Material Witness

Joe Ledger #1.2

by Jonathan Maberry, Ray Porter (Narrator)

Here is another highly entertaining short story featuring Jonathan Maberry's compelling hero, Joe Ledger.

This short thriller takes Joe Ledger into the mysterious, troubled town of Pine Deep, Pennsylvania, the setting for Maberry's chilling Pine Deep Trilogy. In Pine Deep, nothing is what it seems.

Genres: Horror, Thriller, Fiction, Audiobook, Short Stories, Science Fiction, Action

2 pages, Audible Audio

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

JONATHAN MABERRY is a NYTimes bestselling author, #1 Audible bestseller, 5-time Bram Stoker Award-winner, 4-time Scribe Award winner, Inkpot Award winner, comic book writer, and producer. He is the author of more than 50 novels, 190 short stories, 16 short story collections, 30 graphic novels, 14 nonfiction books, and has edited 26 anthologies. His vampire apocalypse book series, V-WARS, was a Netflix original series starring Ian Somerhalder. His 2009-10 run as writer on the Black Panther comic formed a large chunk of the recent blockbuster film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. His bestselling YA zombie series, Rot & Ruin is in development for film at Alcon Entertainment; and John Wick director, Chad Stahelski, is developing Jonathan’s Joe Ledger Thrillers for TV. Jonathan writes in multiple genres including suspense, thriller, horror, science fiction, epic fantasy, and action; and he writes for adults, teens and middle grade. His works include The Pine Deep Trilogy, The Kagen the Damned Trilogy, NecroTek, Ink, Glimpse, the Rot & Ruin series, the Dead of Night series, The Wolfman, X-Files Origins: Devil’s Advocate, The Sleepers War (with Weston Ochse), Mars One, and many others. He is the editor of high-profile anthologies including Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird, The X-Files, Aliens: Bug Hunt, Out of Tune, Don’t Turn out the Lights: A Tribute to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Baker Street Irregulars, Nights of the Living Dead, Shadows & Verse, and others. His comics include Marvel Zombies Return, The Punisher: Naked Kills, Wolverine: Ghosts, Godzilla vs Cthulhu: Death May Die, Bad Blood and many others. Jonathan has written in many popular licensed worlds, including Hellboy, True Blood, The Wolfman, John Carter of Mars, Sherlock Holmes, C.H.U.D., Diablo IV, Deadlands, World of Warcraft, Planet of the Apes, Aliens, Predator, Karl Kolchak, and many others. He the president of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, and the editor of Weird Tales Magazine. He lives in San Diego, California. Find him online at www.jonathanmaberry.com

Reviews

[Cindy Newton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another short short in the Joe Ledger series. This one was really cool because while the first book is about zombies, the explanation behind their existence is pretty reality/science based. This story, though . . . no explanation is offered for the strange developments here, so they are even creepier. I loved it! On to book two!

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing story and lots of action!

[Estevam (Impish Reviews) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is amazing, I heard the audiobook as I couldn't find the kindle version and the narrator is awesome, there is some paranormal stuff in this book and there is what some might call a Deus ex machina because of the paranormal, but you could also make a case that it was hinted or it had set up because of the place this book takes place, well in this one we follow Joe Ledger and his squad in what the book calls the most haunted city of the USA to find a writer that is very good at making plausible terrorist scenarios for his books and the man is in witness protection but there are some people after him, and so is up to Joe to rescue him and he ends up biting more than he can chew.
This one is action-packed, is a quick read and is overall pretty outstanding as all these mini-books after Patient Zero is more of what makes Patient Zero so good, so I would recommend for fans of the series and those action junkies that exist out in the wild.

[Badseedgirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A neat little story for fans of both the "Pine Deep" and "Joe Ledger" series.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars

"Welcome to Pine Deep America's Haunted Holidayland! We'll Scare You to Death!"

Malcolm Crow meets Joe Ledger....

Wow, I am not sure how I missed this sweet novella from Jonathan Maberry. Thanks to Nathan, a fellow Goodreader for recommending it to me.

This is an awesome short novella that brings together two of my favorite Maberry heroes, Malcolm Crow from the Pine Deep trilogy, and Joe Ledger. In this we get a mission for Joe Ledger to Pine Deep nearly two years after the horrible events occurred there. Maberry keeps this adventure a mystery and brings together theses men in a cool action sort of way.

