Book Review: PATIENT ZERO by Jonathan Maberry

PATIENT ZERO by Jonathan Maberry (St. Martin’s Paperbacks, January 2014) Paperback, 495 pages. Jack Ledger series, #1. ISBN # 1250043778 / 9781250043771 

Summary on the Goodreads website . . . .

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...  

My Four-Star review on the Goodreads website . . . .

     It would be a huge mistake to simply look at the cover blurbs and back cover synopsis and then dismiss this as yet another in a glut of zombie fiction. PATIENT ZERO is a well-researched military science-fiction action/adventure tale with a likable main character along the lines of Jack Reacher.

     This is the first novel featuring Joe Ledger that I've read, and it certainly won't be the last. 

     Granted, the threat does involve a lab-manufactured epidemic/plague with a serum that transforms humans into mindless rabid zombies incapable of feeling pain. Maberry includes just enough of a scientific explanation to make it seem plausible. 

     This novel is a quick, compelling read in spite of the longer length. The action scenes are vivid and realistic. All the primary characters are fully developed and Maberry allows us a look into their mindset and motivations. He switches chapters between first person narration by Joe Ledger to third-person accounts and POV from other locations seamlessly. This allows readers to know in advance what the enemy is plotting, but it doesn't take away from the suspense at all. It helps to ramp it up. 

     Great escapist entertainment. I recommend this.