Predator One

Predator One is the second Ledger book I’ve read, so I can pass along that the novels are good even if you’re parachuting in at some point in the main story. Captain Ledger and his team open with a mission that’s a national disaster because they arrive five minutes too late, and things get a lot worse from there. The world’s most brilliant programmer is missing and presumed dead, but he’s been drawn into a web that includes a female assassin who knows how to torture with both pain and pleasure, a mastermind who was also presumed deceased (Ledger needs to check these things more carefully). and a “priest” who is not quite a human being. The first terrorist attack is a rousing scene, and a chilling one because if you assume some reasonable improvements in drones and computing (Maberry researches this stuff very well) it’s more than possible. The group and one-on-one fights are all mesmerizing, and the pieces of the plot come together very nicely as the world circles the abyss and we move toward a last-second bit of suspense: Can Joe get information from someone who has no reason to give it, even under torture? (There’s a LOT of torture in here, and the eye-slicing details won’t be for everyone.)
What distinguishes this thriller series is the depth and complexity of the characters and their worlds. Ledger, physically and psychologically, has been beat to hell. The people he loves are all in danger, of course. They are all well-drawn, and the interactions between them in life-and-death moments and the rare interludes of quiet are to be savored. Other reliable features with Ledger novels are the very latest in military hardware (I know just enough to know the envelope Maberry is pushing is within plausible reality) and complex adversaries who are masters of misdirection.
Even great authors have tiny slips – an A-10 pilot fires his “last bullet” when it should be “last shell,” and I can’t figure out how they camouflage a dog’s infrared signature at one point. Maberry, though, makes you WORK for those moments. This is a book with depth, characterization, and suspense: you know some people you like are going to die, but who remains uncertain until the last act. Hop aboard the Ledger train.

Author Jonathan Maberry does it again with his latest Joe Ledger novel, “Predator One”. I’m a big fan of the entire series.

Filled with over-the-top actions scenes, larger-than-life menace and page after page of jaw-droppingly great dialogue, this remains one of the most consistently great long term series I’ve read.

Maberry turns up the peril dial in “Predator One” to the max. Absolutely NOBODY is safe from the bad guys in this one. Unlike some of the prior works, there are a lot simply grim, but well done, scenes in this book. In addition, there appears to be a bit more focus on the “internals” of character’s relationships with one another and the emotional tension serves as an interesting counter-balance to the tension of the plot itself.

In the thriller style of writing it is common for the protags to achieve a near success which snowballs into a total failure and the cycle perpetuates until the plot is resolved with an “all-in” paroxysm of action, vengeance and high body count, often followed by a 1:1 confrontation with the evil mastermind and finally resolution. Maberry takes that convention and tosses it out the window. From the first chapter until the epilogue, everything is desperate gamble against ridiculous odds – but the story is crafted in such a way that the resolution and triumphs are entirely believable.

I’d highly recommend this series to any reader interested in the thriller genre but who has an appreciation for top-notch writing, laugh-out-loud dialogue and a good ole fashioned revenge tale.

Wow. Just…wow. Nobody turns military action into spun gold like Maberry. Another dive into the Ledger Files, and when I surface at the end, I’m breathless and exhausted. But you couldn’t slap the smile off my face.

The book opens with a HALO drop by Echo Team into a secret Gitmo-like facility, and things go quickly into the crapper when some of their activities are captured by a camera drone, and end up on the ‘net. From there, Maberry fires the afterburners on the prose, and never eases back until the final page. We see the return of some familiar faces, some evils from Echo’s past, and some welcome new faces to the Maberryverse. There’s even a quick reference to the Rot & Ruin series tucked away in the story, which is a welcome shoutout to more of Jonathan’s YA series. Blend in hacked and tampered military and transport software – it’s a recipe for disaster. But then, disaster recovery is Ledger’s bailiwick.

The frenetic pace led to what sincerely has to be the most action-packed finale of any book in the series thus far, but as much as I love the protagonist, I was delighted to see the finale spread out over multiple fronts, showcasing some great combat scenes with characters who have been part of the fun but hadn’t had that much spotlight prior to this. Stellar, tightly-paced action sequences are Maberry’s specialty, and he deftly wove the story across the various fronts with pacing that kept you firmly on the edge of your seat. As I’ve come to expect though, Maberry knocked this one outta the park.

Big fan of the Joe Ledger series as it’s a good mix of action, tech and at times horror, the characters are likable in that your always rooting for the good guys but he’s not above giving the bad guys/ladies a chance at redemption at times the stories lean a little bit into the sci-fi realm and this is where it loses a star in so much that it goes from a credible threat to not so much though in a month when the US releases all it’s data on UFO’s I may have to edit this review

Very fast moving Joe Ledger novel that I did not mean to read quite so quickly but just had to keep on going to find out what happened. Lots of pace, really really bad baddies (some of whom might just be familiar) and deep trouble for Joe, the DMS and those dear to them. If you have read the rest of the series, you will be even more concerned about the characters survival as really unfair horrible things happen to people. The bad guys have realised keeping the DMS including Mr Church on the back foot is key to their evil plans succeeding. Elements about redemption, revenge, and unexplained mysterious things add depth to the story.

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