Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry

Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry

2009, St. Martin's Griffin

Series: Book 1 of Joe Ledger

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Rating

Synopsis: 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....

Why read: Picked up a copy at BEA

What impressed me: I avoid books that involve the military and terrorism. They never seem to hold my interest. That said, Patient Zero, with its terrorists and covert governmental agencies blew my mind. It took a vast array of topics that don't interest me in the slightest and made me crave more. And it wasn't just the zombies I loved either, although there inclusion in the novel was a deciding factor in my reading this book. Joe Ledger is a normal man. Until he saw the zombies face to face, he never believed them possible. Now, he and his men are the only thing that can prevent the zombie apocalypse. What makes the novel easy to get sucked into is that Joe, for all his manliness and combat experience, doesn't just man up and get the job done. He questions things along the way. He worries for his own sanity. He joins the team, does the job, but retains his personality throughout. I can't wait to read his next adventure. Is it more zombies or something completely other?

What disappointed me: Not a thing.

Recommended: Absolutely. High powered action/adventure and zombie mayhem? It deserves a spot on most people's to be read piles.

Continue series: Definitely. I already have the second book on my shelf waiting to be read.