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The King of Plagues [Paperback]

Jonathan Maberry (Author)

3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Publication Date: 21 April 2011

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.

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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.

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Product details

Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Gollancz (21 April 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0575087013
ISBN-13: 978-0575087019
Product Dimensions: 3.2 x 15.5 x 23.3 cm

Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 347,921 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

King of Plagues is unrelentingly fast-paced, the combat scenes brutal and bone-crunchingly authentic. Ledger is brash and cocky but he has just enough insecurity to keep you rooting for him as he saves the world once again. (James Lovegrove THE FINANCIAL TIMES )

Book Description

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

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Joe Ledger or Jack Bauer? 8 April 2011

By Sandra D. Tooley

Format:Paperback

Joe Ledger fights more than just your common, everyday criminal. He fought zombies in Patient Zero. A former cop, he is now a member of the elite DMS (Department of Military Science). Villains you thought died in Patient Zero are back to reek havoc. There is a shadow organization called the Seven Kings that has infiltrated just about every part of society all the way to the top. And they are duplicating biblical events, metaphorically, to fulfill their goals. By threatening family and loved ones, they can get innocent people to do their bidding. Santoro is the knife-wielding assassin who truly loves his work and loves the "Goddess" who is at the head of the Seven Kings. From London to Canada to a cruise liner off the coast of South America, Joe and his team, with the mysterious Church at the helm, are at a loss to figure the Seven Kings' next move. Toss in the Inner Circle of the Skull and Bones and you aren't sure if the world can survive. The author has given Joe his version of Dexter's "dark passenger" which he calls the "warrior." Joe can switch from cop to warrior in the blink of an eye. This is a fast-paced thriller with a twist at the end which might give us another villain for the next Joe Ledger novel. If you haven't discovered Joe Ledger yet, it isn't too late to start. Joe is Jack Reacher and Repairman Jack rolled into one. Doesn't get any better than that!

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A great addition to a fantastic series! 25 Jun 2011

By N. J. H. TOP 100 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

NO SPOILERS!!

For those of you simply browsing this is the third book in the series. "The king of plagues" features Joe Ledger, a brilliant and funny lead. Now, what's he doing this time around? Joe is back to lead his team against another villain out to cause havoc. I don't want to reveal too much for fear of ruining the surprise for anyone so I won't explain any further than that.

I did lend this to a friend who had read the series too and they felt this was less gripping than the previous two but I disagree. The reason for this being, I felt the second book ended on a massive hook and so this book would explain a few things. The introduction of a couple of new characters and a new plot was also great and kept me on my toes. I can understand why some might feel this was the weakest of the three because it wasn't as action packed as the previous two so if this is what you loved the most you might be disappointed in that respect.

I felt that I was still engaged though and wanting to know more so for that reason I've rated this a four star. A sign of a good book to me is when you finish and are hoping the next one has already been written. I'm interested to see where Maberry will go from here with Joe and his team - A fantastic series in my opinion and well worth a read.

Bring on Joe Ledger 4 - "ASSASSIN'S CODE". So far seems to be scheduled for release late March 2011!!

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Cracking third instalment 20 April 2011

By Gareth Wilson - Falcata Times Blog TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

If you want a thriller that has real world threats with a touch of the supernatural then you really have to read Jonathan Maberry's work. It's creative, it is cleverly thought out and when you add a real world feel to the events within it's a story that will haunt as long you read leaving you feeling that something may have been added to the ink or pages to keep you hooked.

It's well done as usual through the authors magical sleight of hand, the twists you don't see coming and when you add a deliciously twisted mind to the work it's a story that really is fascinating. Finally add to this, great prose, a great action hero that just keeps you glued alongside a pace that just won't let up and it's a satisfactory third addition to this cracking series.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars All Filler, No Thriller 22 Jun 2011

By Mr

Format:Paperback

The first two Joe Ledger books are superb. King of Plagues is mediocre at best. The dialogue is a poor imitation of Mickey Spillane. The plot is stupid. And the amount of introspection Ledger experiences would make him a great candidate to appear on Oprah. Maberry's first two Ledger books are amazing rollercoaster rides into the fantastic. All I kept thinking while reading King of Plagues was "are we there yet?" I can't believe Maberry's heart was in this book and I feel cheated.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable But Lacks A Solid Hook 10 May 2011

By C. Green TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Having kicked off his series of Joe Ledger/DMS novels with an adrenalin charged bang in Patient Zero, Jonathan Maberry followed it up with the far weaker second installment The Dragon Factory, which although enjoyable I also found to be overly convoluted, self-indulgent in places and struggled to maintain any plausibility. Now Ledger and the rest of his surviving crew from the Department of Military Sciences are back for a third adventure; The King of Plagues.

