Tag: Pine Deep Series

Burn to Shine by Jonathan Maberry

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Science Fiction, Thriller4 Comments

Publisher: Macmillan Audio (Audiobook – 4 March 2025)

Series: Rogue Team International – Book Four

Length: 19 hours and 9 minutes

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

Amazon

Bring on the chaos, carnage and craziness with the new epic Rogue Team International from Jonathan Maberry, Burn to Shine, which takes the reader on another dark and over-the-top ride in a deeply addictive thriller.

Readers of this blog will know that I am a massive Jonathan Maberry fan, having had the great pleasure getting to know and power through some of his biggest series.  Thanks to his intense writing, ability to pull together amazing characters and great attention for action and combat, all Maberry’s books really resonate with me, and pretty much all the Maberry books I have read have been 5-star novels in my mind.  Highlights include the dark 2024 science fiction novel, NecroTek, the creepy horror novel, Ink (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2020), as well as the brilliant Kagen the Damned dark fantasy trilogy, made up of Kagen the Damned (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2022), Son of the Poison Rose (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2023), and The Dragon in Winter (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2024).

While the above series and books are all outstanding, my favourite Maberry novels are the iconic and long-running Joe Ledger series.  Following the titular troubled protagonist as he works as a part of an elite government special forces team detailed to stopping terrorist attacks or criminal organisations using advanced and unusual technology, the Joe Ledger novels were impressive and complex thrillers with over-the-top dark elements, that often featured some outstanding science fiction and compelling horror elements.  The original series, which ran for 10 books, features some amazing novels, including Patient Zero, The Dragon Factory, Assassin’s Code, Predator One and Deep Silence just to name a few.  Each of these novels were amazing reads on their own, although I also got really drawn into the ongoing storylines and recurring villains.

Following the end of the original Joe Ledger books, Maberry continued many of his storylines in the sequel Rogue Team International series, bringing back the major characters and setting them up as independent intelligence operatives working for themselves.  This series was also extremely exciting, and I have appreciated the way in which the author has continued some of the complex story arcs and villainous narratives from the first series.  The Rogue Team International books have so far featured 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), each of which have been pretty damn amazing and filled with some dark and captivating narratives.

Naturally, I was very excited when I saw that there was a fourth Rogue Team International book coming out in 2025 with Burn to Shine.  The fourth book in the Rogue Team International series and the 14th overall Joe Ledger novel, Burn to Shine brings back the protagonist and his team in a big way, as they go toe-to-toe with some of the most dangerous recurring villains.  One of my most anticipated books of 2025, Burn to Shine had so much potential, and I read it the very first chance I got.

After suffering through another set of harrowing losses and intense damage to their already shredded psyche, the members of Rogue Team International are back in the fray.  Led by troubled veteran Joe Ledger and the enigmatic Mr Church, Rogue Team International continue to fight against elaborate high-tech threats and other strange occurrences across the world.  However, they are unprepared for their next dangerous threat, one that has emerged from the organisation’s combined dark past.

A powerful group of military contractors are expanding their influence across the United States, seeking to cause fear, division and political uncertainty.  At the same time, a series of planned attacks have breached and destroyed many of the world’s most secure bio-weapons research facilities, with the stolen diseases and technology being utilised to create chaos and fear through infected humans turned into living disease bombs.

As Ledger and his team try and counter these attacks, their path leads them to the mysterious town of Pine Deep, Pennsylvania, where a multitude of dark secrets are hidden.  Teaming up with old allies, new friends, and some of the more dangerous denizens of Pine Deep, Ledger and his team attempt to strike back against their enemies before a catastrophe is unleashed across the country.  But can even this deadly and unlikely group of heroes stand up to some of the team’s most dangerous enemies, including a ghost from their past who plans to burn the world to ground? 

