Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Countdown | 2011 | Jonathan Maberry | N/A |
| 2 | Patient Zero | 2009 | Jonathan Maberry | Buy |
| 3 | Material Witness | 2011 | Jonathan Maberry | N/A |
| 4 | Deep, Dark | 2011 | Jonathan Maberry | N/A |
| 5 | The Dragon Factory | 2010 | Jonathan Maberry | Buy |
| 6 | Dog Days | 2011 | Jonathan Maberry | N/A |
| 7 | The King of Plagues | 2011 | Jonathan Maberry | Buy |
| 8 | Assassin’s code a Joe Ledger novel | 2012 | Jonathan Maberry | N/A |
| 9 | Borrowed Power | 2013 | Jonathan Maberry | N/A |
| 10 | Four Summoner’s Tales | 2013 | Jonathan Maberry | N/A |
| 11 | The Missing Files | 2011 | Jonathan Maberry | Buy |
| 12 | Extinction Machine: A Joe Ledger Novel | 2013 | Jonathan Maberry | N/A |
| 13 | Joe Ledger: Special Ops | 2014 | Jonathan Maberry | N/A |
| 14 | Assassin’s Code | 2012 | Jonathan Maberry | Buy |
| 15 | Code Zero | 2014 | Jonathan Maberry | Buy |
| 16 | SNAFU: An Anthology of Military Horror | 2014 | Jonathan Maberry | N/A |
| 17 | Extinction Machine | 2013 | Jonathan Maberry | Buy |
| 18 | Predator One | 2015 | Jonathan Maberry | Buy |
| 19 | Kill Switch | 2016 | Jonathan Maberry | Buy |
| 20 | Dogs of War | 2017 | Jonathan Maberry | Buy |
| 21 | Joe Ledger | 2017 | Jonathan Maberry | N/A |
| 22 | Deep Silence | 2018 | Jonathan Maberry | Buy |
| 23 | Fantastic Hope | 2020 | Jonathan Maberry | N/A |
| 24 | Red Empire | 2026 | Jonathan Maberry | N/A |
| 25 | Zero Tolerance | 2011 | Jonathan Maberry | Buy |
Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger series is a sprawling military thriller saga with 25 entries published between 2009 and 2026. The series began with Patient Zero, in which Baltimore detective Joe Ledger is recruited to fight a terrorist group that has developed a zombie-creating pathogen. The Department of Military Sciences, known as the DMS, becomes Ledger’s home base as he takes on increasingly extreme threats across subsequent books like The Dragon Factory, The King of Plagues, and Extinction Machine.
The series blends military action with science fiction and horror elements. Maberry is not afraid to push the boundaries of what a thriller series can include, and the Joe Ledger books feature everything from weaponized diseases to alien technology to vampires. The series also includes numerous short stories and novellas that fill in gaps between the main novels. Major entries like Kill Switch, Dogs of War, and Deep Silence continue to raise the stakes. With the upcoming Red Empire (2026), the series shows no signs of slowing down. Readers who enjoy fast-paced action with a genre-bending edge will find Joe Ledger one of the most entertaining thriller series around.