4 | the Monster Slayer Chronicles April 2015
Patient Zero Review
Author: Berkowitz
Jonathan Maberry’s Patient Zero is what happens when you take spy movie schlock, throw in the “zombies as a bioterror weapon” trope, and then combine it with actual geopolitics and international intrigue. The result is either a satisfying page-turner, or a hokey series of misfires, depending on the reader. Patient Zero still remains a well-crafted novel with a paint-by-numbers sensibility capable of rivaling any other works in the action genre, if you can appreciate the implausibility of using the walking dead as a weapon, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t enjoy this tale.
Calling the book a zombie novel might be a little reaching, as the apocalypse has yet to happen. In fact, the core plot of the book involves preventing such a development, so in that way, the novel evades many of the expected zombie scenarios. The author also curiously insists in using the word “walkers” when referring to our classic undead monster du jour. At this point in popular culture, why shouldn’t we just call them zombies? There’s no shame in it.
The first in a series , Patient Zero features the cop-turned-mercenary character Joe Ledger who is written to be uncannily adept when it comes to combat situations. He’s also written to be witty, but more often comes off as an oaf, a veritable meat-head of a leading man. He could be called the badass everyman, the Tim the Tool Man Taylor of action heroes. His best friend, Rudy Sanchez, is a psychologist that repeatedly calls him “Cowboy.” Which is weird. Rudy also drops stereotypical Latino phrases like “Dios Mio” as though it’s his job. Though the characters could have been reduced to two-dimensional cartoon show fodder, they do tend to reveal a bit of complexity as the story unfolds.
After a shootout at a warehouse, Joe gets approached by a secret government organization called the Department of Military Science (DMS) which wants him to take up a role against the terrorist organization that has been infecting their agents with the walker virus. Joe ends up heading a rag-tag crew of military experts, and together, they cooperate in taking down two of the opponent’s facilities operating state side.
Across the ocean is a man named Gault, a rich American from big pharma that has designed the zombie virus with the help of a genius woman named Amirah, wife of the Muslim terrorist overlord El Mujahid. Gault has an affair with Amirah, and it causes some interesting conflicts in the continuing power-grabs over the reins of their biological weapon. Gault and his underling, Toys, tend to steal the narrative spotlight in many cases, and it can be unfortunate when the antagonists become more interesting than the hero and the things he’s doing. The book could have followed Gault and his experiences without any help from the Joe Ledger storyline at all, but that probably wouldn’t have jived with the author’s vision.
Joe Ledger begins a romantic relationship with one of the main operatives of the DMS named Grace. And spoilers: She goes to visit him one night, and after an exhausting outpouring of emotion, Joe declines sex because they’d just been consuming alcohol: a few beers. This was an interesting decision, as one might have expected characters in fiction to do the exciting thing. One can’t help but think there was someone wagging their finger over the notion of alcohol-fueled love-making, and the author buckled under threat of the shame hammer. The novel remains without any substantial sex scene between the hero and the leading lady.
Despite some of these reservations, the book succeeds in triggering empathy when it’s necessary. Not all of the characterization is poor. Some of it is actually excellent, and as an action thriller with horror undertones, this novel stands out. If you enjoy these kinds of reads, you’ll be left pining for more. Probably one of the best things about the book is how it reveals the way the terrorists’ faith ties into their actions, and in some ways, offers an insightful reflection on conflicts going on in the real world today. Recommended.
Jonathan Maberry’s Patient Zero is what happens when you take spy movie schlock, throw in the “zombies as a bioterror weapon” trope, and then combine it with actual geopolitics and international intrigue. The result is either a satisfying page-turner, or a hokey series of misfires, depending on the reader. Patient Zero still remains a well-crafted novel with a paint-by-numbers sensibility capable of rivaling any other works in the action genre, if you can appreciate the implausibility of using the walking dead as a weapon, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t enjoy this tale.
Calling the book a zombie novel might be a little reaching, as the apocalypse has yet to happen. In fact, the core plot of the book involves preventing such a development, so in that way, the novel evades many of the expected zombie scenarios. The author also curiously insists in using the word “walkers” when referring to our classic undead monster du jour. At this point in popular culture, why shouldn’t we just call them zombies? There’s no shame in it.
The first in a series , Patient Zero features the cop-turned-mercenary character Joe Ledger who is written to be uncannily adept when it comes to combat situations. He’s also written to be witty, but more often comes off as an oaf, a veritable meat-head of a leading man. He could be called the badass everyman, the Tim the Tool Man Taylor of action heroes. His best friend, Rudy Sanchez, is a psychologist that repeatedly calls him “Cowboy.” Which is weird. Rudy also drops stereotypical Latino phrases like “Dios Mio” as though it’s his job. Though the characters could have been reduced to two-dimensional cartoon show fodder, they do tend to reveal a bit of complexity as the story unfolds.
After a shootout at a warehouse, Joe gets approached by a secret government organization called the Department of Military Science (DMS) which wants him to take up a role against the terrorist organization that has been infecting their agents with the walker virus. Joe ends up heading a rag-tag crew of military experts, and together, they cooperate in taking down two of the opponent’s facilities operating state side.
Across the ocean is a man named Gault, a rich American from big pharma that has designed the zombie virus with the help of a genius woman named Amirah, wife of the Muslim terrorist overlord El Mujahid. Gault has an affair with Amirah, and it causes some interesting conflicts in the continuing power-grabs over the reins of their biological weapon. Gault and his underling, Toys, tend to steal the narrative spotlight in many cases, and it can be unfortunate when the antagonists become more interesting than the hero and the things he’s doing. The book could have followed Gault and his experiences without any help from the Joe Ledger storyline at all, but that probably wouldn’t have jived with the author’s vision.
Joe Ledger begins a romantic relationship with one of the main operatives of the DMS named Grace. And spoilers: She goes to visit him one night, and after an exhausting outpouring of emotion, Joe declines sex because they’d just been consuming alcohol: a few beers. This was an interesting decision, as one might have expected characters in fiction to do the exciting thing. One can’t help but think there was someone wagging their finger over the notion of alcohol-fueled love-making, and the author buckled under threat of the shame hammer. The novel remains without any substantial sex scene between the hero and the leading lady.
Despite some of these reservations, the book succeeds in triggering empathy when it’s necessary. Not all of the characterization is poor. Some of it is actually excellent, and as an action thriller with horror undertones, this novel stands out. If you enjoy these kinds of reads, you’ll be left pining for more. Probably one of the best things about the book is how it reveals the way the terrorists’ faith ties into their actions, and in some ways, offers an insightful reflection on conflicts going on in the real world today. Recommended.