REVIEW: Assassin's Code

PLOT: When Joe Ledger and Echo Team rescue a group of American college kids held hostage in Iran,the Iranian government then asks them to help find six nuclear bombs planted in the Mideast oil fields. These stolen WMDs will lead Joe and Echo Team into hidden vaults of forbidden knowledge, mass-murder, betrayal, and a brotherhood of genetically-engineered killers with a thirst for blood. Accompanied by the beautiful assassin called Violin, Joe follows a series of clues to find the Book of Shadows, which contains a horrifying truth that threatens to shatter his entire worldview. They say the truth will set you free… Not this time. The secrets of the Assassin’s Code will set the world ablaze.

REVIEW: This series continues to amaze me. After dealing with Nazi scientists, zombies, and weaponized plague I figured all of the conventional science fiction plots turned non-fiction were all used up. Maberry takes what is a seemingly unrealistic story line and puts the realistic twist on it, as he has done with the rest of the series prior to Assassin's Code. I have to say I was blown away by this fourth entry in the Joe Ledger series, because not only did I not expect vampires when I first picked this book up, but I expected certain villains to play a crucial role in this novel. I haven't read vampires done this well since I read Guilermo del Toro's The Strain and two follow-up novels, and I was highly impressed with the mythos that Maberry weaves for his own vampires in the Joe Ledger series. I don't know if this is the first time he's tackled vampires, but he went about it really well and created them in a realistic world. The most important thing about this book is that it could have gone either way depending on how the vampires were viewed by the reader, and I saw some of the most inventive vampires that aren't particularly scary but you can almost relate to their story, you can understand them. That can be scary all on its own I suppose, and to see a vampire story written with some creativity and uniqueness to it is great in these trying vampire literature times.

Joe Ledger is his usual self, but it's really his disbelief in everything that is going on throughout the book that really sells it in the end. He has the reaction that most of us probably would, to the statement that vampires are not imaginary. When Ledger discovers that vampires may be a threat, even then he doesn't believe it, until he's pretty well convinced by his team members that what he's seeing is true. He even encounters a vampire early on in the book, and comes up with about every excuse possible to believe that he didn't just fight a supernatural being. I love Joe's mindset throughout Assassin's Code and it really fits and helps the reader relate and believe that this is plausible because Joe has so much trouble accepting his mission this time around. Of course, Joe's trusty sidekick Ghost is back and better than ever. Ghost has a rough go of it this time around and gets plenty beat up and it's kind of hard to read in certain moments, but he does get his ultimate revenge on the bad guys so don't worry about that.

This book sees the loss of a few characters, but addition of a couple others that may be future side characters from here on out. Joe meets the deadly, but beautiful assassin who calls herself Violin and almost falls in love with her before they ever even meet. I liked Violin because she is kind of like Joe, in terms of personality, but she belongs to a different secret task force that is directed by the Mother, Lilith. I liked the addition of all these different groups this time around, that show that the DMS is not the only one out there fighting evil in the world. Also a lot of historical mythology is added to the Joe Ledger series, that pertains to The Red Order and the vampires and how it all came to be with the Inquisition and holy wars of the past. I really liked Maberry's use of interludes to go back and show the past of these groups of both people, and vampire, and also go more in depth for Nicodemus. I have to say that Nicodemus literally gives me the creeps, and I love that he's still pretty well present and scheming in the background of the books. This book again, is probably the best one since The Dragon Factory, and that's not to say The King of Plagues sucked. My favorite is probably now this one, because the blend of realism that Maberry brings to the Joe Ledger stories, combined with something completely supernatural had me turning pages faster than ever before with Joe Ledger. Thank you Mr. Maberry, oh thank you and now to read Extinction Machine next, the most current Joe Ledger novel!

RATED : ( R )

WRITING : ( 10 / 10 )

STORY : ( 10 / 10 )

COVER : ( 7 / 10 )

AWESOME : ( 10 / 10 )

FINAL RATING : ( 10 / 10 )

REVIEW: The King of Plagues

PLOT: Saturday 09:11 Hours: A blast rocks a London hospital and thousands are dead or injured… 10:09 Hours: Joe Ledger arrives on scene to investigate. The horror is unlike anything he has ever seen. Compelled by grief and rage, Joe rejoins the DMS and within hours is attacked by a hit-team of assassins and sent on a suicide mission into a viral hot zone during an Ebola outbreak. Soon Joe Ledger and the Department of Military Sciences begin tearing down the veils of deception to uncover a vast and powerful secret society using weaponized versions of the Ten Plagues of Egypt to destabilize world economies and profit from the resulting chaos. Millions will die unless Joe Ledger meets this powerful new enemy on their own terms as he fights terror with terror.