Jonathan Maberry once again presents a gripping and deeply exciting tale with Burn to Shine.  A compelling continuation of his long-running Joe Ledger/Rogue Team International books, Burn to Shine had another great story that continued the author’s ongoing storylines by heavily diving back into the series’ past.  An excellent addition to the series that is guaranteed to keep you entertained all the way to the end.

Burn to Shine had an awesome narrative that presents its own unique tale, while also reviving multiple elements from the Maberry’s previous works, to create a novel very much designed for established fans of the author.  Starting off strong with an intense action sequence around the protagonists, Maberry also takes the time to establish multiple parallel storylines and plot threads, some of which are set well before the main narrative and showcase the emergence of the book’s antagonist and the formation of their new plan.  This allows for a very rich and intricate first half of the book, as you are given glimpses of the evil facing Joe Ledger and his team, while also watching the protagonists initially start to move to understand the new threat facing them.  This first half ends with an extended sequence inside a secret vault built to contain some of the worst bio-weapons the protagonists have encountered throughout the series.  Following a harrowing and tense descent into the vault while events get even more hectic outside, the protagonists eventually discover hints at the true mastermind of the new plot, as well as the insidious zombie-making weapon from their past that they seek to unleash.

The second half of Burn to Shine goes in some very interesting directions, as all the major characters start to converge around the town of Pine Deep, the centre of all things weird in Maberry’s shared literary universe.  Teaming up with some figures familiar to Maberry fans, the protagonists engage in a series of raids against the various bases of their opponents in some high-octane and particularly brutal sequences.  Due to the various over-the-top technologies and Maberry’s ability to imagine extremely bloody fights, these are some intense scenes, and the author really amps up the risk factor of the fights for his various recurring characters, with some very dark moments.

All this leads up to the big showdown between Ledger and the antagonists of the book, as he comes face to face with them in a very interesting location.  This showdown was very awesome, especially sandwiched amongst the other various conflict-laden storylines, and the author kept you on the edge of your seat as Ledger comes face-to-face with familiar opponents from the past.  While I love all the action and the way Maberry brought back a lot of previous story arcs, I did think that this ending was a tad rushed, and it relied way too much on having knowledge of Maberry’s first trilogy.  I also wished Maberry had taken some parts of this story a little further, perhaps with some greater tragedy, as it was a little frustrating that he didn’t follow through with the telegraphed death of a major character.  Still, this proved to be an excellent and exciting read, and there is also a very interesting final scene that provides some early, long-sought answers about one of the protagonists.

I have a great deal of love for how Maberry sets out his awesome stories, and his distinctive style always results in an impressive and layered novel, especially when it comes to his over-the-top thrillers.  Featuring a lot of dark, over-the-top elements and an at times near horror vibe, Burn to Shine was another classic Joe Ledger novel, which showcases his damaged protagonists facing off against complicated evil antagonists.  Thanks to the author’s utilisation of multiple character perspectives and scenes set in the past, this proves to be a very detailed book, and I loved the varied storylines that emerged and worked side by side with each other.  This includes a vibrant look at the antagonist’s plans from start to finish, which also involves the re-introduction of previously featured villains.  While not every detail of the antagonist’s sinister and over-the-top plans are revealed to the reader from the start, you get enough to really amp up the stakes of the plot, and it is compelling to see the protagonists act on the limited information they have.  The villainous scheme for Burn to Shine was a tad similar to some schemes from previous Maberry books, but it still produces some particularly captivating moments, especially towards the end.  I also quite enjoyed how Maberry tied the plot into a lot of modern issues, including disinformation, the use of fear in politics, fake news and AI-generated imagery, while giving it its usual excess and ultra-dark flair.  Throw in the author’s impressive action sequences, which are particularly epic, as well as the overly exaggerated villains, and this proved to be a powerful and layered novel that has all of Maberry’s typical charm and intensity.

