Series: A Joe Ledger Novel | Publication Date: March 3, 2009
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 that has just been secretly recruited by the government to lead a new taskforce 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 bio-weapon that can turn ordinary people into zombies. The fate of the world hangs in the balance....
Visit www.stmartins.com/jonathanmaberry to download the free short story COUNTDOWN
"I had a fine old time reading PATIENT ZERO. 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. This is a lovely feat, and Maberry has written a memorable book." - Peter Straub
"Patient Zero is high-octane excitement from beginning to end, and the start of a fabulous new series. Joe Ledger and the DMS have my vote as the team to beat when combatting terrorist threats on a grand scale." - David Morrell, New York Times bestselling author of FIRST BLOOD and CREEPERS
"Scary, creepy, and gripping--PATIENT ZERO is 'Night of the Living Dead' meets Michael Crichton."--Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of Power Play
"A fast-paced, creepy thriller that as prickly as a hospital needle and sounds a little too convincing. This guy is good." --Joe R. Lansdale
"Brutal action, insanely intelligent, and so real that the hair on the back of your neck stands up!" -- L.A. Banks, The Vampire Huntress Legends Series, New York Times Best-selling Author
About the Author
Jonathan Maberry is the multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The King of Plagues, The Dragon Factory, Ghost Road Blues and Rot & Ruin, among others. He also wrote the novelization of the movie The Wolfman. His work for Marvel Comics includes Captain America, Punisher, Wolverine, DoomWar, Marvel Zombie Return and Black Panther. His Joe Ledger series has been optioned for TV by Sony Pictures. He has been inducted into the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
JONATHAN MABERRY is a New York Times best-selling and multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning author, magazine feature writer, playwright, content creator and writing teacher/lecturer. His books have been sold to more than twenty countries.
His novels include the Pine Deep Trilogy: GHOST ROAD BLUES (Pinnacle books; winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel in 2006), DEAD MAN'S SONG (2007) and BAD MOON RISING (2008); the Joe Ledger series of action thrillers from St. Martins Griffin: PATIENT ZERO (2009, voted one Best Zombie Novel of 2009; winner of the Black Quill Award and a Bram Stoke Award finalist), THE DRAGON FACTORY (2010; now available), THE KING OF PLAGUES (2011), ASSASSIN'S CODE (2012), EXTINCTION MACHINE (2013); THE WOLFMAN (NY Times bestseller from Tor and winner of the Scribe Award for Best Adaptation, based on the Universal Pictures film starring Benecio Del Toro, Emily Blunt and Sir Anthony Hopkins); the Benny Imura series of Young Adult dystopian zombie thrillers from Simon & Schuster: ROT & RUIN (2010) and DUST & DECAY (August 30, 2011), FLESH & BONE (2012) and FIRE & ASH (2013); and the forthcoming zombie thriller DEAD OF NIGHT (October 2011). Watch the book trailer for DEAD OF NIGHT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czc4WmjY1yo
Jonathan will be featured in a History Channel special on zombies scheduled to air October 26.
His nonfiction works include: VAMPIRE UNIVERSE (Citadel Press, 2006), THE CRYPTOPEDIA (Citadel, 2007 -winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction; co-authored by David F. Kramer), ZOMBIE CSU: The Forensics of the Living Dead (Winner of the Hinzman and Black Quill Awards and nominated for a Stoker Award; 2008), THEY BITE! (2009 co-authored by David F. Kramer), WANTED UNDEAD OR ALIVE (2010 co-authored by Janice Gable Bashman), and THE VAMPIRE SLAYERS FIELD GUIDE TO THE UNDEAD (2001, written under the pen name of Shane MacDougall).
He writes a variety of projects for Marvel Comics involving BLACK PANTHER, DOOMWAR, WOLVERINE, DEADPOOL, CAPTAIN AMERICA, THE X-MEN, FANTASTIC FOUR and the NY Times bestselling MARVEL ZOMBIES RETURN, MARVEL UNIVERSE vs THE PUNISHER, and MARVEL UNIVERSE VS WOLVERINE. All of Jonathan's comic book collections will be released as Graphic Novel collections.
Recent short stories include "Pegleg and Paddy Save the World" (HISTORY IS DEAD, Permuted Press 2007), "Doctor Nine" (KILLERS, Swimming Kangaroo Press, 2008; and reprinted in THE STORIES (in) BETWEEN Edited by Greg Schauer, Jeanne B. Benzel, and W.H. Horner. Fantasist Enterprises, 2009), "The Adventure of the Greenbrier Ghost" (LEGENDS OF THE MOUNTAIN STATE 2, Bloodletting Books, 2008), "Clean Sweeps" (AND SO IT BEGINS, Dark Quest Books, 2008), "Family Business" (THE NEW DEAD, St. Martins Press, 2010), and "Zero Tolerance" (THE LIVING DEAD 2, Night Shade Books). Jonathan also created two Joe Ledger short stories for the Internet: "Countdown", "Deep, Dark", "Material Witness", "Zero Tolerance", and "Dog Days", all available on audio from Blackstone.
Jonathan is the co-creator (with Laura Schrock) of ON THE SLAB, an entertainment news show in development by Stage 9 for ABC Disney / Stage 9. He was also a 'blog correspondent' on Sony's zombie-themed web show 'WOKE UP DEAD'; and a recurring character on 'IT'S TODD'S SHOW'.