Whilst it doesn't come close to hitting the heights of Patient Zero, this third DMS book is a definite improvement on The Dragon Factory. This is a more streamlined effort than its predecessor, and whilst its undoubtedly a work of fantastical fiction its doesn't veer so far into the realms of implausibility as The Dragon Factory did. Maberry also appears to have reigned in his most self-indulgent tendencies. Whilst his prose still sometimes strays into the realm of the overly-melodramatic it does so less frequently and he's scaled back on the cod-psychology and rambling internal monologues from Ledger (although they do still pepper the book and you still have to suffer the Modern Man/Cop/Warrior claptrap).

The previous two book's strong points, namely pacing and action, remain in place for this third outing. There are some great action set-pieces on offer here, especially an intense shootout at a Starbucks coffee shop. The only disappointment on the action front is the grand-finale, which feels somewhat rushed and rather anti-climatic, although thankfully there are no mythical creatures or scorpion dogs on display this time.... This slightly weak ending does allow Maberry to leave some promising plot threads dangling for future DMS adventures to pick up, and the book's pacing as a whole is pretty good, with less flab than The Dragon Factory had. The author has retained his habit of disrupting the flow of current events with multiple flashbacks, or 'interludes' as he rather pretentiously calls them, but these are generally more relevant to the plot and less disruptive to the narrative than they were in The Dragon Factory.

What 'The King of Plagues' really lacks however, is a solid, compelling hook to the plot. Patient Zero had it (Zombies!) and even The Dragon Factory had the race against time factor of a threatened bio-weapon attack to keep you reading, but The King of Plagues doesn't have a similarly strong attention grabbing plot device. The real motives and ultimate inentions of the 'Seven Kings' are, admitedly for dramatic reasons, kept opaque and uncertain until comparatively late on. The reader is aware that the stakes are high, but not what the ultimate price of failure for Ledger and the DMS may be (although you can guess). The result is a plot that moves forward at high speed but without a real sense of direction. When the ultimate destination and the 'Kings' true plan is revealed it also feels rather anti-climatic. I greeted it with a shrug of 'is that it' rather than an excited 'wow' or 'I didn't see that coming'.

Similarly the true identities of certain parties, which are supposed to keep you guessing until they are revealed near the end to lend a twist to the tale, are blindingly obvious from early on. If these thin attempts at adding further mystery were intended to make up for the lack of a truly compelling plot then they don't come anywhere close to achieving that goal.

Despite these flaws however, I liked and enjoyed The King of Plagues. Action packed and full of great set-pieces it expands Ledger's world further, introduces us to some great new characters and is worthy, just, of its four stars. I just hope that next time Jonathan Maberry comes up with a truly compelling adventure for the DMS to tackle. I'd happily wait a bit longer for the next Joe Ledger novel if the results were up to Patient Zero-like standards.

Oh and please, no more cringe-making cameos from Bono. Ever. Read more ›

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars love it

I have really enjoyed the first two books and am loving the third instalment I can't wait to read the fourth book.

Published 1 month ago by staceym

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable hokum!

This is the third instalment of the adventures of Joe Ledger and the Echo Team. The plot involves a ultra terrorist network known as the Seven Kings using weaponised forms of the... Read more

Published 4 months ago by Pazza

2.0 out of 5 stars Complete and utter disppointment

Not to go into it too much but quite simply....nothing happens. That is the fundamental problem with this book. You get through the first 200 pages before there's even a fight. Read more

Published 14 months ago by S Wilson

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent threequel

Joe Ledger returns to fight another band of oddball villains bent on world domination/destruction, one of which is the titular King of Plagues. Read more

Published 16 months ago by Mr. G. Battle

2.0 out of 5 stars From Potentially Good To Ridiculous

I bought all the books in this trilogy (so far) together, based on the reviews here.

'Patient Zero', even with the seriously flawed science, psychology, history,... Read more

Published on 5 Jun 2011 by BDI

5.0 out of 5 stars Another fine entry in a superb series

Rather than, spend time on plot spoilers, or explanations, i will start simply by saying that if you come to the page for this book having not read the previous 2 entries in the... Read more

Published on 19 May 2011 by D. Lloyd

5.0 out of 5 stars Prime Cut

After being drawn into the world of Joe Ledger in Patient Zero and then again receiving the equivalent of a birthday and Christmas present all at once with Dragon Factory I very... Read more

Published on 10 May 2011 by Harkin Cain

4.0 out of 5 stars Gripping stuff...

I knew going into this review that I was in for a compelling read. The last Joe Ledger novel, The Dragon Factory, ended with an event that was guaranteed to have repercussions in... Read more

Published on 6 May 2011 by Pablo Cheesecake (The Eloquent Page)

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