Patient Zero (Joe Ledger, Book 1)

Author: Jonathan Maberry
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Review By: Shana

​This is basically a summer blockbuster in a book. Lots of action, snappy dialog, covert operatives, mysterious governmental string-pullers, terrorists, one mad scientist, and zombies.  

Maberry makes the effort to inject a little more depth in the series, investing the main protagonist (as well as his eventual love interest and various other team members) with pathos by giving characters their own motivating tragedy, though the characters hover between two- and three-dimensional. It mostly works, though some of the heartfelt asides on life, death, family, and ethos feel a bit shoe-horned in.

So while Maberry tries to give the book heart, at heart it is primarily meant to be a fun read—not entirely empty calories, but not really nourishing either. Recommended if you need a break from heavy reading, like action, but don't want it to be entirely devoid of emotion.