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Colt Ryder Books in Order

Part ofJT Brannan Books in Order

See the Colt Ryder books in order by JT Brannan, with quick summaries, series background, and tips on where to start this long-running action series.

Last updated: 28 new books added

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Colt Ryder books in publication order

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51 books

1

The Thousand Dollar Hunt

by JT Brannan

2015

A missing-person case leads Colt to a New Mexico safari park where rich men hunt more than animals. Soon, Colt becomes the prey in the reserve's deadliest game.

2

The Thousand Dollar Man

by JT Brannan

2015

Scarred by Iraq and Afghanistan and failed by the life he came home to, Colt Ryder becomes the Thousand Dollar Man, a drifter who helps the desperate for a flat fee. With Kane beside him, he turns survival into rough justice.

3

When a contract killing and a desperate client collide, Colt steps into a deadly job where every side is hiding something and walking away may be impossible.

4

A job that looks simple turns into a brutal fight for survival, with Colt and Kane trapped between desperate victims, armed enemies, and a scheme they were never meant to uncover.

5

Inside San Quentin, Colt uncovers a savage underground fight club and a prison job gone wrong. To stop it, he has to survive the inmates, the guards, and the breakout itself.

6

A missing-person case leads Colt to a horrifying snuff-film operation. Exposing it means going deep into one of his darkest and most dangerous missions yet.

7

The Thousand Dollar Chase

by JT Brannan

2018

A pursuit across the American heartland pulls Colt into a case that keeps getting bigger. With Kane at his side, he has to stay one step ahead of killers and figure out who is really being hunted.

8

The holiday season turns bloody when Colt takes on a winter job in a town full of fear and bad secrets. Christmas goodwill only lasts until the shooting starts.

9

The Thousand Dollar Team

by JT Brannan

2018

In a small Missouri town, Colt goes undercover at a chemical plant after a worker vanishes and his wife refuses to believe the official story. What he finds is bigger, dirtier, and deadlier than expected.

10

A kidnapping case drags Colt into a tense hunt where time matters and nobody can be trusted. Saving the victim means cutting through lies before the trail goes cold.

11

A trip to Las Vegas turns deadly when Colt and Kane are swept into a bloody mafia scheme. Sin City is the last place to relax when killers are closing in.

12

A case touched by extremism and revenge forces Colt to ask what patriotism looks like when it turns violent. Helping the innocent means stepping into a national nightmare.

13

The Thousand Dollar Shot

by JT Brannan

2020

A shooting puts Colt on the trail of a dangerous enemy and a deeper conspiracy. With danger coming fast, he has to find the truth before the next shot lands.

14

The Thousand Dollar Triad

by JT Brannan

2020

When Colt crosses paths with a brutal Triad operation, he is pulled into a fight against organized crime with international reach. This time, the enemy is disciplined, ruthless, and very well connected.

15

The Thousand Dollar Feud

by JT Brannan

2021

A bitter feud is turning deadly, and the people caught in the middle have nowhere to turn but Colt. Old grudges and fresh blood make this one especially volatile.

16

The Thousand Dollar Heist

by JT Brannan

2021

What starts as a robbery story quickly becomes something messier and more violent. Colt has to untangle the setup before the heist claims more victims.

17

A hospital-linked mystery puts Colt up against people who are used to operating behind closed doors. To protect the vulnerable, he must expose the truth before one more patient disappears.

18

The Thousand Dollar Slave

by JT Brannan

2021

A plea for help leads Colt toward a modern slavery operation built on fear and silence. To bring anyone out alive, he has to hit the traffickers hard and fast.

19

Someone is being hunted, and Colt arrives just in time to be caught in the crossfire. To keep his client alive, he has to find the hidden motive behind the target on their back.

20

Football money, local loyalties, and violence collide when Colt stumbles into a case tied to the game. Beneath the bright lights, someone is playing for keeps.

21

A single bullet sets off a fast, dangerous investigation for Colt and Kane. To stop the next killing, Colt has to work out who pulled the trigger and why.

22

The Thousand Dollar Deal

by JT Brannan

2022

A shady deal with huge consequences draws Colt into another town's darkest business. The deeper he digs, the clearer it becomes that somebody will kill to protect it.

23

Revenge is in the air when Colt lands in the middle of a payback mission spiraling out of control. Justice and vengeance are not the same thing, and Colt has to prove it the hard way.

24

The Thousand Dollar Race

by JT Brannan

2022

A street racer abandons witness protection to enter a lucrative cross-country contest, exposing himself to cartel assassins. Colt Ryder and Kane must protect him through the race and return him safely in time to testify against a violent drug lord.

25

The Thousand Dollar Storm

by JT Brannan

2022

A widow hires Colt Ryder to find the bank robbers who killed her husband in Alaska. Tracking the gang into remote wilderness with Kane, he faces armed fugitives and an approaching storm that threatens to bury any chance of justice.

26

An escaped prisoner accused of murdering his family asks Colt Ryder to uncover the real killer. A million-dollar bounty sends police and armed civilians after him, leaving Colt and Kane racing to establish the truth before someone collects the reward.

