Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings. Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them. This week’s edition of Waiting on Wednesday should come as no surprise to readers of this blog, as I look at Rage by Jonathan Maberry, the first book in a new series that spins off from his epic Joe Ledger series.

The Joe Ledger series has quickly become one of my absolute favourite series, after I was blown away by the 10th book in the series Deep Silence last year. Since then, I have gone back and read several of the earlier Joe Ledger novels, including Patient Zero, The Dragon Factory and The King of Plagues. I have only just recently finished reading the fourth book in the series, Assassin’s Code, and I am hoping to review it as part of a Throwback Thursday article soon. I am also currently a few hours deep into the audiobook of the fifth book in the series, Extinction Machine, and it looks like it is going to be another excellent read. Each of these books has proven to be an outstanding read, and each of them gets an easy five out of five stars from me. So, when I heard that Maberry was continuing the adventures of Joe Ledger in a new series, I knew that I would have to get it.

The original Joe Ledger series followed the adventures of the titular protagonist Joe Ledger, a former soldier and cop who is recruited into the super-secret Department of Military Sciences (DMS). The DMS, run by the enigmatic Mr Church (who is a pretty awesome character in his own right), is an elite government agency that deals with a number of wild and dangerous threats cooked up by mad science, ranging from zombies to aliens. However, by the end of the 10th book the DMS finds itself no longer capable of dealing with the irrational demands of a petty and paranoid President (clearly Trump, but their name is never mentioned) and disbands as an official government agency. However, Mr Church immediately reforms the DMS as Rogue Team International, an independent organisation endorsed by the United Nations that will deal with threats on an international level without the debilitating oversight of a corrupt United States Government.

The adventures of this new group is going to be covered in a new sequel series from Maberry, the Rogue Team International series, which will feature all the characters from the original Joe Ledger series. The first book in this series, Rage, is set to be released in early November 2019 and already looks like it is going to be another outstanding read.

Goodreads Synopsis:

A small island off the coast of Japan is torn apart by a bioweapon that drives everyone—men, women, and children—insane with murderous rage. The people behind that attack want Korea united or destroyed. No middle ground. No mercy. And they are willing to punish any country that stands in the way—the United States, China, and Japan could all be consumed by a plague of pure destructive slaughter.

Joe Ledger leads his newly formed band of international troubleshooters in their first mission to stop the terror cell, fighting alongside agents from North and South Korea. With the lives of billions at stake, Ledger is willing to bring his own brand of terror to this frightening new war.

I am excited for this new book, which looks set to once again feature an enjoyable storyline that is a fun combination of horror, science fiction and thriller elements. This plot synopsis already sounds like this upcoming novel is going to have a pretty classic Joe Ledger plot line, and I am extremely keen to see how Maberry explores the first mission of this new organisation as they fight against the odds to save the day from a terrible new threat.

I am going to go out on a limb here and assume that Maberry is going to follow a similar style and format to the previous books in the series. As a result, readers can probably expect an intense adventure filled with multiple timelines, an elaborate plot, excellent antagonists, a ton of detailed and well-written action, and the continued narration from one of modern fiction’s most likeable and humorous protagonists. I am curious to see what kind of plot the opponents in this book cook up in order to complete their objective. The villain’s rage virus bioweapon sounds similar to some of the previous plots from the first Joe Ledger series, and I will be interested to see if it ties into some existing antagonists or if they are dealing with a completely original antagonist.

I am also really looking forward to seeing what role Rogue Team International plays in this world’s political climate. Presumably they are pretty major players if they are brought in to investigate this type of plot, but you have to imagine that the US government is not going to be happy about them getting involved. Considering that Trump is still in power in the real world, it is likely that Maberry will continue to portray him as the President in his universe. The author’s very accurate portrayal of this President was a major highlight of Deep Silence, and I am really looking forward to seeing how this President would potentially deal with another major and unusual crisis, especially if it puts him up against Ledger and Church.

Rage by Jonathan Maberry is very high on my reading radar at the moment, and it is potentially the book I am most eager to check out for the rest of the year. I have been really loving this series lately and I cannot wait to see where the story goes from here. I will probably check out Rage’s audiobook format when it comes out (it looks like Ray Porter is set to narrate again, yay!), although if I can get an advanced hard copy, I might read that instead. I am exceedingly excited for this book and I believe that this will be another five-star read from one of the best thriller writers in the world today.