The King of Plagues

The Joe Ledger Novels, Book 3

By: Jonathan Maberry

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Length: 16 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

Saturday, 0911 hours — A blast rocks a London hospital and thousands are dead or injured.

1009 hours — Joe Ledger arrives on scene to investigate. The horror is unlike anything he has ever seen.

Compelled by grief and rage, Ledger rejoins the Department of Military Sciences, and within hours he's attacked by a hit team of assassins and sent on a suicide mission into a viral hot zone during an Ebola outbreak.

Soon Ledger and the DMS begin tearing down the veils of deception to uncover a vast and powerful secret society using weaponized versions of the Ten Plagues of Egypt to destabilize world economies and profit from the resulting chaos. Millions will die unless Ledger meets this powerful new enemy on its own terms as he fights terror with terror.

Take another thrill ride with Joe Ledger.

©2011 Jonathan Maberry (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A fast-paced, brilliantly written novel.” (Brad Thor)

More, please!

Top notch fiction. Maberry is my new addiction! The narrator is superb!

Brings a story arc to the bad guys

The King of Plagues brings back some baddies from a prior book as the Department of Military Sciences discovers the existence of the Seven Kings. They are a powerful cabal bent on causing chaos throughout the world and profiting from it. The Seven Kings use their knowledge of the upcoming chaos they will cause to make money on various fronts as wars and catastrophes impact the world markets. Ruled over by "The Goddess" there are seven members of the cabal each with an adviser who acts as their "conscience." It turns out that they have a vacancy and are in need of a new King of Plagues.

The DMS lost a major member at the end of The Dragon Factory and the impact of that loss is evident as Joe Ledger is still on a leave of absence when this one starts. Joe is grief stricken and trying to find a way to cope with yet another loss in his life and he has been off active duty for a while. Of course a new threat causes Mr Church to coax Joe back into action and when he returns Joe brings along a new companion, Ghost. Ghost is a white German Shepard who is trained in many capacities including bomb sniffing and combat. Ghost is also an excellent judge of character and plays a key role as Joe's new partner. Echo team also has also added some new members while Joe was gone, including John Smith, the best sniper in the world. John's code name is Chatterbox, since he barely talks at all, but when he brings down the Hammer of God on someone he never misses. Circe O'Tree is another new character introduced who brings her skill set over to the DMS as a terrorism expert.

A terrorist attack in a London hospital kicks things off as the Seven Kings start to implement a new wave of chaos involving their new King of Plagues. By coercing individuals that work in key locations around the world the Seven Kings are recreating a modern version of the Ten Plagues from the Bible. These attacks are perpetrated by ordinary people in vital roles at these key locations and this combined with social media manipulation from The Goddess starts to position the Seven Kings as a powerful force to be reckoned with. However, another rival cabal starts feeding information on the activities of the Seven Kings to the DMS and Joe and team find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place. It starts to become obvious that the DMS is being used as a tool for one rival to take down another but they can't ignore the threats being orchestrated by the Seven Kings and they must stop them at all costs.

Now that the bad guys are starting to have a story arc of their own the series is gathering some momentum as key players on various points of the moral compass vie to gain the upper hand. Mr. Church and Aunt Sally, the two key leaders of the DMS, clearly have a nebulous past of their own and every bad guy that shows up knows about them and fears what they are capable of. This adds a nice layer to the overall series and makes it more engaging than just Joe Ledger and Echo team going around shooting people.

Ray Porter delivers another excellent narration and I continue to march forward in the series. It isn't the greatest series ever but it is entertaining and a nice change of pace within the genre. I do enjoy the random pop culture references made throughout each book and often chuckle when Ledger compares things in his "real world" to other fictional worlds.

WOW They just keep up the action and a great story

Where does The King of Plagues rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Just as much action as any of them with a great cast of characters As Good as Reacher

What was one of the most memorable moments of The King of Plagues?

When we found out about Mr Church's past Plus when Toys made a new ally

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

On The same level we enjoyed it a group of truckers who like to be entertained while on the road Keep up the good work

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

Yes very emotional at the lab with the wife and son infected

Any additional comments?

Both writer and reader are at the top of their game Look forward to reading more of these

Not without flaws

Any additional comments?

Overall enjoyable, but not without flaws.

1. Joe Ledger continues on the path of being the ultimate Mary Sue. A former normal police officer who had an unremarkable military career... who can be plugged immediately into the top special forces team in the world, has an analytical mind second only to Church, is one of the best martial artists in the world, and speaks multiple languages fluidly? Erm, okay. Don't forget that his dog is trained as a bomb dog. And a corpse dog. And an attack dog. It's ridiculous. Putting that aside...

2. The politics are indeed a little over the top in this one.

3. Fun fact: this book has a character that we only hear called by a nickname, and his true identity is supposed to be a big shocking reveal. Unfortunately, in the first prints of the book, they gave away his real identity on accident. In the audiobook, that is corrected... but the narrator uses the same voice. So it still gives it away. It's like a mystery that refuses to stay buried.

Exceptional story

So much depth in the characters. Narrator is the best transitioning to each character voice!

Great story!

Great books can't wait to hear more!! Joe is a cop we need today right.

Great book and superb performance by Ray Porter

Any additional comments?

The story was good but Ray Porter made it great. He has several characters and his inflexions are on the mark.

Times are Tough for Joe

I love this series. It is thrilling and action packed. It tides me over until the next Jim Butcher Dresden installment.

Joe is at it again

What made the experience of listening to The King of Plagues the most enjoyable?

Bringing the vilians of the last book back in play

What was one of the most memorable moments of The King of Plagues?

Church's daughter

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

As great as the others

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

Yes

Any additional comments?

None

Great adventure

If you could sum up The King of Plagues in three words, what would they be?

If you like adventure, thriller and mysteries this is the book for you. All of Jonathan Maberrys, Joe Ledger books are great. I hope he continues with this series.

What did you like best about this story?

Fast moving, funny and a good story line.