REVIEW: Joe Ledger is back! After walking away and "retiring" from the game after The Dragon Factory, Ledger is brought back into the DMS to handle a new threat to the world. A secret society of villains that are named kings of things such as fear and plagues, resurrects the ten plagues seen in the Bible to wreak havoc upon the world and profit from the terror. Basically, another terrorist plot attempted on not only the United States, but the entire world and someone familiar is at the head of it. All I will say is that he was in the first book, and the couple of them make a return appearance as some of the head villains in this book. I liked that Jonathan Maberry had weaved a new story from previous threads, and it's really cool to know that you should always be keeping an eye out when reading these books because you don't know who will reappear. At the end of this book, a few knots are left untied and it really makes me excited to read the next book to see if anyone familiar will be returning.

The book starts out a lot like 9/11, the London hospital is attacked by terrorists who blow up the building and kill 4,000+ which in the book is said to be a higher number than 9/11. Joe is called in just before the explosions, and in the aftermath of the terror decides to join back up with Echo Team for another fight. There are new members in Echo Team this time around, which was cool to see because the same old troop of guys may have gotten old the third time around because a lot of them are without too much personality. We only get a look inside to Joe most often, but occasionally he will bring the human out of the other soldiers. There was a particular moment he talks about one of his boys calming some kids down when shit hits the fan, and Joe says that even he would be convinced to go get ice cream or something like that. It is pretty funny, but one of the new guys is an elite sniper and he's known in the book for not talking very much. So add a silent character to the world, however, he has his moments of blasting people with his rifle in crucial action scenes and saving the day like a mysterious ghost in the shadows.

Speaking of ghosts, Joe has a dog named Ghost who is a trained military dog. After reading Suspect somewhat recently, this really excited me because Maggie in that book was such an interesting character to follow and see how she protected her "pack". In this book, Joe is Ghost's pack, and he's already fully trained and ready to go and completely bad ass. Ghost has quite a few moments as well where he is endearing and you love the relationship he has with Joe. Also, Ghost tears up some terrorist ass as well and even saves the day at one point, so it was really cool to see that aspect added to Echo Team as well. Maberry does a really great job of bringing enough fresh ingredients to the original recipe to make it new and exciting, while still not losing the magic that makes the Joe Ledger series so awesome.

The only weird things about the book weren't really complaints as much as they were just small things I noticed. I'm not sure if it was the plot that drew Maberry to use real celebrities and names in his story, but at the end on the Sea of Hope cruise there are numerous celebs walking around. Even at the end of the book, Joe Ledger has brief conversation and is thanked by U2's Bono and part of me found it hysterical and the other part of me just wondered why. There was mention of Taylor Swift, the Jonas Brothers, Jay-Z, and plenty more. While it was neat to be put into the real world, which is why I assume it was done that way, it bothered me in the absolute slightest way. Also, the book was kind of unresolved as I said earlier which lead to a somewhat unclimactic ending. The plot is revealed and I never would have seen it coming as there was little to no clue as to how the Seven Kings and the Goddess were going to achieve their plans. Also, some of our villains see the light at the very end of the book and I'm pretty positive it will be the end to them, but who knows. All I know is they go out with a bang, and it's kind of hilarious to see how easily some of the head honchos can just drop out of the story all together. Only one more book and I'll be ready to read Extinction Machine, so next up is Assassin's Code. I tell you what people, if you haven't read the Joe Ledger series and paranormal, science fiction, action, horror, or all of the above interest you, you need to read this series. Jonathan Maberry has steadily worked his way into my list of favorite authors, this guy is brilliant.

RATED : ( R )

WRITING : ( 9 / 10 )

STORY : ( 10 / 10 )

COVER : ( 9 / 10 )

AWESOME : ( 10 / 10 )

FINAL RATING : ( 9 / 10 )