I am a huge Jonathan Maberry and so should you!!!

[myreadingescapism · Rating 5 out of 5]

There we gooooo, action packed but still too short. I need more. I always need more...

[Sinisa Mikasinovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gloomy and dark. Mystery-thriller approach. A bit more and you'd have a film noir on your hands. I liked the shift very much.

This short episode has the story-telling approach for the sake of story itself. Not really to set you up for a blazing-fast action segment or a prophecy of impending doom.

No, this is just it. A great additional story about members of Echo team who survived events from Patient Zero.

Few interesting days of one particularly tense week. Something Joe Ledger might tell you about over a couple of beers.

Sure enough, action is firmly present. Jonathan Maberry, master of buildup and tension just springs the twist on you and gives you five minutes to prepare. No, too much. You get one.

Don't miss this one if you like the main series. Bunny and Top show some nice character traits that pretty nicely fit into the overall character impressions Maberry built so far.

I'm not even going to talk about Ray Porter.

Naturally, 5*.

[Zade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another short, but enjoyable story to fill in the gaps in the Joe Ledger series. I really think Maberry writes these short pieces because his fans are like junkies clamoring for their next fix. Even if he wrote Ledger stories all day, every day, he couldn't keep up with the demand. So, thank you, Mr. Maberry, for Material Witness. It adds a bit of depth to the legend of Ledger and keeps us happy...for a while.

[Babette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mixing the Pine Deep series and the Joe Ledger series is a stroke of brilliance. Please bring Joe and his team back to Pine Deep for a full length novel, maybe around Halloween. I want more!

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love Joe Ledger and Echo Team.

[Storm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collected in Joe Ledger: Special Ops and Joe Ledger: The Missing Files, this is short story #1.2 in the Joe Ledger series, taking place after Patient Zero and Zero Tolerance. Joe and his team have been sent to Pine Deep to protect a man under witness protection, whose writes books with plausible terrorist scenarios that the "wrong people" are starting to notice. He may not be the smartest person in Witness Protection.


As I looked through Maberry's author bio, I realized he also wrote the Pine Deep Trilogy a Horror series. Thirty years ago, a Blues musician killed the devil at the crossroads. He was murdered, and his body strung up in the cornfield like a scarecrow. Or so legend tells it ..... Today, Pine Deep embraces its dark history and is hailed as, "The Spookiest Town in America". Which begs the question - which idiot at Witness Protection decided to hide a witness at Pine Deep, America's Haunted Holidayland!?


So characters from both series interact in this Joe Ledger story in which everything, and I mean, everything, goes wrong! The witness does stupid stuff, jeopardizing not only his own life, but those of Joe and his team! Everything literally goes to hell in a handbasket, and it's funny and exciting. So we get our military action, except this time, it is later overlaid with horror overtones.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where does an action thriller end and the horror begins? Does it happen when the protagonist realises that a trap has been sprung around him/her? Does it happen when the consequences come around to hunt the perpetrators?
In this case, it’s different.
In this case Ledger and his team has come to a place steeped in blood and ruin.
And things happen. Things that defy logic. Things that can't happen. But they happen.
Unputdownable and chilling read. Highly recommended.

[Anna Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another short story after Patient Zero, no walkers just a very scary little town in the deep woods, reminiscent of Stephen King.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a short story in audiobook form (only about 75 minutes total). It follows a fairly straightforward mission for Joe Ledger (from Patient Zero) as he and his team go to find an author AWOL from protective custody. This is a short story, so there really isn't much I can say without completely spoiling it. However, I will comment that I gave it 3 stars because the story comes across as far too coy. I understand the theory of less is more, and not providing details on the primary plot point makers perfect sense (Even if Mayberry could think up a technologically simple, virtually unstoppable terrorist attack, detailing it would make him guilty of the exactly what the author in the story got in trouble for.)

Overall, it was fun and it didn't take a huge chunk of my life, but it also didn't have anything that really stood out as exceptional.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has a lot of reference to another series Maberry has done, so if you read that this would mean more to you. As it was, the gunfight was the appeal. I always like the way Maberry does a fight scene because I like the character and it's far more about strategy than actual shoot'em-up.

