Jonathan Maberry can do no wrong. I was so excited to jump back into the world of Joe Ledger. His books are the best mixture of sci-fi/fantasy and the real world. I'm never disappointed by his writing and I'm so thankful i received an ARC of this! I can't wait to read what comes next!

Oh, this was so much fun.

I was so glad to be back with Joe Ledger and the team. And such devious horrors in this one! Truly chilling.

I still had just a touch of trouble with the non-linear storytelling - hey, I'm a straightforward timeline kind of reader - but I did get used to it and by a quarter of the way through, I'd forgotten my issues and was just enjoying the story.

More Joe, please!

I love this series so much. In Cave 13, Joe Ledger continues to battles his demons while confronting a new, unique threat to the world. The stakes felt HIGH in this one. As always, I love how Maberry has one primary narrative that we follow, but integrates interludes and short, in-between chapters from different perspectives (often from some of the bad guys) and different timelines, throughout. It's such a great way to piece together the details and motivations of various characters.

For whatever reason, it's starting to feel like the series might be reaching a denouement of sorts. While I always appreciate a great, action-packed act 3, I really don't want to see this series end! Even 13 books in (3 with Rogue Team International, 10 in the previous Joe Ledger series), it doesn't feel stale or recycled. Characters shuffle in and out and Maberry is always able to come up with fresh new adventures for Joe Ledger and his team.

If you love an action-packed thriller with characters with depth, check out these books. They won't disappoint.

This book puts you right in the action from the first chapter. It is very well written and super technical. Unfortunately, it just isn't for me. But this is a me thing, not the book or writing. If you enjoy military thrillers, this is perfect for you. There is a lot of very technical military information, and the book is action packed. The characters were well fleshed out, just not relatable to me because of the military expertise.

Book after book after book I am convinced Maberry can't do anything more to hurt Joe. But LORD LORD LORD he proves me wrong everytime.

Now these type of military based thrillers are usually not my bag. But there's something about Joe and Top and Bunny - I absolutely love those three. Plus Ghost and Church and Rudy and Junie and Circe. Like the cast of characters is phenom and I love the world that JM has built. With that being said, this book is rough and wild and legit all my notes said "wtf is happening".

"The war is the war and it will always rage. Here and there. Under different flags fueled by different kinds of hate. Rationalized by the ideology du jour."

The way JM's timelines go, you know you are reading something important but you have no clue why or how or what it means. Everything feels jumbled until it's not. Now the big reveal I guessed but it never impacted by experience. But the way JM writes these books you know there is a ton of research and the setting of Israel and Jordan in this book - the Dead Sea Scrolls, magic, the Bible, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity? I was RIVETED. And googled so much.

I just love these books. Even when JM does things that frustrate me.

I will say that JM should never write a sex scene again and if he does he should never say juices again. My other issue is that JM had a character use the N-word to Top and like I get it, you want to show this dude is a racist American but like could we have done that another way? It was fully there and a jolt and I just don't ever think a white author should use that.

Joe Ledger and Rogue Team International are plunged into a new set of dangers as a deadly arms race opens up in the Middle East. A new set of Dead Sea Scrolls have been discovered and it opens up a torrent of greed and terrorism. This starts a race against the clock.

I found Joe Ledger the perfect mix of strength and vulnerability. Talk about tough as nails with a soft spot! And I LOVED his dog! You will have to read this to find out!

This book has a little bit of everything…espionage, historical mystery, biblical mystery and plenty of action! This would make a great tv show. It moves quickly and is definitely entertaining. I had no idea which way the story was going to turn next.

I am glad I listened to it because it is a long read. But the narrator, Ray Porter, is captivating and keeps the story moving quickly.

Need an action packed thriller with a kick…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

I first met Joe Ledger in the same year I started a new job. It was something that was needed but no one had done in exactly this way before. I had to create the job as I went, adjusting to new obstacles on the fly and making my own rules. Is it any wonder I could relate? He and I grew in those jobs until they were no longer working like they use to. We both had to change what we were doing to continue to be able to make a difference. Joe went to RTI. I am now also working mostly with RTI! He is fighting the dangers of science, and possibly the supernatural, while I am fighting the effects of a global pandemic. I feel like we are one. We both have our darkness.

This time Joe is back from one of his darkest times. One that is completely understandable but also far over the edge. Now he is fighting new enemies with old friends, and some old enemies. And he is fighting some old friends. It’s very complicated and violent in a way that only Jonathan Maberry can write. His background in martial arts adds detail and tension to every fight. And there are a lot of them here.