While I had a ton of fun with Burn to Shine, this was very much a novel for the author’s established readers, although even some of them might get lost at times.  As I have hinted, the main villains of Burn to Shine are figures previously featured in prior Joe Ledger novels, including the series’ big bad, and one antagonist long believed dead.  While Maberry loads up Burn to Shine with a lot of internal recap moments in the protagonist’s head that gives the reader all the context they need to follow the plot, the true threat or emotional impact of these villains is going to be best appreciated by those who have read the previous books, especially Code Zero.  Maberry also takes the story further into his extended universe, as the plot becomes heavily enmeshed with his classic Pine Deep novels and brings in various characters from the original trilogy.  I must admit, as someone who hasn’t had the chance to read Maberry’s Pine Deep novels, I would have been a tad lost here unless I had previously read Ink, which featured several of these characters, and new readers may not quite understand their significance.  Even those who have read all the previous Joe Ledger novels might be a little confused with their inclusion, especially as these Pine Deep characters have never appeared in a Joe Ledger novel before, besides a couple of short stories.  As such, having such a big focus on them is a little surprising, and I felt that it mucked around with the flow of Burn to Shine.  Still, considering how good Maberry is at recapping or reintroducing key characters and storylines, most established Joe Ledger fans should be able to follow along fine, just keep in mind that the author is doing some deep cuts back to his previous novels.

As with all Maberry’s novels, the real heart of Burn to Shine lies in its complex characters, whose powerful stories and dark pasts allow for some deep emotional heft to the plot.  This is especially true for main protagonist, Joe Ledger, whose cracked psyche is always a key part of his appearances.  A very damaged figure, Ledger is a powerful part of Burn to Shine’s narrative and serves as the only first-person perspective character, influencing a lot of the novel as a result.  While on the surface he is a humorous, wise-cracking cowboy, determined to save the day no matter what, deep down he is haunted by all his past experiences, including the deaths of so many loved ones and the trauma of various missions.  Maberry has long perfected balancing the character’s various emotional states in his novels, and while Ledger provides a lot of the book’s humour, his darker side is a constant presence, threating to bubble out.  The author adds in some interesting additional emotional elements for Ledger to deal with this novel, including the return of an antagonist who previously caused him a lot of pain, as well as the protagonist’s battle with the knowledge that he may finally have the names of the people responsible for his earliest trauma.  The later of these is likely to be a big part of the characters’ battle with his vengeful emotional going forward, and it will be interesting to see how Maberry works them in.

Aside from Ledger, Burn to Shine is loaded with a ton of interesting supporting characters and protagonists whose various experiences help to shape the entire awesome story.  This cast includes a huge array of figures from previous Maberry books, and it was fun to see them continue to grow.  The most prominent of these characters include the mysterious Mr Church, whose secretive past has been one of the more intriguing ongoing storylines of the series.  Shown to be almost human in Burn to Shine thanks to the trauma obtained during the previous novel, Cave 13, Church has some excellent appearances in Burn to Shine, especially when it comes to facing down the antagonists.  I loved how well Maberry balanced this more fragile version of Mr Church with his mysterious persona, and the final scene where you get some interesting answers about who, or what, Church is, is very impressive.

The various other members of Rogue Team International are also great parts of the book, including the member of Ledger’s fire team, each of whom have their own distinct personality and complexity in this book.  Maberry provides some great moments for all these characters to shine, and I felt that an interesting early part of the novel where the organisation’s resident psychiatrist, Dr Rudy Sanchez, dives into the trauma all the supporting characters are feeling after Cave 13, added some excellent emotional depth to the plot.  Throw in the fascinating Pine Deep characters I mentioned above, as well as two of Maberry’s more complex and memorable antagonists, who return in a big way here, and the cast of Burn to Shine is very impressive, and you really get drawn into this dark struggles and battles.

