phungus's Full Review: Jonathan Maberry - Patient Zero
Patient Zero is a very original novel that involves a terrorist plot to unleash a virus that turns people into zombies. It's sort of like Tom Clancy meets George Romero, and it works on every level. The author, Jonathan Maberry, takes his time to develop the characters, plot, and setting in a way that makes this book one very entertaining read.
The story begins with the formation of a new government agency whose power supersedes all other agencies. At one point, the boss over this agency chews out the President, if that gives you any indication of their power. The main character in this, Joe Ledger, is a cop with military experience who has managed to attract a lot of attention with his unorthodox ways. He is thrust into the situation very quickly and is leading up a team to fight the first group of zombies within a matter of hours.
I expected this book to have more action that it delivered, but I wasn't disappointed when it turned out to be more plot-oriented. Not to say that there isn't a bunch of shooting and violence, especially in the last 50 or so pages, but don't expect a mindless gorefest like what you find in most zombie-related books and movies. Zombies are a big deal in movies and books these days, and so are terrorist plots. Combining the two was a brilliant idea.
The terrorists in this book are sort of generic, and the time given to them was minimal compared to the rest of the story. There's a love affair going on between two of the higher-ups, including a quick love scene between a couple of muslims that seemed really out of place. Their basic idea is to unleash a virus that will spread like wildfire and destroy half the planet while they sit back with an antidote and wait for all of their enemies to literally eat each other.
I really liked how plenty of time was devoted to the scientific aspect of how seemingly dead people are reanimated, and the way the author described things was to say that zombies aren't completely dead, but like the virus puts the body into a form of hibernation while maintaining a minimal amount of brain activity. It's explained over several pages in the book, and I thought it was cool. Many zombie stories offer little to no explanation at all, so it was nice to see one like this where it is spelled out in such a way that it seems almost logical. There are no crazy wizards or mystical powers involved in the plot - just religious fascism and bio-tech.
Even if you don't like horror stories, I think fans of secret agent type books and movies will like this one. Imagine if Jason Bourne or James Bond suddenly found himself fighting zombies, and that's what this book delivers. You could take this book and replace all the zombies with bad guys carrying AK-47's and it would still work fairly well. The main character, Joe Ledger, is the kind of guy commonly found in books like this, but he's presented in a way that doesn't make him seem like some cardboard action hero. The front cover of this book says it is ‘A Joe Ledger Novel' and I suppose that means the author plans to use him again.
I think Patient Zero would make a great movie, and the author even added a few in-jokes about how certain things only happen in the movies. Perhaps Maberry was subliminally trying to drop hints to any potential movie producer that may be interested in this one. It would make the great opener for a trilogy about a secret government undead fighting agency.
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