"Countdown"
by Jonathan Maberry
narrated by Ray Porter
Blackstone Audio, Inc.
digital dnload
20 minutes
Meet Joe Ledger. Army Ranger vet. Tough Baltimore cop. Now a member of a joint task force heading in on a warehouse raid. Lots of guns, bullets, and a body in a big blue box... "Countdown" is a short story that introduces the listener to an action adventure hero in the making and, whets the appetite for more. What happens next? Who is Mr. Church? What's with the tinted glasses inside? The Vanilla Wafers? Is Mr. Church a good thing? A bad thing? An X-Files thing? The answers to all this and more await in the first full-length novel in the Joe Ledger trilogy, Patient Zero.
Ray Porter renders the character of Joe Ledger with natural ease. Jonathan Maberry, while generous with the mil-fic elements, also fleshes out the protagonist with an interior life beyond the jarhead mentality you might expect. Joe Ledger is smart, funny and most importantly, human. Ray Porter, in his turn, is Joe Ledger, inhabiting the character so completely that there is no disjunct between the writing and the narration.
Other Stuff: I borrowed a MP3-CD copy of Joe Ledger: The Missing Files from Blackstone Audio, Inc. There are five short stories in the collection: "Countdown" (precursor to the full-length novel, Patient Zero), "Zero Tolerance" (follow-up to Patient Zero), "Deep Dark" (prequel to the full-length novel, The Dragon Factory), "Dog Days" (follow-up to The Dragon Factory) and "Material Witness" (a crossover to The Pine Deep Trilogy.) I split up the mp3 files on the CD into the five groupings that made up each story; but each story is available separately as a digital dnload as well as on this short story collection.
Other Stuff: I borrowed a MP3-CD copy of Joe Ledger: The Missing Files from Blackstone Audio, Inc. There are five short stories in the collection: "Countdown" (precursor to the full-length novel, Patient Zero), "Zero Tolerance" (follow-up to Patient Zero), "Deep Dark" (prequel to the full-length novel, The Dragon Factory), "Dog Days" (follow-up to The Dragon Factory) and "Material Witness" (a crossover to The Pine Deep Trilogy.) I split up the mp3 files on the CD into the five groupings that made up each story; but each story is available separately as a digital dnload as well as on this short story collection.
This post is part of the Murder, Monsters, Mayhem feature being hosted by Jennifer L. at www.jennsbookshelves.com
This book also qualifies for the Where Are You Reading? Challenge hosted by Sheila at her blog, Book Journey. "Countdown" is set Baltimore, Maryland.
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One of my favorite horror authors (and series!)!
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