My favorites are not the violent scenes, but the interpersonal realtionships. I’ve often said that if Ghost dies we all riot, but Ghost/Joe is not the only relationship that is complex and deep. Joe/Tops/Bunny, for example, is ever challenged. Joe/Toys is a mess that I love to see. Joe/Church is weirdly fatherly. Church/Lilith makes me never want to know more. And every other character is so well known and developed by now that I can picture them all. When I read, Bug is very clear in my mind. Somehow a brilliant doctor who is a version of Dolly Parton makes me happy in a way that isn’t characatuer.

Every Joe Ledger story has a plot that leads me down internet rabbit hole searches. I have, coincidentally, been part of an archeology documentary watch party that meets weekly for a few months now. (Will the parallels ever end?) And I looked up every pharaoh and a whole lot about the Dead Sea Scrolls after every few chapters. Even so, I come back for the people. After all, I am practically living their lives. So, they fight monsters and I fight learning loss. Still.

I was so excited to be allowed to read and review this early. I must say if you're going to read this book, you need to read the previous books in order to understand all the callbacks to certain characters and events. This book at times felt like Ledger and company were reflecting on previous missions and villains they've delt with.
I can't say this is my favorite of the series, but It's still very entertaining and interesting. One thing Maberry can do that I love is bring up old stories/legends/myths, etc.. and introduce them to modern science, medicine and so on. There's some of that in here. There's a surprising amount of backstory paid to the villain in this. The story builds for a while to get going. It picks up nicely towards the end.
Overall, a solid installment in the Joe Ledger, Rogue Team series.
It made me look forward to the next book even more.
I enjoyed it. I give it 4 stars.
I'd like to thank the publisher, Netgalley, and Jonathan maberry for allowing me to read and review this.

In this one, Joe Ledger and his team seem to be in serious trouble....and then the story starts.
A business man with a strange obsession for the Dead Sea Scrolls, known as Mr. Miracle, ends up on Rogue Team's radar. People are seeing strange hallucinations and acting out harming themselves and others.
Ledger is freshly back from his break from sanity in the last case. His friends and team feel they need to keep a close eye on him. This current problem will end up testing everyone's grip on reality.
This is book 3 in the RTI spin-off series and book 13 overall in the Joe Ledger series. You don't need to have read them all before now, but if you haven't, you really should. I was so happy to see one of my favorite characters, Alexander Chismer (Toys), have a decently active appearance.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin for the opportunity to read this e-ARC of the next adventure in my favorite series.

This one is for fans of the Joe Ledger series. Joe, his dog Ghost, and his team, at the direction of the mysterious Mr. Church, are once again battling the forces of evil and a giant conspiracy to keep us all safe from loose nukes. Whew. While largely told from Joe's perspective, this also dips over to other characters. The discovery of sacred scrolls gave this an Indiana Jones etc. feel but it still has all the military techno thrills readers of this genre at looking for. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A page turner.

Hard to believe it’s only been two years since we last got our Joe Ledger fix with 2021’s release of Relentless — it feels a hell of a lot longer! (Jonathan Maberry was hardly resting on his laurels, though, having dropped two doorstoppers [plus a novella] in that timeframe to kickstart his epic sword and sorcery Kagen the Damned series…which means I now get to be impatient for another Maberry book series… It ain’t easy, friends!) Thankfully, Cave 13 is here and whooo boy, it’s a doozy.

Ledger and Rogue Team International squares off against an arms dealer supplying ISIS with newly developed tech that includes weaponized psychedelics refined from ancient fungi recovered from a newly discovered cave containing Dead Sea Scrolls, lead boxes engraved with warnings that predate Biblical history, and maybe some books of actual freaking magic.

Maberry’s always been great at utilizing next-gen technology to whip up horrifying scenarios across the span of the Joe Ledger series, going back to the start of it all in 2009’s Patient Zero. There, Islamic terrorists created a genetically engineered plague that brought zombie fiction to terrifying life. In my review for that book, I summarized it thusly: “Imagine 24 with zombies and you have a very basic understanding of Patient Zero's framework.” That framework has largely been maintained across the Joe Ledger series, with Maberry consistently crafting some mighty damn fine military technothrillers smashed up against and mixed well with various horror genre tropes that are brought to life with cutting-edge scientific ingenuity. Zombies, clones, vampires, and even some dashes of Lovecraftian horrors. The weaponized psychedelics at the heart of Cave 13 are truly horrifying and awful, leading to mind-shattering violence as the afflicted experience the most violent LSD trip of their soon-to-be short-lived lives.

