This is a suspense thriller with a supernatural side and only a little out of my ballpark.  Apparently, upteen books about Joe Ledger have created a rabid following; and I get it.  It does for secret societies and world domination what Clive Cussler did for treasure hunting.  And Dirk Pitt was a secret vice of mine for years. Joe Ledger could be my next.  What was particularly nice about this story is that it was a decent standalone; I didn’t have to stop twenty pages in and decide if I needed to find the earlier stories to make sense of it.  I can certainly appreciate that had I read all the earlier stories I would have a deeper understanding of Joe and all the other characters; but I didn’t find it necessary to enjoy this one.

Joe is the leader of a crack counter-terrorism team; although their targets can often be somewhat unnatural.  The teams belong to a man simply called Mr. Church.  Church determines what threats the teams will respond to although he seems to have an affinity for English-speaking countries.  The teams don’t have any allegiance to a particular nation; I think Church funds them entirely – which is pretty unbelievable.

Nicodemus appears to be the main antagonist; having had a lot of history both with Ledger but also Church.  He isn’t very prominent but keeps taunting Ledger with hints about a resurgence of vampires and teasing secrets about Church’s real identity and history.  Ledger is a rather blunt weapon and he isn’t prone to worrying much about where people came from or if they had a sketchy past; he only wants to know where their loyalty lies today and if they can do the job. He has never had any doubt that Nicodemus is a scumbag liar and that Church is on the side of the good guys – always.

The team is called to London where an organization called Barrier, which was modeled on Rogue Team and designed by Church but belongs to the UK government, has become an epicenter of a weaponized version of the bubonic plague.  Their varied expertise is requested as the members of Barrier start falling victim to the plague and they are unable to figure out where the plague originated much less the how and why.

The story varies the point of view quite a bit.  We wander between the present and a thousand years ago; and we wander between Ledger (in the first person) and everyone else (in the third person).  It makes it easy to keep track of the characters.  In the past, we track a Templar Knight and his son as they navigate the treachery that destroyed their order.  This treachery might have been instigated by the “first” Nicodemus for the benefit of a shadowy organization. As the centuries pass, we see the birth of a new world order that uses vampires as soldiers and there is always a Nicodemus aiding and abetting. 

In an earlier book or books, Ledger and his team destroyed that organization known as Red Knights or Red Order. So it baffles both Ledger and Church that there are hints that the Red Order still exists and they might be responsible for this latest plague outbreak; as they were for the Black Death in the 1300s and again for the London Plague (also black death) in the 1600s.  It seems logical that they may be trying again; perhaps a bid to reduce the British population and exert control over power.

Navigating the labyrinthine fortress that is Barrier in the heart of London also means figuring out who can be trusted and who might be a mole.  Just when Ledger decides who the good guys are, he gets ambushed.

As the story progresses so does the violence and gore.  I came to resent being made to care about characters only to have them violently murdered.  But I loved the little secrets that were dropped here and there; secrets about that long-dead Templar Knight and also about Mr. Church, not to mention Nicodemus himself.

The story moves at an insane pace; and if it weren’t for short chapters I never would have gotten anything done in the past week.  The plot is terribly convoluted and ends up including more secret societies and characters than it started with; it was fascinating but I never felt lost.  I was horrified at the extent of deaths and damage; as I’m sure the author intended.  But I was gratified at how he concluded it even though not all secrets were resolved.  I’m not sure that Maberry ever intends to do so; as he had ample opportunity in this book.  I wouldn’t turn down another book of this caliber.  ~~  Catherine Book

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