King of Plagues

The King of Plagues is the third novel in the Joe Ledger series written by American author Jonathan Maberry. It was first published in 2011 by St. Martin's Griffin.

Synopsis
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 witnessed. 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 Miltary Sciences begin tearing down the veils of deception to uncover a vast and powerfull secret society using weaponized versions of the Ten Plagues of Egypt to destabolize world economics and profit from the resulting chaos. Millions will die unless Joe Ledger meets this powerful new enemy on its own terms: fighting terror with terror.

Plot Summary
The story opens with Joe Ledger, melancholy after the events of The Dragon Factory, when a London hospital explodes and thousands are dead or injured. More events unfold as a secret society calling itself the Seven Kings looks to manipulate the world and recreate the Ten Plagues of Egypt from the Bible. Joe rejoins DMS and begins rooting out the source of the attacks, and looking for these weaponized 'modern' versions of the ten plagues. The Kings are hoping that the resulting chaos of their plagues will sow unrest and destabilize the world's economies and that they will be able to profit from the aftermath. Echo Team has several new recruits, one of which is Joe's new faithful companion - a white German Shepherd named Ghost - and it will take all their considerable skills and resources to stop the machinations of the Seven Kings before it's too late.

Originally published by St Martins Griffin in March 2011

448 pages

Major Characters

Joe Ledger: Captain of the Echo Team. Code name: Cowboy Mr. Church: Head of DMS, referred to by some as "Deacon" Ghost - Ghost- a trained German Shepherd - Joe's partner. Harvey "Bunny" Rabbit: Echo Team member, aka Farmboy. Code name: "Green Giant" John Smith: Echo Team sniper, taciturn in the extreme. Code name: "Chatterbox" Bradley "Top" Sims: Second in command of Joe Ledger’s Echo Team. Code name: "Sergeant Rock"; Khalid Shaheed: New recruit for Echo Team. Code name: "Dancing Duck" DeeDee Whitman: New recruit for Echo Team. Code name: "Scream Queen" Sebastian Gault: Former CEO Gen2000 Pharmaceuticals, King of Plagues Alexander "Toys" Chismer: Sebastian Gault's right-hand man/personal assistant. Evangeline (Lady Eris) Sanderson: "The Goddess", leader of the Seven Kings The American: Eris's son; the King of Fear. Rafael Santoro: aka "The Spaniard" Aunt Sallie: Church's second-in-command at DMS Hugo Vox: A counterterrorism expert. Circe O'Tree: Assistant to Hugo Vox - terrorism expert Rudy Sanchez: Joe Ledger’s best friend; DMS Psychologist Dr. William Hu: Chief of scientific research for DMS.

ISBN information

ISBN-10: 0312382502 / ISBN-13: 978-0312382506

Formats:

Print, E-book, and Audiobook

Ledger Series order: Book 3

Preceded by The Dragon Factory, followed by Assassin's Code