Patient Zero (Joe Ledger)

Product Description

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….

Review

“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.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

CHAPTER ONE
When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week, then there’s either something wrong with your skills or something wrong with your world.
And there’s nothing wrong with my skills.
CHAPTER TWO
Ocean City, Maryland / Saturday, June 27; 10:22 am
They came for me at the beach. Nice and slick, two in front, one big cover-man behind in a three-point close while I was reaching for my car door. Nothing flashy, just three big guys in off-the-rack gray, all of them sweating in the Ocean City heat.
The pointman held up his hands in a no-problem gesture. It was a hot Saturday morning and I was in swim-trunks and a Hawaiian shirt with mermaids on it over a Tom Petty t-shirt. Flip-flops and Wayfarers. My piece was in a locked toolbox in the trunk, with a trigger guard clamped on it. I was at the beach to look at this year’s crop of sun-bunnies and I’d been off the clock since the shooting pending a Monday morning officer-involved discussion with the OIS team. It had been a bad scene at the warehouse and they’d put me on administrative leave to give me time to get my head straight about the shootings. I wasn’t expecting trouble, there shouldn’t have been trouble, and the smooth way these guys boxed me was designed to keep everyone’s emotions in neutral. I couldn’t have done it better myself.
“Mr. Ledger…?”
“Detective Ledger,” I said to be pissy.
No trace of a smile on the point-guy’s face, only a mi