Books I Love: Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry

I don’t know what could possibly have Patient Zero on my mind these days… strange, eh?

But viruses aside, Maberry’s first Joe Ledger novel is a wild ride. Ledger is a Baltimore cop going about his normal life when he gets pulled off the street by the feds. They take him to what has to be one of the strangest job interviews in fiction, where Ledger is pitted against what can only be called a zombie. Of course, it’s not really a “night of living dead” zombie… more like a 28 Days Later eat your face kind of zombie.

Spoiler alert: Ledger prevails and begins his career as a paranormal ass-kicker for the US Gub’mint.

If the X-Files and action movies had a baby then put that baby into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (which Maberry himself practices) and THEN gave that baby a German Shepherd, you’d have Patient Zero. Okay… that might not be the best description, but if you want to watch terrorist bio-plots defeated with a good mix of techno-thriller and tight, well-written action, then this book’s for you.