• The King of Plagues

  • The Joe Ledger Novels, Book 3
  • By: Jonathan Maberry
  • Narrated by: Ray Porter
  • Length: 16 hrs and 7 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (7,372 ratings)

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The King of Plagues  By  cover art

The King of Plagues

By: Jonathan Maberry
Narrated by: Ray Porter
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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)

What listeners say about The King of Plagues

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

Joe Ledger ROCKS!

I cannot choose which is my favorite Joe Ledger book, I have tried by listening to them each several times. Jonathan Maberry is one of the most talented writers I have ever had the pleasure of reading. His books are smart, creepy, and will pull you into the world in which his characters dwell. The King of Plagues is the third part of the Joe Ledger trilogy, My advice is start the book when you have plenty of time to listen, because once you start you will not be able to stop.

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39 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

THIS ISN'T A SODDEN COMIC BOOK

IF YOU GO TO AMBUSH SOMEONE DON'T MAKE A SPEECH FIRST.
Keep in mind that as I criticize this book that I have already given it four stars for story and overall. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME SOMEONE FALLING IN LOVE LISTENED TO REASON. This is book number three and it is not as good as book number two, which was no where near as good as book number one "Patient Zero". Though this is not a comic book it does come dangerously close. The bad guys are Chaos (the same bad guys in Get Smart). At over 16 hours I thought the book was too long. The same thing that happens to most popular authors, seems to be happening to Maberry. His writing is getting longer as he says less. Editors keep their mouths shut, so as not to get fired. This would have been a little better at ten or twelve hours. There are places that go extremely flat and even Ray Porter sounds bored.

UGLY WINDS BLEW ACROSS THE DARKNESS OF MY INNER LANDSCAPE.
Keep in mind the above sentence was said in total seriousness. Joe Ledger is becoming a real softy. He is even more touchie feelie and introspective in this book then number 2. Diane Rowland's Zombie character Angel has a bigger set of balls then Joe now. Don't get me started on how Maberry is trying to turn this into a super politically correct novel. The speeches on how there are lots of good Moslems etc... are endless. The series has been optioned for a TV series, so Joe has to clean up his act. The mileage they get out of Joe's girlfriend's death in book two is unbelievable, even while they set up his next girlfriend.

WHAT IS EVIL?
IT IS WHAT THE LOSERS CALL THE WINNERS.
Having said all I have said this book is worth your credit. It is still better then most books out there. It has some good action and plenty of great macho lines. I enjoyed it and will be getting the next book in the series.

Ray Porter, may be the best narrator on the planet.

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35 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Way too Poltical

This third Joe Ledger book is again well worth the credit. It's another fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat, intense story where Joe Ledger and his team are called upon once again to save the world at the last possible moment from the dastardly plans of the evil masterminds, and again the author pulls it off well.

With that said, Jonathan Maberry just had to go off on several long-winded left-wing political rants using the voices of his evil masterminds that did not seem to add a single thing to the story, but will probably serve the author???s presumed intent to score him a round of high-fives at his next literary cocktail party. For a few short examples, one of his bad guys calls former President Bush ??????a Texas jokester who couldn???t manage a Walmart,??? rants that ???the Iraq war was just a grab for oil,??? calls George Bush a ???war criminal,??? and says ???the previous administration would be held accountable if this ever got out,??? but that they ???don???t have the same type of control over this current president, which is why they are trying to weaken and discredit him.??? Oh, puh-leeze! Several chapters - yes, ???chapters!??? - of this kind of blather, after which he follows this up with, ??????but let???s not get political.??? Yes, Jonathan ??? let???s not.

5 stars for the exciting and well crafted book, minus 1 star for the author???s attempt to turn me into a member of his mindless zombie political horde.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Better Than The Second Joe Ledger

I was disappointed by the second Joe Ledger book Dragon Factory and almost didn't read this one. But, I was such a fan of Dust and Decay and Rot and Ruin (absolutely fantastic btw) that I decided to give this one a shot.
I don't think it was as good as Patient Zero but it is damn close.

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Ray Porter - Still worth the price of admission.

In the third full-length installment of the Joe Ledger series, we again find ourselves blessed with one of the best narrators available; Mr. Ray Porter. His performance alone is more than reason enough to spend time on this book.

This was my least favorite of the series so far, a casualty of overtly political sentiments that felt clumsy and heavy-handed, and a couple of overly obvious plot set-ups that left little to be surprised by in the end.

That said, there are still things to recommend this book, and overall I do recommend it; both for the reading, and for the (by now) familiar characters that I continued to enjoy. Mr. Church/Deacon/Pope (the main character's mysterious boss) continues to be one of the more interesting characters I've enjoyed in the thriller genre in some time, and I will happily pick up the next installment of the series when it comes out.

Final Verdict: Not as good as the first two, but worth the credit if you've enjoyed the series thus far.

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Politically Painful.

I was a little reluctant to purchase The King of Plagues as Maberry had begun to out himself as a lefty in The Dragon Factory. I decided to give it a go however, and after this morning's drive to work, realized I made a mistake. If your political leanings are to the left, and you still have an ax to grind against President Bush, than this is the book for you. For the rest of us who look to fiction as an escape from the daily stresses of life, you would do well to pass on this one. The review above mine nails it.

As in the previous two books, the reader, Ray Porter, does an absolutely outstanding job bringing the characters to life, and is the sole redeeming factor on what is really an old, overly used story-line. I don't want to play spoiler, so I'll only say that when one of the groups behind the great conspiracy is mentioned by name, I would have laughed if I wasn't groaning.


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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Sorry, no.

A number of things wrong with this book, the series and the character of Joe Ledger. Really? A psychiatrist on staff that the hero needs to call in the middle of an op? Super duper at combat just because he was a grunt years ago? I know, everything is over-the-top in books like this, but this stretched too far.
Then, he goes and starts playing politics in this book. He was commendably neutral in his first two, but Mayberry decided to send a message in this one. I'm done with his books and which he never got a penny from me for the first two.

On a positive note, the Ray Porter does a great job, and I've enjoyed his work with other books.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Mayberry has done it again!

Jonathan Mayberry's books are like a cross between Dirk Pitt, Agent Pendergast, and Indiana Jones. The main character Joe Ledger has battled zombies, mutated gorilla men, and now he's on to terrorists. I love mayberry's work and hope to keep listening to more. The narration is spot on. Definitely worth a credit.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Very Entertaining

Joe Ledger is a terrific character for this genre. He has strength and compassion as well as good solid hatred of the bad guys.
This is a well-rounded storyline with lots of action, weird bad guys and gals (love all the twisted weirdos wanting to fulfill their own twisted weirdo agendas) and cool behind-the-scenes military/government stuff.
And I totally disagree with some other reviewers who criticized the author for the political comments. I appreciated the intention as the comments were woven into the story as not only from the main character's point-of-view, but to add reality to the story.
And who doesn't love that dog? I adored Ghost and all his human-like qualities! I want that dog!
Ray Porter is an absolutely outstanding narrator.
On the next installment.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

JOE IS MOURNING

Joe was hit hard by everything, he was ready to leave his old life and DMS behind, but does it ready to let him go.

We will have old and new enemies, we will see human and animal sides of some characters, we will see love, loss and betrayal.

And we will see the breaking point of the modern world.

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