Anyone who has read my previous Maberry reviews will know that I had no choice but to enjoy Burn to Shine on audiobook, as it is honestly the only way to enjoy one of the author’s novels.  This is primarily because of the author’s long association with legendary actor and audiobook narrator, Ray Porter, who has lent his epic voice to most of Maberry’s exciting novels, and the result is always something very special.  Porter is the perfect narrator for Maberry’s amazing and intense novels, bringing all the necessary energy, excitement and darkness you need to convey the author’s complex and twisted plots, and he is one of my favourite audiobook narrators.  Porter effortlessly brought Burn to Shine to life from the very first word, and you swiftly get drawn into the story as a result.  Everything from the dark content, the complex story elements, and the extensive action is extremely well conveyed and flows so quickly.  I particularly enjoyed how Porter once again perfectly inhabited all the characters featured in Burn to Shine, with impressive takes on all the unique figures.  Special mention must be given to Porter’s personification of the main protagonist, Joe Ledger, as the narrator has long mastered capturing all of Ledger’s pain, internal conflict and fantastic humour and presenting it to the listener in an outstanding way.  The rest of the characters are also showcased in a really awesome way, and I still love the ultra-calm and controlled voice used for Mr Church, as well as the more sinister and often unnatural voices for the crazy antagonists of the book. I honestly loved every second I spent listening to this audiobook, and it was another outstanding performance from Ray Porter and one of the best audiobooks I enjoyed in the first half of 2025.

Once again bringing all the carnage, complex characters and dark storylines you have come to expect from a Joe Ledger novel, Burn to Shine was another amazing read from Jonathan Maberry, and one I deeply enjoyed getting through.  A very interesting entry in Maberry’s long-running, combined series, Burn to Shine was an ultra-exciting and chilling Rogue Team International novel that proves very easy to power through.  I look forward to reading more of Maberry’s novels in the next few months, and I currently have the tough decision of if I want to read the advanced copy I have of his upcoming release, Cold War, or wait to listen to it on audiobook.

Amazon

Ink by Jonathan Maberry

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Horror, LGBT+, Thriller23 Comments

Ink Cover

Publisher: Macmillan Audio (Audiobook – 17 November 2020)

Series: Standalone/Pine Deep series

Length: 15 hours and 9 minutes

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

Amazon     Book Depository

Prepare to journey back to the weirdly dangerous town of Pine Deep as one of my favourite authors, Jonathan Maberry, presents his latest novel, Ink, an intriguing and clever horror thriller that dives down into the world of memories and tattoos.

Pine Deep, Pennsylvania is a town long-steeped in blood and death.  After barely surviving the terrible events of 15 years ago, now known by the locals as The Trouble, the town has slowly recovered, with fresh businesses and people bringing in new life.  However, no one is ever truly safe in Pine Deep, especially with a malicious predator haunting the streets, one with very particular appetites.

Monk Addison is man who has experienced many weird and horrifying things in his life, but what he is about to encounter in Pine Deep will shake him to his core.  A bounty hunter who has sought redemption in life by covering his body with tattoos depicting the faces of murder victims, Monk has recently moved to Pine Deep to be closer to his friend and tattoo-artist Patty Cakes, but what he arrives he finds Patty in a state of shock.  An important tattoo on Patty’s hand has started to disappear, and as it fades, so do the memories associated with it until Patty can no longer remember anything about, not even the precious person who inspired it.

As Monk desperately tries to understand what is happening to his friend, a pattern begins to emerge.  Several people within Pine Deep are experiencing losses of traumatic or significant memories, and in every case tattoos related to these events have also disappeared.  Worse, in some cases new tattoos are appearing on people, forcing them to do terrible deeds.  Working with Pine Deep’s chief of police, Malcolm Crow, and his adopted son, Mike Sweeney, Monk, Patty and other impacted residents of Pine Deep attempt to discover who or what is behind these stolen memories.  But can they find who is responsible before their memories fade, or will this predator continue to feast on the very thing that makes them human?  The Lord of the Flies is hungry, and his reign of terror has only just begun!

