Pages

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

BOOK REVIEW: The King of Plagues

Title: The King of Plagues


Author: Jonathan Maberry

Publisher: Gollancz

RRP: $32.99

ISBN: 9780575087019

Release Date: June 2011

Pages: 448



Description:

Joe Ledger and Echo Team are back again and facing a biological apocalypse.

Joe Ledger, ex-cop and now special forces killer must lead his elite team against a criminal mastermind who threatens to unleash a super plague that could wipe out humanity.

Third in the series of all-action spec-ops adventure thrillers - Andy McNab meets 24.

Frenetic pacing, thrill-a-minute adventure, breath-taking and realistic (author us a seventh Dan Karate black belt) violence. Perfect for the male readership.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jonathan Maberry is a stunning dark thriller writer and a fabulous new talent.

Previous Books:

The Dragon Factory (Bfmt 9780575086975 Apr 11);

Patient Zero

Review:

Jonathan Maberry is one of my favourite authors, and the Joe Ledger series is now into the third instalment, which is great. King of Plagues opens with our hero knocking around England, in mourning (see The Dragon Factory), and supposedly through with the DMS. Until he gets the call from Church, alerting him to a bombing at the Royal London Hospital. The devastation is complete, the body count is staggering, and Joe and the DMS is left to pick up the pieces of what will turn out to be one of their biggest threats yet: the work of The Seven Kings. What follows is a race against time to prevent death on a massive scale

Mr. Church, abruptly terminating Joe Ledger's walkabout or bereavement leave or pity party or whatever you want to call it. Ledger is tapped to investigate the shocking obliteration of a venerable London hospital, and the death toll mounting in the thousands. And this is only the opening salvo. Joe and the D.M.S. suspect that this is only the first leg in a series of nightmarish assaults. Having mostly existed in rumour and urban legend, having fomented fear and paranoia thru insidious management of the social media (not to mention the application of vile threats and abductions), the Seven Kings have finally stepped out of the shadows and are about to launch their most ambitious act of aggression: the bringing about of the biblical Ten Plagues of Egypt. Things are about to get all Old Testament-y. And as Joe and his colleagues find, the reach of the Seven Kings is all-encompassing. Their influence extends even into the heart of the D.M.S. itself. Mr. Church, learning this, is really grinding down on his vanilla wafers now.

This is indeed a great effort by Maberry for all Joe Ledger fans as well as any fan of full throttled nonstop action thrillers. The pacing is breath taking, the mysteries challenging, and the action and thrills are completely satisfying. The characterizations are much more thorough and compelling this time around also.

No comments:

Post a Comment