Amazon paperback/Kindle editions

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…

Confession time here…Patient Zero has been sitting on my bookshelf for well over a year. My husband picked it up, absolutely loved it and suggested that I read it as well. I started reading it and recall that I was enjoying it quite a bit, but for some reason I stopped. I have no idea why I stopped reading nor why it took me so long to get back to it, but damned if I’m not thrilled that I did and I promise you that The Dragon Factory and The King of Plagues are not far down my list now.

Those who know me  know that I adore the character of Jack Bauer from the TV series 24; if Jack Bauer is my television crush, Joe Ledger is my book crush. (There was even a 24 references in Patient Zero that set my heart aflutter. ) The character of Joe Ledger is very Jack Bauer like brave, intelligent, tough and a smart-ass. He is the kind of guy who does what he needs to do in order to get the job done and Joe has his work cut out for him.

Jonathan Maberry created a tale that had many twists and turns and I was kept on my toes trying to figure out who exactly the “bad guy” was going to turn out to be. The action was nearly endless pausing just long enough to allow you to catch your breath before it starts up again. There were a few times during the commotion of the battles that I got a bit confused as to who was where and doing what, but it wasn’t enough to make me lose interest.

Patient Zero fits into a cornucopia of  genre. Yes, there are zombies, but here is also espionage, betrayal, suspense, terrorism and a bit of romance. I would definitely suggest this book to anyone interested in a good action, government infiltration tale that has amazing characters with some “walkers” thrown in for “fun”. This is a zombie book, but it is not just for fans of the genre, trust me!

Learn more about Jonathan Maberry on his blog and by following him on Twitter:@JonathanMaberry

Espresso rating: Quad