Ray Porter is, as always, stellar.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy it when an author references other of their own works (Stephen King does this fairly regularly, and Scott Sigler has the Siglerverse, so the majority of his books live in the same universe).

It was nice to revisit Pine Deep - Maybe not so much for Joe, but for me it was nice. A quick little story with Top and Bunny along for the ride.

[Frank Jarome]

Very enjoyable short story that ties together the worlds of Joe "Jack Bauer is my idol" Ledger and the Pine Deep horror series. I'm already a big fan of Ledger's adventures, but after this, I want to check out the Pine Deep horror series as well. Bravo, Mr. Mayberry, you've hooked me

[Zac · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've loved everything I've read by Mayberry and these are some of my favorite characters, Ledger, Mike Sweeney, and Crow, but this teaser was a pretty disappointing meeting of two great worlds.

[Penny Ramirez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love it when authors bring two disparate series together - and it makes sense. And now I want to go back and re-read the Pine Deep series!

[Sonja · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this. It was short but very engaging.

[Panda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook (1 hour) narrated by Ray Porter
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing (Blackstone Audio, Inc., and Buck 50 Productions, LLC)

Ray Porter is awesome and the audio is good, without issues.

Whenever there are short stories added into a series I consider if I want to read or skip. Many times I choose to read the series and then if I feel inclined to do so, I go back and pick up one of the added in novels and if I enjoy it, go for another. This time I decided to read as I go and if the short stories didn't add much or anything, to skip.

Wow!

I am so glad that I didn't skip.

These stories are awesome!

They are snapshots of individual situations that the team encountered that might not fit well in the context of the big picture, but to release as a short story is perfect! This is one of the better uses of 'back filling' a series with short stories. It not only works but it adds complexity, personality, and a more intimate character view as the author can get up close and personal with details into single situations without interrupting the pace or dragging out the novel.

If you are reading this series I recommend that you do not skip the mini in between novels. If you have read the series and you enjoyed it, I would suggest that you consider going back in for these great stories, with the warning that it may lure you into a re-read, because they are just that good... and... if you have not done the audiobook version, Ray Porter is excellent and trying him out with one of these short stories is a great way to see if Ray Porter's voice works for you and the voice that you imagined when you read the print version.

Happy Reading!

[Justin Klinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second short story (1.2) and the third (1.3) are more of the stand-alone variety, and it was actually nice to see that they wouldn't JUST be fighting zombies in the series. Book 2, The Dragon Factory, is also not about zombies. Nothing against zombies, but I wasn't going to read 11 books about zombies.

I quite liked this one, and there was a cool twist with another twist. I really hope they re-visit the characters and setting introduced in this book. They probably do, but I'm not going to look ahead to see for sure. I want to be surprised.

So far, I think I'm going to read the whole series, but I plan to take some time off after book 4 or 5, and read something else. Then, I'll come back to these.

[Robert Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the Second short story follow-up to Patient Zero. This story isn't directly related to Patient Zero other than it involves the DMS's Echo Team. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars as I felt the ending was a bit out of character from what I expected in this series. That being said, it's still a great story with an epic battle sequence.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I can't come up with any good reason why a sane person would bother with vanilla wafers when the chocolatey goodness of Oreos was right there. It added to my growing suspicion that Church was a Vulcan."

Another little interlude with Joe, Top, and Bunny, taking place in the scariest town in America. Just in time for me to dip back into Pine Deep. Let my Halloween reads commence 👻 🧟💀

[Ryan M Pratt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great Joe Ledger short story that takes Joe into Pine Deep and helps intertwine the Ledger books with the Ghost Road Blues story line. The ending was awesome! I loved the whole vibe and atmosphere of this story!

[Karsyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one best of the Joe Ledger short stories I've read so far. I know my Husband has read the Pine Deep series, and this made me want to read them too, perhaps after I get through all the Joe Ledger books.

[Missi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weird. The thing I don’t like about short stories is they just jump in, even if you aren’t on board yet

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steve King Or Not? The team goes on a mission to locate a missing person to a town right out a Steven King Novel.

[Mike Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best of his short stories by a long shot. This felt much more complete than the other short episodes.

[Daryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad short story, but I don't remember enough about the Pine Deep trilogy to remember what happened to those guys...