zombie apocalypse genre but was drawn to this series by reviews of the performance of Ray Porter. I am an avid listener to audio books, having over 200 in my personal library. In this great performance, Mr. Porter does a superb job bringing Joe Ledger and his cast of supporting characters to life. His excellent performance is on par with the likes of Scott Brick, Armond Schultz, and Simon Vance. The action is fast paced, the story is believable and while the zombies are certainly munching their way through the entire book, the real storyline is about the main character, Joe Ledger, and his small team of misfits and geeks who are up against an ingenious plan to end the world as we know it. I am in the middle of book two and Joe is once again up against a plan to kill millions. I highly recommend this series and look forward do Ray Porter's excellent reading of the remaining titles.

Awesome

Love the Joe Ledger books, Maberry does a great job of making this feel like it could easily be a real thing and Ray porter does a great job of portraying the people in the book. Two thumbs up

This book is what got me hooked on Joe Ledger!

I don't know if I could listen to the Joe Ledger books if Ray Porter didn't do the narration. He is awesome! I mean I would laugh out loud listening to this book at work. I am so ready for a Joe Ledger series of movies!