Horror Aficionados discussion

Can you kill a zombie by breaking its neck? Joe Ledger can. In all my zombie studies I have found you must destroy the brain.

I'm about 1/3 of the way through this book and it's shaping up to be pretty good. The beginning is a little too macho/military for my tastes, but the introduction to "patient zero" and the plans to unleash him is ratcheting up the suspense.

Can't wait to (hopefully) see some vile people torn apart at the end.

Hi :) I'm new to this group, just picked up Patient Zero at the library today. Can't wait to get started.

Welcome, Megan. Hope you enjoy PZ and your first group read here.

Thanks :) None of my friends love horror the way I do, so I am excited to discover some good books with people who love scary stuff!

Well, they don't know what they're missing. My husband was never a big horror fan, but I've gotten him hooked on zombies. Baby steps...

Two Maberry's in a row!

I enjoyed this novel and a fresh twist on the Zombie Novel - making it more of a military/terrorist theme. My big complaint with the book was it constant jumping around.

I like the jumping around. The military aspect took some getting used, like the idea of a zombie plague kept under wraps by the government. Great characters though.

Yeah, I like the build up of Joe Ledger as the 'chosen one' and his motivation in knowing bad assed karate moves from his past of being held helpless while his girlfriend was raped. Also the children being kidnapped by terrorists and being used as guiena pigs was really scary. But it does seemed bit macho for my taste.

Normally I don't like jumping around, especially with anything dealing with the military and the Middle East (I guess that's where they're from), but I haven't minded it too much because every story seems to be compelling.

Does anyone find it hard to believe that the ruthless head of the terrorists and Amira rip each other's clothes off and go at it hot and heavy? Don't think it would be worth my life to have an affair.

I actually kinda enjoyed their affair. it added a realistic element of danger, beyond the zombies. I also felt this book was a bit macho at the beginning but I attributed it to Patient Zero being the zombie book I read after Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. Quite a contrast.

Megan wrote: "Thanks :) None of my friends love horror the way I do, so I am excited to discover some good books with people who love scary stuff!"

That's why we're here, Megan! :)

For anybody looking to read this and who has yet to grab it, Borders has it in their "Buy 1 get the other at 50% off" section. This is there, The Living Dead anthology, and Let The Right One In. I plan to grab them this weekend.

I gathered from the reviews of this book that it is Anti-Islamic and it prompts Islamophobia. Is that true??
I am Arabic and Muslim and if that is the case I don't need to read it. If I want to have high blood pressure I can always watch the news.

Or you can read it in the same mindset that many, many, many Horror novels take on Christianity or any other organized religion. Just remember that in many books, good is depicted as a cover for true evil. Maberry is a smart guy and comes across as a good guy in interviews, so any "anti" stance he might use I would guess would be for the pure fiction side, if ya know what I mean.

Fatma wrote: "I gathered from the reviews of this book that it is Anti-Islamic and it prompts Islamophobia. Is that true??
I am Arabic and Muslim and if that is the case I don't need to read it. If I want to hav..."

Then if you take this stance then you are going to have difficulty with life. Everyone is not "out to get you"! I am not going to get into a geopolitical discussion here. You need to sit back and read this as the fiction it is. Yes, it does make out the bad guys to be islamic terrorist extremists. If that offends you then don't read it. I don't get upset when the bad guys are hillbillies from Kentucky. I just laugh it off. The important part here is that this is FICTION.

I find Joe interesting. To me, he is a mix of Chuck Norris, Arnold, and Sylvester Stallone. I don't see him as the brightest fish in the pond but he is a badassed ass kicker. At times he seems a little over the top with his super hero martial arts capabilities.

Joe is interesting, and you have to suspend some belief when reading about his ass-kicking abilities. No macho wins ALL the time.

I knew the moment there was a hard-nosed but beautiful, intelligent DMS (?) worker who didn't care for Joe but somehow found herself admiring his bright blue eyes in the surveillance camera that I was in for another romance treat. *rolls eyes*

is the female named Grace? I remember thinking she felt like a stereotype at first but i grew to like her more.