27

The Thousand Dollar Cure

by JT Brannan

2023

A woman whose unexplained cancer remission could help researchers is kidnapped for ransom. Colt Ryder and Kane attempt her rescue, then discover that other powerful interests want her dead and the possible cure within her body destroyed.

28

Bryan Davis hires Colt Ryder after his wife vanishes during a gas-station stop near Liberty Falls. The search reveals troubling secrets beneath the community’s peaceful appearance, and Colt discovers that its residents will use violence to keep those secrets hidden.

29

The Thousand Dollar Fight

by JT Brannan

2023

A violent security company takes over bars in London, Ontario, using its bouncers to sell drugs and intimidate owners. Colt Ryder and Kane answer an old friend’s plea, confronting the criminals behind a business that is poisoning the city.

30

A missing teenager leads Colt Ryder into a pattern of disappearances among Chicago’s homeless and vulnerable young women. Working with a detective who takes the victims seriously, he hunts a sadistic killer protected by the authorities’ indifference.

31

A former American Special Forces officer builds a brutal Mexican drug cartel using military tactics. Forced into a deniable mission by the US government, Colt Ryder enters Mexico with Kane, facing a trained enemy without backup or official protection.

32

After an army intelligence friend is murdered in Washington, Colt Ryder continues her investigation into government traitors. His search draws police, federal agencies, and foreign operatives against him as he attempts to expose corruption reaching deep into the capital.

33

The Thousand Dollar Brawl

by JT Brannan

2024

A grieving mother asks Colt Ryder to investigate organized mass brawls after her son is killed. Colt and Kane confront criminal promoters, corrupt officials, and violent fighters as they try to dismantle a movement spreading across the country.

34

An orphan who discovers she has a twin sister hires Colt Ryder to find the missing woman. Following the trail across America with Kane, he uncovers a dangerous mystery far more complicated than the family reunion his client imagined.

35

A new police chief detains Ukrainian refugees, destroys their paperwork, and forces them into labor for his allies. Called by a suspicious sponsoring family, Colt Ryder and Kane confront the corrupt department controlling Trentonville through intimidation and violence.

36

A wounded underwater photographer asks Colt Ryder to help recover pirate treasure intended for environmental charities. Rival hunters pursue the valuable wreck, forcing Colt and Kane into Caribbean waters where armed criminals and the ocean threaten their mission.

37

The Thousand Dollar Trial

by JT Brannan

2024

Colt Ryder’s former army comrade faces trial for deadly bombings, but insists he is innocent. With investigators focused on the accused, Colt and Kane search for the real perpetrators before the prosecution condemns his friend to prison or execution.

38

The Thousand Dollar Crash

by JT Brannan

2025

An actress and her driver die in a car crash that police dismiss as an accident. Her mother hires Colt Ryder, whose investigation with Kane exposes a wider mystery and makes him a target of people determined to conceal the truth.

39

A Seattle Yakuza boss hires Colt Ryder to stage his death so he can retire, but is murdered before the plan begins. Colt and Kane confront the ruthless successor whose expansion threatens to turn the Pacific Northwest into a gang battlefield.

40

The Thousand Dollar Judge

by JT Brannan

2025

Arrested after protecting a woman in Alabama, Colt Ryder is sentenced by a corrupt judge to a brutal chain gang. With Kane’s help, he must escape the prisoners’ labor camp and challenge the official whose power controls an entire county.

41

The FBI director recruits Colt Ryder to investigate stolen technology at an aerospace company because his own agency has been infiltrated. Working undercover with Kane nearby, Colt must identify the spies before revolutionary drones reach their crucial test flights.

42

A wedding massacre in New Mexico leaves more than a hundred dead and police claiming to have no leads. Colt Ryder and Kane investigate, discovering powerful interests determined to conceal the attackers and silence anyone who gets close.

43

A popular band receives credible death threats as its nationwide winter tour begins. Colt Ryder joins an old friend’s security team with Kane, then searches for the people behind the threats before their plans turn a concert into a catastrophe.

44

A Houston vigilante begins killing people for minor offenses, including a teenager accused of graffiti. Hired by the boy’s mother, Colt Ryder confronts a ruthless counterpart whose methods force him to consider the limits of his own pursuit of justice.

45
New

The Thousand Dollar Climb

by JT Brannan

2026

A celebrity climber attempts a month alone among Colorado’s winter peaks while a dark-web challenge offers his murder as entertainment. Colt Ryder and Kane must find the isolated man before his hunters do, battling deadly terrain as well as killers.

46
New

A Navajo mother hires Colt Ryder when authorities fail to find her missing daughter. Investigating with Kane, he uncovers a network of trafficking and murder that reaches beyond one disappearance, and takes on the criminals exploiting vulnerable reservation residents.

47
New

Corrupt Mexican police deliver Colt Ryder to a cartel execution ground, but Kane helps him escape. Stranded without money or weapons, he must reach the United States while gangs, police, and military forces join a nationwide hunt for him.