At the center of it all, of course, is Joe Ledger, a deeply sarcastic, wiseacre tough guy with plenty of heart who Maberry obviously takes some measure of sadistic joy in running through the wringer. I swear, Maberry must sit around in some custom-built medieval dungeon caressing a collection of ancient and arcane tools of torture daydreaming about how he can make Joe’s life harder, what he can do to make things worse for this poor, mentally fractured man, and just how close to the brink of death and full-on madness he can take this guy before he finally, irreparably breaks him for good (not to mention everyone around him). Maberry’s like a kid setting his GI Joe’s on fire. Don’t get me wrong, though, it’s entertaining as all hell and I wouldn’t have it any other way, but jumping Jesus on a pogo stick, I kinda feel bad about it, too, you know?

Over the course of this long-running series, Maberry has been careful to educate his readers on just how impermanent a fixture those around Joe can be. A number of DMS operatives have been lost to pave the way for Rogue Team International, and Cave 13’s in media res opening put me immediately on edge. It’s an incredibly dark introduction to the story, showing us a Ledger in a supremely tight spot — bloody, broken in both mind and body, down to his last two bullets and debating if he should save them for himself and his combat dog, Ghost, or save them for the monsters on the other side of the door he’s trapped behind. Monsters who used to be his most trusted and loyal teammates. Top and Bunny. Series staples who have been with Joe since the very start. Hunting Joe. Seeking to kill him, and his little dog, too.

The story, of course, is an exercise in how we get to that point in the finale, jumping back two weeks as Ledger and RTI work their way through a series of seemingly disconnected incidents. One particularly gruesome strand involves a pair of scientists in a locked room examining an ancient artifact that drives them insane. Others involve Middle Eastern weapons dealing, and a third strand revolves around a supposedly beneficial reality TV star named Mr. Miracle.

Cave 13 offers a lot to digest with its thick, meaty story. In fact, there’s too much here for just one book. While Maberry tackles some of the more central issues to Joe’s latest casebook of horrors, plenty of other threads are left dangling and unresolved, particularly as they relate to supposedly magical events caught on tape during a CIA interrogation. Whether it was real magic or computer magic is a topic, I suspect, for the next book, and might even offer up an interesting undercurrent for the future of the Rogue Team International books as a whole. Time will tell, of course. If there’s one other thing Maberry excels at, it’s making you impatient for the next book, and I now find myself chomping at the bit for whatever comes next.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

Another pulse pounding, action packed entry into the long running Joe Ledger series. I am always amazed at how Maberry can take our own world and through his research make any scenario believable. So fun to see how the author is beginning to introduce magic into his shared universe. Fans of thrillers and horror should grab this book! See the link for my full review.

Action, danger, intrigue, history, tension, and suspense are combined in the latest military thriller by Jonathan Maberry: Cave 13 . This third book in the Rogue Team International (RTI) series continues to feature Joe Ledger and Havoc Team. RTI are independent troubleshooters who sometimes tackle antagonists on their own and sometimes are asked for help from various countries. Once again, this is a dark and violent thriller with some interludes that are lighter. While most of the novel takes place in Jerusalem, Israel, readers also travel to the Republic of Chad, Greece, and the United States.

While this novel focuses on Joe and his dog Ghost, Havoc Team as well as Top Sims and Bunny. However, other colleagues play important roles that give the reader character continuity. While readers get insight into various antagonists throughout the novel, their specific roles and how everything fits together takes a while to be revealed. Joe is well-developed, compelling, and damaged. While he’s largely apolitical, an idealist, cynical, and has a gift for languages, he is also damaged and hasn’t been in the field for a year. Additionally, others don’t always appreciate his sense of humor.

Once again Maberry hooked me with the fascinating prologue than pulled me immediately into the story. While the plot does jump back and forth in time and between various points of view, it is largely from Joe’s perspective. Readers are taken on an emotional rollercoaster.
For an action / military thriller, I loved the style that Maberry used. While there are comprehensive descriptions of people, places and gear, it doesn’t go into minute detail. I believe this approach will make this novel appeal to a wider audience. There are several twists and a big surprise that I didn’t see coming. While a lot was resolved in this book, the ending left a lot of loose threads. I would have liked to have at least some of those wrapped up in this novel.

Overall, this novel is a shockingly dark, disturbing, and an emotional ride. Be aware that there is plenty of violence and emotional turmoil in this story. Themes include fitness for duty, terrorism, found family, friendship, and much more.

This is the seventh book I have read by this author who writes in a variety of genres. I can’t wait to read another one by him. Maberry’s books are well-written with characters that have depth and there is an interesting plot where the story line pulls the reader in immediately. I believe those readers who enjoy action thrillers and military thrillers that are dark will want to read this book.

St. Martin’s Press – St. Martin’s Griffin and Jonathan Maberry provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently set for August 29, 2023.