Jonathan's Big Scary Blog (www.jonathanmaberry.com) focuses on the publishing industry. Jonathan's interviews include Charlaine Harris, Sandra Brown, Gayle Lynds, Alafair Burke, James Rollins, Harlan Coben, Jeff Abbott, John Saul, Jonathan Kellerman, Barry Eisler, Robert Kirkman, Maz Brooks, CJ Box, Laurell K. Hamilton, Jack Ketchum, Tom Piccarilli, Dale Brown, Kevin J. Anderson, Joe Lansdale, Peter Straub, Ramsey Campbell, and many other best-selling authors.
Jonathan is a Contributing Editor for The Big Thrill (the newsletter of the International Thriller Writers), and is a member of SFWA, IAMTW, MWA, SCBWI, SFWA and HWA. He is a frequent guest of honor and keynote speaker at genre cons and writers conferences, including Central Coast Writers, KillerCon, AnthoCon, Necon, ThrillerFest, Sisters in Crime, BackSpace, PennWriters, Dragon*Con, PhilCon, Horror-Realm, HorrorFind, Monster Mania, Philadelphia Writers Conference, Balticon, The Write Stuff, Hypericon, LunaCon, and many others.
Jonathan regularly visits local middle schools, high schools and colleges to talk about books, reading, publishing and the writing life.
Jonathan is a founding member of The Liars Club, a group of networking publishing professionals that includes celebrated authors Merry Jones, Gregory Frost, Jon McGoran, Ed Pettit, Dennis Tafoya, Keith Strunk, Don Lafferty, Kelly Simmons, Marie Lamba, Solomon Jones, Keith DeCandido, Sara Shepard, William Lashner, Laura Schrock, and the late L.A. Banks. The Liars Club works to support booksellers, raise awareness and support for public libraries, and cultivate a joy of reading and books.
On the last Sunday of every month Jonathan hosts the Writers Coffeehouse, a free three-hour open-agenda networking and discussion session for writers of all genres and levels of skill. The event is held at the Barnes & Noble in Willow Grove Pennsylvania.
Jonathan has been a popular writing teacher and career counselor for writers for the last two decades. He teaches a highly regard series of classes and workshops including Write Your Novel in Nine Months, Revise & Sell, Experimental Writing for Teens, and others. Many of his students have gone on to publish in short and novel-length fiction, magazine feature writing, nonfiction books, TV, film, and comics.
In 2004 Jonathan was inducted into the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame largely because of his extensive writings in that field. His martial arts books include Self-Defense for Every Woman (Vortex Multimedia, 1985); Introduction to Asian Martial Arts (Vortex Multimedia, 1986); The Self-Defense Instructor's Handbook (Vortex Multimedia, 1990); Judo and You (Kendall Hunt, 1991); Ultimate Jujutsu Principles and Practices (Strider Nolan, 2002); The Martial Arts Student Logbook (Strider Nolan, 2002); Ultimate Sparring Principles and Practices (Strider Nolan, 2003).
Visit his website at www.jonathanmaberry.com or find him on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace.
This review is from: Patient Zero: A Joe Ledger Novel (Paperback)
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Congratulations, Jonathan Maberry. You have managed to combine two of my biggest fears - the fear of unchecked biological warfare and the fear that my brains will be sucked out by zombies.
Hardened, world weary Detective Joe Ledger has seen it all in the course of his job. He knows the very worst that human beings can do to each other. Then he's not-so-willingly introduced to the Department of Military Sciences (DMS) and its mysterious, powerful leader, Mr. Church, and he finally learns that he hasn't scratched the surface of the worst that people can do. Turns out that religious fanaticism and hatred of the United States have met up with big-money corporate interests, and *voila* the Sword of the Faithful is born - zombie weapons unleashed by terrorists upon the U.S. to purge the world of infidels.
Ledger is all man. He's tough. He has an eye for the ladies and a deep abiding love for his country. He knows weapons and military strategy, and he's a natural born leader. He's chilled to the bone by this new, hellish weapon, but he and his team push forward to try to save the country before this plague spreads to the world.
If you like explosions, fighting, tough-guy talk and scary, brain-munching zombies, you'll love this book. I was riveted from page 1, and I raced to get to the last word. The zombies are strong and hungry. The good guys are the best, and the bad guys are the worst. There is nail-biting action at every turn, and a surprising amount of humor thrown in. This is one of the best zombie novels I've read in a very long time.
Bring on the sequel! I can't wait to see what Ledger gets himself into the next time.
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This review is from: Patient Zero: A Joe Ledger Novel (Paperback)
I have not read a book that genuinely spooked me in quite some time! Am I jaded? No. I am just very advanced in my threshhold for terror. (Okay, I'm jaded) This book was like watching a B-horror flick with a million cheap shots to make you jump in your seat. It was great! I am female, and lest I betray my gender in a stereotype, I do not read military action novels. But this book has an action/military/horror/mystery theme that works beautifully. Joe Ledger is my new hero; he can do it all.
So, why not 5 stars? The action got a bit repetitive and ho-hum in parts. I feel like the book could have been condensed by about 50 pages. But definitely read this book! It is pure enjoyment from start to finish.
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This review is from: Patient Zero: A Joe Ledger Novel (Paperback)
I'm a big fan of zombies and action. The reviews I read made me thing this book was written for me. The start was good; gun-nut/tactical porn that would make anyone whose played a Rainbow 6 game excited. As it wore on, however, I liked it less and less. Paper-thin characters who are so extreme I was left shaking my head. The bad guys are evil geniuses who put together a cutting-edge medical lab in an Afghanistan cave. The woman is so beautiful she can stop traffic with just her eyes AND she's a super genius who can manufacture zombies. Her counterpart on the other side is gorgeous AND a weapons expert. And these are just the henchwomen.
Skip it. You can find something better to do with your time.
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