No macho wins ALL the time.

This is one of the reasons "X-Files" was refreshing - Mulder was constantly getting his ass kicked.

Yes, Grace is her name. Not saying I don't like her, just grown weary from romances amidst zombie/vampire/werewolf/monster attacks. You can always tell when the sparks are starting to fly. It's the Diane/Sam thing: hate each other, fall in love, hate each other, save each other.

Rusty, I so agree.

Tressa wrote: "Yes, Grace is her name. Not saying I don't like her, just grown weary from romances amidst zombie/vampire/werewolf/monster attacks. You can always tell when the sparks are starting to fly. It's the..."

yeah I gotta agree with the Moonlighting analogy, not the most original thing in that book.

William wrote: "Fatma wrote: "I gathered from the reviews of this book that it is Anti-Islamic and it prompts Islamophobia. Is that true??
I am Arabic and Muslim and if that is the case I don't need to read it. If..."

True. I'm amazed at how many books have fanatic Fundamentalist "Christians" as the protagonist. There are psycho's at every end of the religious spectrum, and every area in between.

Rachel wrote: "Tressa wrote: "Yes, Grace is her name. Not saying I don't like her, just grown weary from romances amidst zombie/vampire/werewolf/monster attacks. You can always tell when the sparks are starting t..."

Sam and Diane are CHEERS.
Sorry...had to get nerdy there...

I must've been really tired when i wrote that, because I KNOW that :) Anyway, same kind of relationship.

Carl wrote: "Or you can read it in the same mindset that many, many, many Horror novels take on Christianity or any other organized religion. Just remember that in many books, good is depicted as a cover for tr..."

I also don't like books that ridicule Christianity or Judaism. I respect all religions and books like that make me extremely uncomfortable.

William wrote: "Fatma wrote: "I gathered from the reviews of this book that it is Anti-Islamic and it prompts Islamophobia. Is that true??
I am Arabic and Muslim and if that is the case I don't need to read it. If..."
I don't know about you but for me the main purpose of reading books is enjoyment. I want to read something that take me to another world, I want to enjoy every last word of the book. So tell me why would I read something that I know for sure that it will annoy me? Is this book a masterpiece that I will always regret not reading? Is it one of the best 100 novels ever written in history that no one should die without reading?
And by the way if an author from my country made the bad guys in his novel to be from my village, I will laugh it off too. I think that is different than the situation with this book.

If the book offends you all ready, as somebody else who has yet to read it, I suggest you avoid it.
Are you a fan of Horror Fatma?

Well, I finished it and I must say Maberry outdid himself! Excellent read.

Great book! I liked the fact that I never knew what was coming. I was wondering until the end if everybody was going to die.

Carl wrote: "If the book offends you all ready, as somebody else who has yet to read it, I suggest you avoid it.
Are you a fan of Horror Fatma?"

I am a fan of horror.

As of yesterday I thought this book was taking a looong time to get to the action, especially for a supposed zombie book.

I finally got to a wonderful twist just past the middle of the book and the action has really taken off. This book isn't what I expected from a zombie book, but I now appreciate how it veered from the tried-and-true zombie formula.

I had NO idea this was the November pick and I started this last week. I am a BIG fan of Maberry's Pine Deep trilogy....and I'm a third of the way through this novel and thoroughly loving it!

Marisella...this is a work of fiction. I don't believe Maberry is making a statement. At all. In fact, one of the villians behind the evil in the story is British. And quite frankly, the trend these days is to bash Christians, also. I understand how you feel and don't want to offend you...but again, this is a work of fiction.

I was so excited to read this book.... but it is taking me forever to actually get into it. Seems much more macho guy/action than horror.

The first half is really macho, but it gets better once the action picks up in the middle. Don't give up on it.

Hate giving up on a book, especially zombies! I'll stick with it a little longer. Hopefully the boasting will die down as the story picks up :)

I had this in hand tonight, all set to buy, turned around and saw a copy of Thomas Ligotti's MY WORK IS NOT DONE HERE and had to grab it. Dammit.

