Monday, January 19, 2009

January 19 - "Countdown"

“Countdown”
by Jonathan Maberry
[free download from Macmillan Trade Publishers] (2009)

* * * (Good) Pulp

While listening to tapped phones for Homeland Security, Baltimore PD officer Joe Ledger heard a brief conversation mentioning the terrorist El Mujahid. This mere mention is enough for S.W.A.T. to storm a suspicious warehouse on the docks. In the firefight that ensues, something stumbles out of a mysterious blue box surrounded by armed terrorists.

I have been tempted to read Jonathan Maberry for a while now. He has won the Bram Stoker award (a prestigious award for horror writing), and I’m always looking to discover new, talented authors. I happened across this promotional short story for his new book, Patient Zero, and thought this sounded like just my chance to sample his writing. And it’s quite entertaining. The action is well written and exciting, and the pulpy feel of this short story was a pleasant surprise. It even included a memorable line of dialogue from the movie Silverado: “I don’t want to kill you and you don’t want to be dead.” Any story that manages to quote one of my favorite westerns is bound to score some bonus points with me. I’m looking forward to the March release of Patient Zero, which will continue the tale of Joe Ledger and the surprise he found in the large blue box.

2 comments:

jsgoldschein said...

Great review! Maberry's awesome. Here's a link to sign up for the short story in case anyone can't find it: http://us.macmillan.com/AuthorExtras.aspx?AuthorKey=8138810&m_type=4&m_contentid=10875

Escape Pirate said...

I agree, and I'm now very curious to read his other horror books. I looked for the first, but they book store was out. I'll pick those first books up eventually.