Jonathan Maberry Patient Zero

Patient Zero

Jonathan Maberry

St. Martin's, Mar 2009, $14.95

ISBN 9780312382858

Baltimore Police Detective Joe Ledger participates on a raid of a terrorist cell that turns nasty. He is forced to use his gun and kills Javad Mustapha. Soon after killing Mustapha, Joe is shocked as he has to kill Javad Mustapha again. The newly formed Department of Military Sciences (DMS) recruits Joe to join their specialized ultra top secret antiterrorist unit that deals with the unexplained phenomena that HSD is not equipped to handle like killing reanimated corpses.

Apparently a terrorist scientist Amirah has learned how to bring back to life the dead as zombies. Financed by affluent international businessman Sebastian Gault, Amirah and her husband terrorist leader El Mujahid deploy a zombie army around the world. Joe and his DMS unit fight the Zombie force with early success, but he is unprepared for a traitor to sell him and his squad to their dead enemy.

Zombie fans will be singing a DEAD MAN'S SONG of praise to Jonathan Maberry for this exhilarating wild military horror thriller. The story line is action-packed from the onset when a stunned Joe kills Mustapha twice in a week and never slows down as the zombie horde assaults an unsuspecting world while the hero and his DMS unit counter fight the dead insurgency. Sub-genre reader will enjoy this engaging tale as the dead don't stay dead for long.

Harriet Klausner