Over the last couple of years, I have become a major fan of Jonathan Maberry’s writings, and I only just recently finished reading all 10 Joe Ledger novels, as well as the first Rogue Team International book, Rage, so I was very excited to get my next fix of Maberry excitement with Ink.  Ink was one of my most anticipated novels for the second half of 2020, and it really did not disappoint in any way, as Maberry has produced an intense and captivating horror novel that proved to be both extremely exciting and deeply terrifying.

Ink is an outstanding and impressive book that contains one heck of a story that sees several remarkable characters attempt to deal with a weird and powerfully scary supernatural threat that is attempting to destroy what is most precious to them.  Maberry has crafted together a fantastic narrative for this book that is equal parts clever, compelling and scary, and which dives down deep into the psyche of several complex individuals.  The author utilises his trademark style to produce a wide-ranging, multi-character story that shows the full impact of the antagonist’s dark machinations, and the slow hunt of the protagonists to comprehend what is happening to them, and their subsequent attempts to combat the threat.  While I did think that the story was a little slow at the start, once it gets going the reader has a hard time putting it down, as they become obsessed with seeing the full extent of the horror, as well as becoming connected to the characters featured within.  While Ink contains a lot less action than a typical Maberry novel, this is an extremely exciting and fast-paced read, with the thrilling game of cat and mouse between the villain and his victims proving to be quite intense.  Readers should be warned that this is an extremely adult read, containing some fairly graphic sequences of violence, torture, mental manipulation and sexual content, which may not be for everyone.  Overall though, this is an exceptional read, and I really loved getting to the end of this enthralling and excellent narrative.

While Ink is ostensibly a standalone novel, in many ways it is a sequel to Maberry’s debut series, the Pine Deep trilogy, while also being set in the same universe as several of his other books, namely the Joe Ledger novels.  The entirety of Ink is set in the town of Pine Deep, which was the titular setting of the original trilogy.  As a result, several characters from these books appear throughout the course of the novel and there are a lot of mentions of the events of the Pine Deep trilogy, some of which play into the plot.  While you potentially could get a little more out of Ink by reading the Pine Deep novels first, I would say that you really do not need any prior knowledge of these books to enjoy Maberry’s latest novel.  Like always, Maberry’s writing is very inclusive, providing the reader with relevant information about the events that occurred in these previous novels.  As a result, the reader gets a decent summary of what occurred in the Pine Deep trilogy and how it relates to Ink.  This allows readers unfamiliar with the Pine Deep books to enjoy Ink without any issues, and this might even be a good Maberry starter novel for anyone who has been interested in reading some of his books.  On the other hand, those fans of Maberry who are familiar with this prior trilogy will no doubt really enjoy the return to this iconic setting and will have an amazing time seeing what has happened in the 15 years following the end of Bad Moon Rising (the third and final book in the Pine Deep trilogy).  The summaries of the Pine Deep novels contained within Ink are rather easy to get through and Maberry works them into the story extremely well, so those people familiar with these prior works should be able to read them without getting bored of a forced recap, and this is book that any horror or thriller fan can easily enjoy.

