Jonathan Maberry: Complete Joe Ledger Series
Horror writer Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger is the star of series of bio-terrorism thrillers that started with 2009’s Patient Zero. The series—which includes novels, short stories, audio originals, and novellas follows Captain Joe Ledger, who fights terrorist threats that range from zombie pathogens to weaponized plagues to transgenic monsters. For much of the series, Ledger works for clandestine government agency the Department of Military Sciences (DMS)—which deals with the problems that Homeland Security can’t handle. In the Rogue Team spin-off series, the DMS has been dissolved, so Ledger joins the Rogue Team International.
The idea for the plausible zombie menace in Patient Zero came to Maberry while he was researching his nonfiction zombie book, Zombie CSU: The Forensics of the Living Dead. “My intention had been to use science to (gently) knock down the backstory to most zombie movies and books,” Maberry said in an interview. “However during the research I discovered that there was a lot more scientific validity to those monsters. It creeped me out, and anytime something creeps me out that much I think: ‘Man, that would make a great story.’”
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Complete list to date of Joe Ledger stories by Jonathan Maberry
Joe Ledger Novels
Patient Zero (2009)
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 thing, 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…
“Smart and edgy. Jonathan Maberry delivers an original take on the zombie subgenre and is the perfect first-read for those just now discovering the author.”—Horror Novel Reviews
The Dragon Factory (2010)
In Jonathan Maberry's The Dragon Factory, Joe Ledger and the DMS (Department of Military Sciences) face their deadliest threat yet when they go up against two competing groups of geneticists bent on world domination. One side is creating exotic transgenic monsters and genetically enhanced mercenary armies. The other is using twenty-first-century technology to continue the Nazi Master Race program begun by Josef Mengele. Both sides want to see the DMS destroyed-and they've drawn first blood. Neither side is prepared for Joe Ledger as he leads Echo Team to war under a black flag.
“Fast, furious and pulse-pounding; the pacing remains electric; the writing is once again skillfully executed; and the book, like Patient Zero, is just a lot of fun to read.”—Fantasy Book Critic
The King of Plagues (2011)
Saturday 09:11 Hours: A blast rocks a London hospital and thousands are dead or injured… 10:09 Hours: Joe Ledger arrives on scene to investigate. The horror is unlike anything he has ever seen. Compelled by grief and rage, Joe rejoins the DMS and within hours is attacked by a hit-team of assassins and sent on a suicide mission into a viral hot zone during an Ebola outbreak. Soon Joe Ledger and the Department of Military Sciences begin tearing down the veils of deception to uncover a vast and powerful secret society using weaponized versions of the Ten Plagues of Egypt to destabilize world economies and profit from the resulting chaos. Millions will die unless Joe Ledger meets the this powerful new enemy on their own terms as he fights terror with terror.
“My favorite smart-mouthed, ex-cop hero is back for his third amazing adventure.”—My Bookish Ways
Assassins Code (2012)
In ASSASSIN’S CODE, the fourth book in New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger series, Joe Ledger and the DMS go on a relentless chase to stop an ancient order of killers from plunging the entire world into Holy War.
When Joe Ledger and Echo Team rescue a group of American college kids held hostage in Iran, the Iranian government then asks them to help find six nuclear bombs planted in the Mideast oil fields. These stolen WMDs will lead Joe and Echo Team into hidden vaults of forbidden knowledge, mass-murder, betrayal, and a brotherhood of genetically-engineered killers with a thirst for blood. Accompanied by the beautiful assassin called Violin, Joe follows a series of clues to find the Book of Shadows, which contains a horrifying truth that threatens to shatter his entire worldview. They say the truth will set you free…not this time. The secrets of the Assassin’s Code will set the world ablaze.
