Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry

Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry is another classic in zombie fiction which came out before The Walking Dead influenced craze of the past decade. I first heard about Jonathan Maberry when he sent me his novel, Dead of the Night, to be reviewed over ten years ago. I enjoyed his novel a great deal and it left a lasting impression. I always wanted to read more of his work and had heard about Patient Zero but being a book reviewer and always swamped with required books to review, I never got the chance. Then, a bit oddly, I was dropping things off at the ‘free table’ a block from my house and there it is on the table, somehow dry between rainstorms, and hold your breath…it’s a freaking signed copy!

Genre:  Zombie/Action 

Publisher: Saint Martin’s Griffen

Released:  2009

Stars:  5 Stars

Reviewer: Michael D. Griffiths

So yeah, my science book was downgraded and I jumped right in. Look, I almost feel funny writing a review for this. I feel like I should just stop here and say, “if this is your type of thing, get this, trust me,” but I will be a good reviewer and continue. This is a Joe Ledger story, he is a character who goes on to be in more books. The reader gets quite an introduction to Joe as he is yanked from the police force and recruited to be a leader of a super-secret government agency which have discovered terrorists are intending to unleash the zombie plague onto US soil.

It does not happen to fast though, there is a slow build up with lots of character development and tension. Maberry uses several points of view, and I enjoyed how the other points of view were all in third person, but Joe’s was first person. The action scenes were great and hit hard. Joe is fun character and easy to like.

As the threat of zombies and the need to fight them becomes a real thing, the characters face the stress of what it would take to deal with such a nightmare in the real world. They must make realistic choices with hard consequences. Yet, as they learn more, the danger level does nothing but increase. They are behind the scenes plots and double agents, which only makes the problem more complex and much more dangerous.

Not much to get down on here if zombie adventure stories are your thing. For some of the more woke readers of today, they could note the book was a little white-o-centric. Most of the whites are good. All the Middle Easterners are bad. There is only one non-white in the agency and Joe hates him.

Pushing that aside, this book rocks hard. The battle scenes are tight, intense, and realistic. I loved how the last sixty pages of the book was one long battle. Certainly, a writer I can track with. Get it.

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Grab my Cyberpunk novel here. Dak has been hired to chase down the Skinjumper clones, he biggest problem, he’s dating one.