I Fell Into The Loveliest Hole

and its name is Jonathan Maberry. It all started with Patient Zero. To be honest, I was done with the zombie craze before it started and I seriously doubted anyone could remake it into something I'd enjoy reading. At the behest of a trusted fellow reader, I dove in and got lost in the captivating and horrible world of Maberry. From Patient Zero I moved on to The Dragon Factory and then King of Plagues. It is more than a little frightening that one person can think of so many different ways to convincingly endanger the entire world. Let us hope Maberry is not overly tempted by cookies, because if he ever goes to the dark side, we are all doomed.

Maberry's biggest strength is his lead, a commando-type with military and law enforcement background named Joe Ledger. Far from the stereotype one would associate with this sort of character, Ledger is the type of hero that springs to life in the reader's mind. He is smart and funny, intimidated by no one and not afraid to question authority or the status quo. He's the sort of character you enjoy watching kick in a door, grab a beer with mates after work, or fall in love. Maberry's books have high stakes, explosions, witty dialogue, diabolical villains, and just enough love/romance in the B plot to keep things spicy.

Ledger finds himself pulled away from his impending induction into the FBI Academy for recruitment into an off-the-radar government agency know as the Department of Military Science, or DMS. This organization is staffed by the best of the best in science, politics, military sciences, and technology from all over the world, and it operates slightly outside the system, avoiding bureaucratic red tape and inter-agency politics that can hinder organizations like Homeland Security and the FBI. Of these superstars, Ledger emerges as the leader and is given his own team to lead into all manner of raids and battles to save the world from bioterrorism unleashed in a multitude of imaginative ways.

Maberry's villains are convincing because no matter what ideology they subscribe to, the bottom line for them and all their minions boils down to profit and material wealth. Religious zeal, revenge, and world domination are side interests, which makes them much more believable than the 2-dimensional killers that lurk in the shadows of many novels, licking blood off their fingers and giggling over the fingernails they've collected from their victims.

Luckily, Maberry is prolific and new fans won't run out of material for quite some time. Many of his novels tend toward the horror genre, and I--being a sissy--have thus far kept to the military suspense novels featuring Ledger. Cautious buyers will be glad to find Maberry offers several short e-books available for free or 99 cents that give an excellent sampling of his writing and of Joe Ledger for little or no investment.

Every one of the three novels I've completed score Five Stars in my book, and the reader that recommended the series said it well in describing Maberry as "the new standard" for excellent writing.