Nicholas Sansbury Smith is the king of apocalyptic story telling, with a portfolio of series that range from realistic to fantastic. This one definitely falls on the realistic side of the scale, so much so that classifying it as science fiction isn't exactly accurate. Ten years ago it might have felt pretty fictional, but in the current tribal political climate in the US it now feels way too possible. The US National Guard is rebranded as the American Military Patriots (AMP) and these federal troops are used to invade various states that are branded as rebels. The US Marines are blamed for some of the chaos going on in the country and before we know it, we have US troops fighting against each other on American soil. With infrastructure crumbling, the environment is ripe for gangs and crime families to prosper, and within this turmoil the Moretti family sets its sights on taking over the city of Los Angeles. With good cops fighting corrupt ones, Latino gangs fighting the mafia, and the marines fighting against AMP, Los Angeles becomes the battleground of an apocalyptic future.

Rhino: The Rise of a Warrior tells the story of the Cazador soldier Rhino, from his childhood through his rise in the ranks, right up until the start of the main Hell Divers series. For me, the deck was certainly stacked against this book even though it is a spin off from a series that I really enjoyed. I rarely like side stories that focus on one of the supporting characters in a series, and I absolutely hate it when when an audiobook series changes narrators. However, Ray Porter is an excellent narrator, and the main PoV character of the original series is not in this book at all, so I decided to give it a shot.. The ratings on this one are pretty high, and I have to say, they are completely justified.

If my life was on the line and I needed a fictional character to rescue me, Joe Ledger would have to be near the top of my preferred list. This ex-Baltimore cop is the stereotypical killer that fights on the side of good, and he is more than willing to do some very evil things to make sure he accomplishes the mission. He never monologues with the bad guy, he just gets the job done no matter how bad the odds are. So it's always an exciting day when a new Joe Ledger book comes out and offers a chance to spend more time with Joe and the rest of Havoc Team as they save the world from yet another existential threat. This time a number of old threats are back to sow chaos and it is going to take all of RTI's resources to keep them at bay. Is there anything new to be found here or this just old material that's been recycled to feed the hungry fans of the series?

This one is a compilation of original short stories about everyone's favorite ex-cop, Joe Ledger, written by some of Jonathan Maberry’s "friends in the industry." Anthologies like this are never a good place to start a series and are mostly for fans that just want to spend more time with their favorite characters, and that certainly applies to me and Joe Ledger. This collection of authors is extensive and a few of them offer up crossover stories with Joe interacting with characters from their own series, which is extra fun if you already know those other characters. These authors are all clearly fans of Joe Ledger, but as expected, some of them bring Joe to life better than others. While each story is not a winner, overall I feel this was a good pick up and certainly worth a read, or a listen, while we wait on the next official story from Jonathan Maberry.

It has been a while since the last Rogue Team International book, Relentless, and it is finally time to find out if Joe Ledger's psyche has found a state of equilibrium. Joe Ledger has always been one of the most dangerous people in the world, with his fractured mind enabling him to do what needs doing without losing himself to the evil within him. He has always fought on the right side of the war against evil, but now that The Darkness exists within him, he has becomes a threat to everyone, including his own team members. Any return to the field carries a lot of risk, but that isn't going to stop Mr. Church from using his best weapon when the stakes get high. Dr Sanchez thinks Joe should retire, and he isn't alone in his opinion, but Joe and Church don't see it that way. Then a discovery in Cave 13 falls into the wrong hands, and it raises the threat level enough to mark Joe's return to leading Havoc Team. To the peril of everyone on both sides of the war.

I really enjoy the fact that Andy Weir emphasizes Science in his science fiction writing and when he paired that focus with a memorable main character in The Martian it resulted in a compelling story and follow on movie. In his second book, Artemis, he kept the science strong but he lacked that solid main character and the result was just ok. Now he is back with his latest offering, Project Hail Mary, and once again science takes the center stage from the very first page of the book. The main character starts an un-named individual that has been woken by a computer who is asking him simple questions, yet he is unable to answer them. He is just too weak, and his throat is too dry, for him to utter anything intelligible but the real question is why? and where is he? He's in a small room, that he has no memory of entering, and there appear to be two corpses in the room with him. It's time for some science!

As fans of this series know well, Joe Ledger's psyche was fractured by the traumatic experiences of his youth and he is barely able to keep it together on a good day. That makes him rather ill equipped to handle the devastating events that ended the last book, Rage, and it is obvious that he will never be the same. The question then becomes, what will happen to Joe's mind if he loses the battle that rages within him? And then, what damage will he do to those around him? Those questions and more weigh heavily on the minds of everyone that cares about him, but at the same time they all know that Rogue Team International is not able to stand against their current enemies without Joe Ledger. It is a no-win scenario for everyone involved and the stakes have never been higher.

The last Joe Ledger series came to a close with the formation of a new agency, Rogue Team International, which replaced the Department of Military Sciences after it fell out of favor with the current administration of the US government. RTI is much smaller than the DMS, but other than new team names and new call signs, it is still playing a similar role protecting the world from the largest and most deadly threats. In theory, RTI should be able to play an even bigger role now that it has no affiliation with any country, but since Mr. Church is still running things and Joe Ledger is still the main operative, the rest of the world isn't so quick to accept RTI's professed neutrality. Nevertheless, RTI is first on the scene when leaked footage appears to show the United States testing a new bio-weapon on the inhabitants of a small North Korean island. A bio-weapon that almost instantly turns anyone it comes into contact with into a rage filled killer...

Book one of this series, We Are Legion, was a unique take on the future of the human race. A future that became dependent on self replicating probes implanted with the personality of a cryogenically frozen, sarcastic, sci-fi geek named Bob. With Earth dying and becoming non-viable, Bob and all his replicants are busy doing what they can to find viable homes for the humans left on Earth; however, finding enough habitable planets and getting everyone off Earth in time is no easy task.  To that end the Bobs make great strides in technology that allow them to better fulfill their role as humanity's caretakers but the challenges they face are also increasing at an alarming rate. Those challenges include first contact with alien races, both more and less advanced than Bob, domestic terrorists that threaten the survivors on Earth, and Bob's personal struggle with the fact that he is no longer human.

When Bob Johansson signed the contract to cryogenically freeze his head after death he never imagined the future that he would wake up to; however, he knew it had to be better than being dead. Now he is learning whether or not that is actually true. Things on Earth have gone from bad to worse in the 117 years since he died in a car accident and now Bob is awoken to a world that is a geo-political mess. The disappointment continues when he learns that he is no longer actually a human but rather a computer AI that happens to retain all of his human memories. No longer in control of his own destiny he is told that his consciousness will be placed into a space probe and launched into space in search of a new home for humanity. To a sci-fi geek like Bob that is kind of cool, but when a rival faction attacks the project facility he is launched on his mission before his training is even complete. He now needs to take on the universe alone, making it all up as he goes along...