Patient Zero was more about the main characters than the zombies. It's not one of those zombie books where the zombies attack en masse, making their way through town leaving death and destruction. It's different but a good read. Don't give up on it. There are some interesting twists near the end.

I liked My Work Is Not Yet Done OK. The first story was the best, and it really highlighted the paranoia that lowly office workers feel; the impotence at being at the mercy of someone with so much more power; the knowledge that your livelihood can be terminated in that 8 hour work day.

It's just VERY fitting now as my office might be shut down on tuesday...so it seemed appropriate to grab. Plus I learned you don't walk by Ligotti since his stuff is hard to find in brick and mortars.

Carl, you're going to lose your job? I'm so sorry.

No, don't think so. The company is consolidating and shutting down my office. I am safe, but some are not. My drive will also be jumping up to about an hour and a half.

I thought you sounded a little calm for such a calamity. Still, sorry about that commute. I can get back and forth to work and home in 15 mins. during normal driving conditions. But in rush hour it's about 30 mins. But, man, if I had to drive an hour more I don't know what I'd do. I listen to audio CDs on my drives.

My store had a couple Ligotti novels, and we're a smallish store, so go figure.

I will probably finish Patient Zero today and I think this is a brilliant 'zombie' novel, blending action-adventure with horror. Yeah, kinda macho in its tone and style, but what would you expect given most of the characters? This book KILLS! ;)

Is it a Borders? I think you actually stand a chance to find more small press and stuff of the sort at the mom and pop shops than you do at a Borders and such. Though I do have a Borders not too far from me that obviously has a person doing orders who does know something about the genre, as they stock better Horror than any other Borders I ever set foot in. But I haven't seen a Ligotti book in a store since I bought NIGHTMARE FACTORY 10 years ago.

Hmmm, really, Carl? I doubt Borders has store personnel "ordering" horror for the store, because that's generally done by buyers at the corporate level, unless they get a lot of customer requests for a title or titles, then they can place a special store order.

Just an FYI...PATIENT ZERO wasn't written to be a horror novel. It's a thriller, the first in a series of science-based action thrillers I'm writing for St. Martins Griffin. It does have horror elements, of course (and I cut my teeth as an author writing horror novels).

I have a different take on zombies, ROT & RUIN (more Romero, less Borne Identity) coming out from Simon & Schuster next September. That one takes place fourteen years after the zombie apocalypse.

Jonathan, I'm glad Patient Zero was not the usual zombie story. Although I enjoy these, Patient Zero was a breath of fresh air coming on the heels of other zombie novels I've read lately. I enjoyed it and can't wait to read the other thrillers.

Just handed it off to my husband, who is normally a sci-fi geek but enjoys a good zombie AND military story, so he's having a lot of fun with Patient Zero. He has remarked several times about what a good book it is.

Can't wait for Rot & Ruin. Make sure you poke your head in here next September and remind us it's coming out.

I'm in here on a regular basis, so I'll be sure to mention it. Thanks to everyone here for making PATIENT ZERO your November read.

Jonathan wrote: "Just an FYI...PATIENT ZERO wasn't written to be a horror novel. It's a thriller, the first in a series of science-based action thrillers I'm writing for St. Martins Griffin. It does have horror e..."

Sounds great, Jonathan! I just finished Patient Zero and really enjoyed it. Any hints on what the next Joe Ledger/DMS novel might be about? Rot & Ruin sounds fantastic, from what you've told us, too.

Joe Ledger will return in THE DRAGON FACTORY (March 2010) squaring off against modern day Nazis who are using cutting-edge genetics to complete the Master Race program.

And in 2011 he'll face off against THE KING OF PLAGUES, a secret society who are using modern versions of the Ten Plagues of Egypt as terrorist weapons to crash world economies.

There's also a free Joe Ledger shot story, COUNTDOWN, available for download: http://us.macmillan.com/CMS400/upload... and a second free story, DEEP DARK will go up in a few weeks.

Hope you stick around for the wole ride!

Best
Jonathan