When I was picked for an ARC of this book I had no idea it was third in a series, but it was giving series action-adventure vibes with a bit of magic (read: kinda Indiana Jones-ish). ⁠
The book starts off with a BANG; we know immediately that our main character, Joe, is in peril and things are about to get the worst they've been, when we suddenly flash back to the beginning. What follows is a tail of missing nuclear weapons, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a super villain, and a race against time in the Middle East for the human race. ⁠
I enjoyed this book and all the adventure that went with it. It's a long book with a lot of moving parts, it was different than anything I'd read before, but it sounded so good and I am so happy I got to read this one!⁠
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NOTE: No points deducted for this, just want to comment that there are a lot of characters who have clearly been through a lot in the previous two books, so there is a lot of diving into their current mental state and progress. It doesn't deter from the story at all, just a note for fellow readers to not let that lose you. I definitely would love to go back to book one and get to know these characters from the start!

Love. Love. Love this series. Looking forward to many more adventures with Joe and the team. Mayberry became one of my favorite authors from the minute I finished the first book.

My thanks to St. Martin's Press, Netgalley and my main man...Jonathan Maberry!
So, I must confess that this is probably my least favorite Ledger book.
Yeah, it comes as a shock to me too! This one just seemed a bit off.
I've been reading everything Maberry for years, and especially these books, but if I'm honest, "I try!" In all honesty, I could have skipped this one and it probably wouldn't have even left a blip on the screen.
What's worse?
Well, in this case. For me?
I can't even recall what the book was about, and I just finished it a week ago!
That just doesn't happen with a Ledger book! Yet, somehow it did.
So, I'm giving this one a soft pass, and just say that eventually there will be a blah book. This is mine.
Looking forward to the next. Ledger,kicking ass and taking names!

I am going to preface this by saying that I'm a huge fan of this series, and all of the books in the preceding series. I pretty much adore Joe Ledger. I will also say that this book was not my favorite.

We are deep into this spinoff that has Joe and the guys now working with Mr. Church for RTI. They've gone global. The last book had us following along as Joe went off the reservation and dealt with the retribution for the murder of his family. It was a gut punch and a hard and difficult road. But, we made it through.

This book starts fairly soon after the events of the last book and for some reason, the writing felt different to me. The feelings that were trying to be portrayed felt more "superficial" and not as in depth as we have come to expect. I really can't explain this thought other than to say that phrases like "we were stunned" "shocked" "speechless" "the world has changed"....those type of phrases seemed to be thrown out so commonly and often that it took away from the situation and created the opposite feeling for me. I know, I know, that probably doesn't make sense....

Don't get me wrong, this was another thrilling, action and drama packed book filled with awful events being thrown at the Havoc Team, but it didn't FEEL as real to me. Plus, the ending wasn't tied up and we were left with many, many hanging loose ends. As a long time fan, I'm okay with that, but it needs to be said.

I honestly don't remember how many books we have now had with Joe and his team, but I also have to say that Joe is getting more...ummm, romantic...in his older age. I can't remember a book that went into as much detail about his love and feelings for Junie. Nothing wrong with that at all, but my eyebrows definitely went up a couple of times and I thought, "Joe...."

Things are bleak, but then again, when aren't they? It will be interesting to see where things go from here.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. The opinions above are mine and mine alone.

I loved how Maberry set this one up. He starts at nearly the end and then goes back to fill in the reader as to how Rogue Team got into that situation.

This book is exactly what every fan of Joe Ledger longs for. Action packed, with alternating chapters from various points of view. A new, very dangerous villain appears, and a few characters we already know and love appear as well.

Will Joe lose any members of Rogue Team on this mission? Will Ghost make it through alive? Will Joe survive "the darkness" that has enveloped him? You'll have to read this to find out!

I hope that you do because CAVE 13 gets my highest recommendation!

*Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it!-

Another weird and wonderful Rogue Team International. The crew has left behind the Department of Military Science and moved their headquarters to Corfu. Mr. Church and the home team send Joe Ledger and his Havoc Team into the thick of the weirdness. Does magic exist? Can cobras be conjured out of thin air? What is causing the hallucinations? Mr. Miracle, a VIP televangelist, hawks his wares, stolen from the Qumran caves. A new cave is accidently discovered by an ISIS team; it contains literally tons of new Coptic writings and scrolls, some may even be from the Library at Alexandria. More importantly, however, an ergot compound is discovered that, when refined, will destroy your mind. And then, four nukes disappear from Israel. What could possibly go wrong? Just about everything and Joe Ledger and his team are caught squarely in the middle. Always recommended for an adrenaline ride.