“Maberry keeps the pace moving with short chapters, wise-cracking Joe Ledger, lots of action and flashbacks; blends in historical background with enough realism to make you check the facts; large world and history shaking conspiracies.”—SF Signal
Extinction Machine (2013)
In Extinction Machine, the fifth Joe Ledger book by Jonathan Maberry, the DMS must go up against someone―or something―in search of new technology that could bring about world war
The President of the United States vanishes from the White House. A top-secret prototype stealth fighter is destroyed during a test flight. Witnesses on the ground say that it was shot down by a craft that immediately vanished at impossible speeds. All over the world reports of UFOs are increasing at an alarming rate. And in a remote fossil dig in China dinosaur hunters have found something that is definitely not of this earth. There are rumors of alien-human hybrids living among us.
Joe Ledger and the Department of Military Sciences rush headlong into the heat of the world’s strangest and deadliest arms race, because the global race to recover and retro-engineer alien technologies has just hit a snag. Someone―or something—wants that technology back.
“The danger continues to push Joe and his team to their limits…action-packed.”—Speculative Book Review
Code Zero (2014)
The exciting direct sequel to Patient Zero: For years the Department of Military Sciences has fought to stop terrorists from using radical bioweapons―designer plagues, weaponized pathogens, genetically modified viruses, and even the zombie plague that first brought Ledger into the DMS. These terrible weapons have been locked away in the world's most secure facility. Until now. Joe Ledger and Echo Team are scrambled when a highly elite team of killers breaks the unbreakable security and steals the world's most dangerous weapons. Within days there are outbreaks of mass slaughter and murderous insanity across the American heartland. Can Joe Ledger stop a brilliant and devious master criminal from turning the Land of the Free into a land of the dead?
“A tale of psychological and techno horror, but also a high stakes tale of desperate heroes. Code Zero reminded me of how great a horror writer Maberry is, but still features all the kick-ass action and fascinating and identifiable characters that fans of the series have come to expect.”—Pop Culture Vulture
Predator One (2015)
On opening day of the new baseball season a small model-kit airplane flies down from the stands and buzzes the mound, where a decorated veteran pilot is about to throw out the first ball. The toy plane is the exact replica of the one flown by the war hero. Everyone laughs, thinking it's a prank or a publicity stunt. Until it explodes, killing dozens. Seconds later a swarm of killer drones descend upon the picnicked crowd, each one carrying a powerful bomb. All across the country artificial intelligence drive systems in cars, commuter trains and even fighter planes go out of control. The death toll soars as the machines we depend upon every day are turned into engines of destruction.
“Over the course of this series we’ve seen zombies, vampires, alien technology, secret cults of villains that would put SPECTRE to shame, and killer diseases genetically modified to become even more potent and horrifying. In Predator One, the big terror is drones and autonomous vehicles…some seriously wicked action scenes, to be sure, and the threat levels keep getting more and more elevated.”—High Fever Books
Kill Switch (2016)
What do you do when the power goes off? Joe Ledger faces his deadliest challenge as friends and allies become enemies and all of the lights begin to go out…
Terrorists have acquired a terrible new weapon that can crash the power grid and plunge America into a new dark age. A coordinated attack is planned to shut out all lights and emergency services to ten major cities. Planes will fall, hospitals will go dark, no help will come.
And in that terrible darkness, a dreadful plague will be released. If the lights go off, nothing can stop the bioweapon from killing millions.
At the same time, the intelligence services are being torn apart from within by a plague of betrayal, murder, and suicide. Even the Department of Military Sciences is stumbling in its response to the growing threat.
Time is running out, and Joe is being hunted by a terrifying new kind of assassin. A team of remote viewers have the ability to take over any person and turn ordinary citizens into killers. Where can you turn when there’s nobody left to trust?
“It’s hard to imagine many books to be published the rest of this year being better than this new adventure in the Joe Ledger series. This one gets my highest recommendation.”—Cemetery Dance
Dogs of War (2017)
Dogs of War: Robots are no longer science fiction. Autonomous, programmed to react like animals: fast, relentless, deadly. From microscopic nanobots to massive self-guided aircraft. This technology is here, it’s assessable, and it’s dangerous. What’s even scarier is that almost anyone can get their hands on it.
