Product Description

'When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week, then there's either something wrong with your skills or something wrong with your world. And there's nothing wrong with my skills.' Police officer Joe Ledger, martial arts expert, ex-army, self-confessed brutal warrior is scared. The man he's just killed is the same man he killed a week ago. He never expected to see the man again, definitely not alive, and definitely not as part of the recruitment process for the hyper-secret government agency the Department for Military Sciences. But the DMS are scared too - they have word of a terrorist plot straight from a nightmare - a bid to spread a plague through America - a plague that kills its victims and turns them into zombies. Time is running out and Joe has shown he has the abilities they need to lead one of their field teams. And so begins a desperate three mission - to contain the zombie outbreaks, to break the terrorist cell responsible and to find the man in their own team who is selling them out to the terrorists. Patient Zero is astonishingly fast moving, incredibily violent and down-right terrifying thriller - a new breed of thriller of techo-thriller that plays on our fears of mad science.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8035 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Review
"24-with-Zombies. The plot is simple but completely gripping. The pace breakneck. One of the most exciting thrillers we've read in years and arguably the greatest zombie novel." (Sam Ashurst SFX )

"A well written, often insanely paced and utterly compelling piece of entertainment. But the real joy of this novel is the plot: occasionally implausible, but unfailingly gripping, it makes for the same sort of breathless guilty pleasure as reading a James Patterson novel." (Steve Robinson DEATHRAY )

"To state that, with Patient Zero, Jonathan Maberry has written an excellent thriller with horror trappings is misleading. On the other hand, to say he's composed a fine horror novel with thriller aspects isn't quite right, either. Perhaps, it is most appropriate to simply conclude: The man has succeeded in his goal." (FANGORIA )

"Patient Zero is a terrific action/horror novel that effortlessly and absolutely satisfies the requirements of both genres. It's also, and I say this without making light of the fact, a truly post 9/11 zombie novel, and all the more terrifying for it." (HORRORSCOPE )

"Patient Zero is definitely a zombie story for the twenty first century, it has big ideas and it's right there in your face (trying to bite it off). If you like zombie fiction then I reckon you'll enjoy this." (GRAEME'S FANTASY BOOK REVIEW )

"An accomplished thriller which overcomes its dafter aspects to become an enjoyable novel." (SFF CHRONICLES )

"Patient Zero ticks all the turn-the-page buttons with action blasting into being at exactly the right junctures. Patient Zero does feel like something new, but in reality it's a hybrid that revolves around Maberry's ability to successfully incorporate horror elements into a contemporary post 9/11 hotbed of political intrigue, global corporate aspirations and military/national wills." (BOOK GEEKS )

"Fits well into the Tom Clancy techno thriller world: it just happens to be zombies not terrorists who are the enemy! The action is well written, with some very tense sequences that don't stint on the necessary gore. If you're after a fast-paced action thriller with a high violence quotient, Patient Zero fits the bill." (DREAMWATCH TOTAL SCI-FI )

"Patient Zero is a fast-paced thriller that's amongst the best of its genre, and which will win the writer many new readers, plaudits and perhaps awards - and deservedly so." (STRANGE HORIZONS )

About the Author
Jonathan Maberry is the Bram Stoker Award winning writer of, amongst others, Ghost Road Blues, Bad Moon Rising and Dead Man's Song. He is also an 8th level black belt in jujutsu and a 5th level black belt in kenjutsu. He lives in the US with his his wife.

Customer Reviews

Over 400 Pages!!
I've been obsessed with zombies my entire life. As a result, I've developed preferences for details such as the cause of an outbreak or the behavior of zombies. I was thrilled to read Mayberry's version of terrorists creating and using zombies as biological wepons: Seif al Din, The Sword of the Faithful. Out of all the outbreak scenarios I've ever read, this is up there in the top five of Most Likely To Happen.

Mayberry is another author who manipulates the time line to build up the story's intensity, but it's easy to follow because he notes the location, date, and time at the beginning of each chapter. Eventually the time lines join together before you are even halfway through the book.

The climax was incredible. I am so happy that Mayberry didn't have "intelligent" zombies returning to their former lives -- I'm getting sick of seeing authors trying to be philosophical (to date, Romero is the only one who could properly mix social issues with zombies). I also enjoyed the quotes placed at the intervals within the book; who ever imagined relating a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote with zombies?

This was fantastic as a stand-alone book, but I would love to see a sequel of some kind. I will be adding Mayberry to my list of favorite zombie authors. Another book of his is Bad Moon Rising.

If you are looking for another good zombie book, I recommend Eden.

Fresh version of the zombie novel
This book was suggested by Amazon based on the volume of Zombie fiction I had previously purchased, I had never heard of the novelist before but decided to give it a try.
What a great book, fantastic characterisation (although the villain is a little clichéd), brutal pace and very violent action, the main character, joe ledger, is sure to feature in many more novels, he has just the right moral compass to succeed in a crowded market of disposable heroes.
The setting of terrorists using zombies as biological weapons gave the book a contemporary feel and sets it apart from the typical "end of the world" zombie novel.
I am working my way through the rest of the writers books and its always a joy to discover a new novelist in an unexpected manner, let's hope Mr Mayberry can keep up the high standard.

Novel Take on Zombie Story
This was a very good read, I would go as far to say even if you weren't a zombie fan. The story did basically say what was on the back cover a mix of 28 days later and 24, some people have criticised the stereotypical characters but in fairness there were enough quirks that all characters did not fall into this mould. I also take the point about research into some of the facts like a female SAS major and some of the kit the British army uses, I would suggest 5 minutes on Google would have sorted that, but minor annoyances aside it was a good story that will hopefully see the main characters develop in his next book.