Aliens and alien tech in the wrong hands is the crux of this book. Lots of countries have been trying to get a working craft out of the tech from crashed spaceships but now the aliens have kidnapped the president and they want all their toys back. Of course, there are people who don’t want to give it up and use it to start a war. Joe must find copies of all the documents and gather it up so the president will be returned. ( )

I've always enjoyed Maberry's writing and the Ledger series in particular.

But then this one came along. Holy crap! Maberry drops bomb after bomb after bomb in this one. He literally carpet bombs the reader with fascinating ideas. Along the way, there's the always amazing fight scenes and, of course, Ledger's sarcastic wit.

Easily my favourite of the series so far. Well done, Mr. Maberry, well done. ( )

“The word "impossible" used to mean something. It was a line that couldn't be crossed. It was the outer edge of the safe zone.

I can't find that line anymore.”

Extinction Machine is the fifth book in the Joe Ledger series by Jonathan Maberry. The impossible has happened. The President of the United States has been abducted from the White House and not a single Secret Service agent saw anything. The only piece of evidence left behind is a crop circle on the White House lawn. This has to be a hoax, right?

If the X-Files had an episode featuring Joe Ledger the result would be this book. Aliens are real...or are they? The DMS is in for a hard time as they work to unravel what's going on. We get a peek into Church and his "friends in the industry" that manages to both give some new information and keeps his mystique going. Joe and Ghost are their bad ass selves though I'm starting to wish they'd get a break. I'm not really sure how much of a beating a human can take before it affects their mental state and Joe's not 100% stable. Junie Flynn is another great addition and I hope we see her again in the future.

Maberry must have had fun doing research for this book. I kept pausing the story to google conspiracy theories various bits of technology as it progressed. It was an enjoyable rabbit hole to go down to see what had a basis in reality (microwave guns are real) and what is purely from Maberry's imagination. The author skillfully weaves them together.

The series has covered zombies, bio engineered super soldiers, vampires and alien technology. I can't wait to see where the story goes next. ( )

My favorite in the series so far! ( )

Okay, having read all five in the series, I can say that the one sucked. It had the same great action and witty banter but where the others had villians distorting hard science, this was pure fantasy. It made for a stupid ending that seemed too neat and tidy. ( )