At the heart of Ink are the excellent main point-of-view characters that Maberry utilises to tell his complex tale.  There are several major characters featured throughout the book, including several original characters created specifically for Ink.  The most notable of these is Monk Addison, the relentless and scary former soldier who is desperately seeking redemption after a long and bloody life.  Monk turned out to be an amazing central character for this book and I loved the way that Maberry slowly revealed his past in order to show just how special he his.  Monk goes through a fair bit of development in this novel, and I found myself getting quite attached to him as the story progressed.  In addition to Monk, Ink also has a particular focus on Patty Cakes, Monk’s tattoo artist friend whose memories are impacted by the book’s antagonist.  Patty is a deeply tragic and magical character who has gone through a lot in her life and who now finds herself being attacked in a much more personal and devastating way.  Seeing Patty being overwhelmed by the loss of her memories is really disturbing and heartbreaking and you cannot help but feel her loss deep in your soul, which is a testament to Maberry’s excellent writing.  Patty is another character who you grow to care for as the story unfolds and the constant danger she is put into, both mentally and physically, keeps the reader on edge.  The other two original major characters I need to highlight are Dianna and Gayle.  Dianna is a medium who also has her memories stolen by Ink’s antagonist, while Gayle is someone who builds a connection to Dianna, who is then impacted by Gayle’s lost memories in a different way.  I liked the way that Dianna and Gayle were worked into the story, and they helped to provide a new angle to the narrative.  Watching them team up with Patty added some enjoyable female empowerment elements to the novel, and there is a touching LGBT romance between Dianne and Gayle that I thought Maberry handled well, even if it was a tad explicit.

In addition to these new characters, Maberry also makes use of the protagonists from the Pine Deep novels who return as major characters in Ink.  This includes major characters Malcolm Crow, Mike Sweeney, Val Guthrie and Jonatha Corbiel (now Jonatha Newton).  While Val and Jonatha have mostly smaller roles in this book, Malcolm and Mike are major point-of-view characters, performing their own investigation of the latest batch of weird events occurring around Pine Deep.  Both proved to be exceptional additions to the cast, as not only are they complex characters (especially after the events of the Pine Deep trilogy), but they also add some distinctive viewpoints into the investigate parts of the book.  Maberry does a fantastic job introducing these characters to new readers, while those who have read the Pine Deep books will deeply appreciate seeing what has happened to them since the events of this initial trilogy.  While I am sure that many of Maberry’s readers would have hoped for happy lives for Malcolm, Mike and Val after all they have been through, all three characters have experienced additional difficulties and tragedies in the last 15 years.  These additional life events, as well as their traumas from the Pine Deep books, are expertly incorporated into their characterisation for Ink, and it proved deeply compelling to see their arcs unfold.  I personally enjoyed seeing the new protagonists’ reactions when encountering Malcolm and Mike, and there are a lot of depictions about realising how dark, dangerous and damaged both of them are.  Some of these new characters are also in for a hair-raising surprise when it comes to Mike, and it was interesting to see how that certain aspect of Mike’s character has evolved since his last book.  All of the characters featured in Ink were deeply compelling, and I felt that Maberry did an exceptional job featuring them throughout this novel.

If there is one thing that Maberry is particularly good at it, it is creating iconic and despicable antagonists for his novels.  Ink is no exception to this, as Maberry has once again produced a dark and sinister figure in Owen Minor, the self-proclaimed Lord of the Flies.  Owen is an inherently creepy and deeply disturbing individual who has gained the ability to steal people’s tattoos and the associated memories with them, as well as several other abilities.  Thanks to a series of intriguing interludes, Maberry dives into the history of Owen, showing his origins as a character, what his motivations are and how he realised what his powers were.  This examination of Owen’s psyche and history is both fascinating and unsettling and getting this deeper look into the character’s soul makes the reader dislike him even more, especially as you begin to realise just how twisted he truly is.  The author also includes a number of chapters from the point of view of several different side characters who have been infected by Owen in some way or another.  These scenes not only help to explore the true extent of his abilities but they also show the lengths he is willing to go to get his favourite meal.  The way in which he attacks his victims and then revels in their mental agony ensures that the reader builds a deep hatred for him and you really cannot wait to see him get some form of comeuppance.  All in all, this was another great antagonist from Maberry, and I look forward to seeing what sort of maniac creature he comes up with next time.