A freelance terrorist uses the latest generation of robot dogs to deliver WMDs into cities across America. Sophisticated military weapons systems turn on their human masters. A technological apocalypse is coming and we may be too late to stop it.
Joe Ledger and a newly rebuilt Department of Military Sciences square off against this new and terrible threat. Dogs of War pits Joe against a merciless new enemy and an army of techno-terrorists in a race to prevent a global destruction.
Let loose the Dogs of War.
“Jonathan Maberry’s novels are quick reads and full of action, but one of the best parts is the humor.”—SF Revu
Deep Silence (2018)
Deep Silence pits Joe Ledger against terrorists with bleeding-edge science weapons, an international conspiracy, ancient technologies from Atlantis and Lemuria, and an escalating threat that could crack open the entire Earth.
Terrorists-for-hire have created a weapon that can induce earthquakes and cause dormant volcanoes to erupt. One terrifying side-effect of the weapon is that prior to the devastation, the vibrations drive ordinary people to suicide and violence. A wave of madness begins sweeping the country beginning with a mass shooting in Congress. Joe Ledger and his team go on a wild hunt to stop the terrorists and uncover the global super-power secretly funding them. At every step the stakes increase as it becomes clear that the end-game of this campaign of terror is igniting the Yellowstone caldera, the super-volcano that could destroy America.
Rage: A Joe Ledger and Rogue Team International Novel (Rogue Team International #1)
From New York Times Bestselling author (creator of the Netflix series V Wars), Jonathan Maberry comes the first in a brand new series featuring Joe Ledger and Rogue Team International.
A small island off the coast of Korea is torn apart by a bioweapon that drives everyone―men, women, and children―insane with murderous rage. The people behind the attack want Korea reunified or destroyed. No middle ground. No mercy. Soon Japan, China, and the United States are pushed to the brink of war, while terrorists threaten to release the rage bioweapon in a way of pure destructive slaughter. Joe Ledger leads his newly formed band of international troubleshooters in their first mission to stop the terror cell, fighting alongside agents from North and South Korea. With the lives of billions at stake, Ledger is willing to bring his own brand of terror to this frightening new war.
“Action-packed from the first page to the last. Tons of twists and turns, more baddies that you can count on both hands, and a lot of soul searching for Joe as well.”— Mystery Sequels
Joe Ledger Short Story Collections
Joe Ledger: Special Ops (2014)
Captain Joe Ledger. Former cop. Former Army Ranger. Currently the top-kick of Echo Team, an elite squad of first-class shooters who roll out to face down the world's most dangerous terrorists. Not fanatics with explosive vests or political hostage takers. Joe and his team square off against terrorists who have the most advanced and exotic weapons of mass destruction. Designer bioweapons. Cutting edge transgenics. Real mad scientist stuff. If they have to call Joe Ledger—it’s already hit the fan.
JOE LEDGER: SPECIAL OPS collects several of the Ledger short stories and presents two brand new tales exclusive to this volume. Bonus features include character profiles and a never-before-published glimpse behind the scenes of the Department of Military Sciences. Join the Hunt!
Included in the book:
“Countdown”
“Zero Tolerance”
“Deep, Dark”
“Material Witness”
”Changeling”“Mad Science”
“Artifact”
“The Handyman Gets Out”
“Borrowed Power”
Inside the DMS (Character Profiles)
Joe Ledger Reading Chronology
Joe Ledger: Unstoppable (2017)
The premise, put forth in Tony Eldridge’s foreword: “Drop John McClane from Die Hard into an episode of Fringe and you’ve entered the world of Joe Ledger.” This collection includes original stories set in Jonathan Maberry’s New York Times bestselling Joe Ledger universe by Mira Grant, Dana Fredsti, Scott Sigler, Christopher Golden, Larry Correia, David Farland, Tim Lebbon, Steve Alten, Jon McGoran, Jennifer Campbell-Hicks, Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Bryan Thomas Schmidt, GP Charles, Keith DeCandido, James A. Moore, Weston Ochse, Aaron Rosenberg, Nicholas Steven, James Ray Tuck, Jeremy Robinson, and Maberry himself.
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