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.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  In this latest Waiting on Wednesday, I highlight one of my most anticipated books of 2025 with the new Rogue Team International novel from Jonathan Maberry, Burn to Shine.

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Readers of this blog will probably have noticed that I have been talking about author Jonathan Maberry a lot this week.  Between the fact that I am currently reading his awesome fantasy novel, The Dragon in Winter, and I am just about to publish a review for his other 2024 novel, NecroTek, Maberry has really been on my mind lately.  As such, to keep this ball rolling I am going to take this opportunity to highlight Maberry’s new book coming out in 2025, the awesome thriller novel Burn to Shine.

Burn to Shine is an interesting upcoming book that forms part of Maberry’s long-running Joe Ledger series.  This series, which started back in 2009 with Patient Zero, follows the titular character of Joe Ledger, a government agent who seeks to save the world from various unnatural scientific threats and sinister schemes.  A brutal, complex and addictively dark series, the Joe Ledger books are deeply entertaining, and I love all the intense action, elaborate plots, and fantastic over-the-top figures within.  Highlights include The Dragon Factory, Assassin’s Code, Code Zero, Predator One and Dogs of War just to name a few, and I have had an exceptional time with all the epic entries in this series.

Since 2019, the new Joe Ledger books have all fallen within the Rogue Team International sub-series, which continues the adventures of the protagonist and his team, while also setting the characters up as a more independent organisation.  The Rogue Team International books are just as awesome as the previous entries in the overall series, and Maberry has presented some cool ideas and grim scenarios in these latest novels.  These books include Rage (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2019), Relentless (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2021), and Cave 13. (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2023), all of which were extremely impressive five-star reads.  As such, I am understandably very eager to see how this series continues, and luckily it doesn’t look like I have too much longer to wait.

The fourth Rogue Team International novel will be the upcoming Burn to Shine, which is set for release in March 2025.  Another epic entry in the series, Burn to Shine will force Ledger and his team to deal with a new world-destroying threat, as old enemies once again rise looking for revenge.

Plot Synopsis:

Rogue Team International joins Joe Ledger in a new, tension-filled mission to stop a wave of bioterrorism from devastating the country.

A covert group is infiltrating the world’s most secure bio-weapons research sites. All across the country, people are acting as human ‘disease bombs’ by infecting themselves and walking into public places. And heavily-armed groups of illegal private soldiers are massing for some unknown strike.

Joe Ledger and the members of Rogue Team International, still reeling from the devastation and heartbreaking losses of their last mission, are forced into relentless action to try and save the country, if not the entire world.

Old enemies are rising and joining forces to hit Joe and his team with one devastating blow after another. What is the end game for all of this madness and terror? Outnumbered, outmaneuvered, and outgunned, Joe Ledger has to find a way back from the fires of grief in order to make a stand between these enemies and millions of potential innocent lives. But Joe has allies, too. His team, the vicious fighters of Arklight, and friends who may or may not be entirely human.

A war of darkness and light is coming. Who will stand? Who will fall? And how will anyone ever survive?

Burn to Shine sounds like another excellent addition to this long-running series, and I cannot wait to dive into it next year.  Featuring another intriguing plot of bioterrorism, it sounds like this is going to be a major entry in the series, especially as Maberry spent a good chunk of Cave 13 building up the plot for this fourth book.  Thanks to some of the hints in Cave 13, as well as the above plot synopsis and even the title of this book, it appears that Burn to Shine is going to feature a familiar array of enemies, with antagonists from previous books set to return.  I have a pretty good idea about who some of these antagonists are going to be, although it will be interesting to see how Maberry brings them back and utilises them in this latest novel.  I am excited to dive into this new plot, and I hope that the author has come up with a particularly dark and complex villainous plan that we get to untangle.

Another aspect of Burn to Shine mentioned in the synopsis that I am really looking forward to is exploring is the continued trauma and damage that the various protagonists of Burn to Shine will no doubt be feeling.  Ledger and his team have gone through all manner of loss and suffering in the Rogue Team International books, and it will be interesting to see how that impacts their ability to fight back, especially when they are once again assailed by the ghosts of their past in the potential returning antagonists.  I have no doubt that Maberry will play this trauma aspect of the plot perfectly throughout Burn to Shine, and I always appreciate how well written and human the author’s characters feel during their unnatural adventures.

Honestly, due to how much I love the Joe Ledger books, there is no way in hell that I am not grabbing Burn to Shine next year the first chance I get.  Jonathan Maberry has been on a brilliant roll with this series for years and I always get so damn engrossed with their elaborate narratives and brutal inclusions.  This next book sounds particularly impressive, and I cannot wait to see how Burn to Shine fits into the larger series, especially as there are some very intriguing hints about who is plaguing the protagonists this time.  There is no way this won’t end up being one of my favourite novels of 2025, and I look forward to enjoying the audiobook version of it, especially as it will be once again voiced by the impeccable Ray Porter.  Until then, keep your eyes peeled for my review of NecroTek which will be out in the next day or two.