As I mentioned above, Maberry returns to his iconic town of Pine Deep for this latest novel, with most of the story set within it.  This proves to be a fascinating and dark location for this great book, and I think that Maberry had fun revisiting this haunted town.  The author really loads a sense of menace and despair into nearly every scene set within the town, and this is enhanced by every character recognising just how weird and dangerous the place can be.  There is a lot of history associated with Pine Deep, as during the original Pine Deep trilogy the town was nearly destroyed by dark forces, with the survivors deeply traumatised as a result.  These events, now know by everyone as The Troubles, are a major part of the town’s identity, and Maberry does a great job teasing out what happened during The Troubles to new readers, with only hints and vague comments describing for the first part of the book.  It proved to be quite fascinating to see how the town has recovered in the roughly 15 years since the events of the Pine Deep trilogy, and Maberry fans will have an amazing time seeing this continuation of the setting.  I really enjoyed seeing the characters explore Pine Deep once again and I hope that Maberry has plans to revisit again in some of his future novels.

One of the more compelling elements of this book is the author’s examination of the importance of tattoos and the memories that people associate with them.  I have to admit that I am not particularly into tattoos; while I can appreciate the cool art that other people get, it is really not something I would consider doing for myself.  However, I deeply enjoyed the way in which Maberry explored the tattoo world in this novel, examining both tattoo artists and the people who desire the art on their body.  In particular, he explores the way in which people get tattoos to mark special or significant occasions, or how tattoos can be used to memorialise tragedy or dark moments from someone’s life and the emotional and memory connections that result from the tattoos.  This becomes quite a significant part of the novel, because the antagonist steals the tattoos to get to the memories associated with it.  As a result, Maberry than examines the impact of losing such a memory and what it could potentially do it to a person.  While some characters manage ok with losing these darker memories, a lot of them are deeply troubled by it, as going through these events and overcoming them, are key to their identity.  Without these memories, and the tattoos that personify them on their body, these characters become despondent, and in many cases it becomes too much for them to bear.  It helps to really emphasise just how evil and malignant the actions of the antagonist is, and I really appreciated the author’s dives into the human psyche and his compelling depiction of what happens when someone loses their memory and identity.  The removal of certain memories from the various point-of-view characters also adds a new level of difficulty to the protagonist’s investigation, as they have to try and find a way to hunt down someone who they can’t remember.  These inclusions really added a lot to the story, and readers may come away with a deeper understanding of how important tattoos can be to people.

As with all of Maberry’s novels that I have so far enjoyed, I really could not resist grabbing the audiobook version of Ink.  The Ink audiobook has a run time of just over 15 hours, which is a typical length for one of Maberry’s novels, and I found it extremely easy to power through this book in less than a week.  Part of this was because of the excellent narration of long-time Maberry narrator, Ray Porter, who once again lends his awesome vocal talent to this thrilling book.  Porter is probably one of my favourite audiobook narrators at the moment, and I cannot imagine listening to one of Maberry’s novels without his amazing voices.  Just like he does in the Joe Ledger novels, Porter really dives into the characters he is portraying, ensuring that the full range of their emotions become abundantly clear to anyone to who listening to the story.  He is also does an amazing job enhancing the horror elements of this book with some of his creepier tones, and the listener can get chills at the horrible and slimy voices he uses for the antagonist or for some of the darker scenes in Ink.  While it was a little disconcerting at time to hear some of the familiar voices from the Joe Ledger audiobooks in this new novel, Porter was once again fantastic narrating Ink, and I would strongly recommend this format as the ideal way to check this book out.

Jonathan Maberry once again shows why he is one of the preeminent authors of the weird thriller novel, with this outstanding horror book Ink.  Ink is an extremely clever and thrilling horror book that grabs the reader’s attention from the beginning and refuses to let go.  Thanks to the outstanding narrative, impressive characters and interesting themes, Ink proves to be a captivating and exciting read, especially when combined with the distinctive setting of Pine Deep from Maberry’s previous novels.  As a result, Ink comes highly recommended, especially in its audiobook format, and this novel is worth checking out.  I had an exceptional time reading this book and I cannot wait for Maberry’s next novel, Relentless, which comes out in several long months.

Amazon     Book Depository