Review of Assassin’s Code by Jonathan Maberry – on SFSignal


My review of Assassin’s Code, the fourth “Joe Ledger” novel by Jonathan Maberry, is up on SFSignal.com.

An excerpt:

REVIEW SUMMARY: With ancient conspiracies wrapping more genetic mutations and the not quite omniscient Department of Military Sciences, Assassin’s Code is the most enjoyable in this series yet.

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Taking a cue from the headlines after rescuing U.S. students being held as spies in Iran, Joe Ledger and Echo Team are pulled into an ancient hostile agreement between Christian and Muslim factions, with an old foe, some legendary mutations and the past of the DMS leadership complicating their fight against a nuclear holocaust.

MY REVIEW
PROS
: Maberry keeps the pace moving with short chapters, wise-cracking Joe Ledger, lots of action and flashbacks; blends in historical background with enough realism to make you check the facts; large world and history shaking conspiracies.
CONS
: Need some new villains; hopefully background on Church/Deacon/St. Germaine in a future book.
BOTTOM LINE
: Fast-paced, with Joe Ledger getting more and more complicated with each novel, Assassin’s Code is easily the best in the series since Patient Zero…and may be the best of the four.

Thus far, Joe Ledger has been drafted into the Department of Military Sciences to take on zombie-like genetic mutations (Patient Zero), redundantly battled more genetic mutations while suffering great personal loss (The Dragon Factory), and taken out the Seven Kings, manipulators of the world (The King of Plagues).  Through it all, Ledger has become a more complex character, morphing from a machine-like fighter into a man with a history as a teenage victim of violence that turned him into the man he is, with a will do to what is necessary in spite of the voices in his head. And along the way he picked up a very cool dog, Ghost.

The fourth book in the series, Assassin’s Code, starts with Ledger, fresh off of saving students captured as “spies” by the Iranian government, coerced into a meeting by a female sniper’s red dot. An Iranian diplomat of questionable honesty and morals (as all villains are) feeds Ledger information about a nuclear threat: several bombs that have been planted in Middle Eastern oil fields, with one possibly on US soil. Several interested parties are listening or interested in this conversation, including the (of course) beautiful female sniper, part of an all female sniper gang (can you say “made for the movies”?). Ledger and DMS must decide if the threat is real, which of multiple conflicting parties has their finger on the trigger and track down the nukes in time.

The factors that turn Assassin’s Code into something more than your normal spy novel I would classify asSPOILERS. Those of you that WANT TO AVOID THAT should turn back now and not click to read the rest of this review after the jump.

 

  

Read the rest of the review on SFSignal.

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