48
New

Colt Ryder learns of a planned terrorist attack while working another case during America’s anniversary year. With Kane at his side, he enters an urgent investigation against an unidentified enemy preparing destruction on a scale that could reshape the nation.

49
New

The Thousand Dollar Unit

by JT Brannan

2026

A Chicago widow seeking Colt Ryder’s help dies before he can answer her plea. Investigating with Kane, he goes undercover inside the police department, where an apparently untouchable unit may connect brutality, criminal business, and murder to the couple’s deaths.

50
New

Colt Ryder takes a job at an Arizona meatpacking plant after hearing that migrant workers have disappeared. His investigation with Kane exposes horrors beneath the employer’s control of the town, threatening to make Colt another worker who never returns home.

51
New

A woman recognizes a vice-presidential nominee as the man who murdered her parents twenty years earlier. Colt Ryder investigates her uncertain memories with Kane, uncovering a dangerous conspiracy whose consequences extend far beyond the original double murder.

Colt Ryder books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Man"

    The Thousand Dollar Man

    by JT Brannan

    2015Colt Ryder, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Hunt"

    The Thousand Dollar Hunt

    by JT Brannan

    2015Colt Ryder, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Escape"

    The Thousand Dollar Escape

    by JT Brannan

    2016Colt Ryder, Book 3
  4. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Contract"

    The Thousand Dollar Contract

    by JT Brannan

    2016Colt Ryder, Book 4
  5. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Breakout"

    The Thousand Dollar Breakout

    by JT Brannan

    2017Colt Ryder, Book 5
  6. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Murder"

    The Thousand Dollar Murder

    by JT Brannan

    2017Colt Ryder, Book 6
  7. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Team"

    The Thousand Dollar Team

    by JT Brannan

    2018Colt Ryder, Book 7
  8. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Chase"

    The Thousand Dollar Chase

    by JT Brannan

    2018Colt Ryder, Book 8
  9. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Christmas"

    The Thousand Dollar Christmas

    by JT Brannan

    2018Colt Ryder, Book 9
  10. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Killers"

    The Thousand Dollar Killers

    by JT Brannan

    2019Colt Ryder, Book 10
  11. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Kidnap"

    The Thousand Dollar Kidnap

    by JT Brannan

    2019Colt Ryder, Book 11
  12. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Shot"

    The Thousand Dollar Shot

    by JT Brannan

    2020Colt Ryder, Book 12
  13. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Triad"

    The Thousand Dollar Triad

    by JT Brannan

    2020Colt Ryder, Book 13
  14. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Patriot"

    The Thousand Dollar Patriot

    by JT Brannan

    2020Colt Ryder, Book 14
  15. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Slave"

    The Thousand Dollar Slave

    by JT Brannan

    2021Colt Ryder, Book 15
  16. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Heist"

    The Thousand Dollar Heist

    by JT Brannan

    2021Colt Ryder, Book 16
  17. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Patient"

    The Thousand Dollar Patient

    by JT Brannan

    2021Colt Ryder, Book 17
  18. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Feud"

    The Thousand Dollar Feud

    by JT Brannan

    2021Colt Ryder, Book 18
  19. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Target"

    The Thousand Dollar Target

    by JT Brannan

    2021Colt Ryder, Book 19
  20. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Touchdown"

    The Thousand Dollar Touchdown

    by JT Brannan

    2021Colt Ryder, Book 20
  21. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Bullet"

    The Thousand Dollar Bullet

    by JT Brannan

    2022Colt Ryder, Book 21
  22. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Deal"

    The Thousand Dollar Deal

    by JT Brannan

    2022Colt Ryder, Book 22
  23. Book cover for "The Thousand Dollar Payback"

    The Thousand Dollar Payback

    by JT Brannan

    2022Colt Ryder, Book 23

Series background & context

The Colt Ryder books are built around a simple idea that gives Brannan a lot of room to play. Somewhere out on the roads of America, there is a man people call the Thousand Dollar Man. If someone is desperate enough, and can scrape together a thousand dollars, he might show up and solve the problem nobody else will touch.

That man is Colt Ryder.

Colt is a former soldier, battered by war and by what came after it. He drifts from town to town with his dog, Kane, carrying little, staying light, and stepping into other people's trouble. He is not a cop, not a detective, and not exactly a hired gun either. What he offers is closer to rough justice. If the law is corrupt, if the local authorities are scared, or if the victim has simply been ignored, Colt becomes the last option.

That setup gives the series its shape. Most books drop him into a new corner of the United States, often a small town or overlooked place where something ugly is festering under the surface. Sometimes the problem is a missing person. Sometimes it is trafficking, organized crime, a corrupt business, a violent feud, or a case that looks smaller than it really is. Colt usually starts with one frightened client and one question. From there, things get messy fast.

Kane matters more than just as a sidekick. The dog gives the books warmth, instinct, and a bit of quiet companionship for a hero who spends most of his life on the move. Colt is a lone wanderer, but he is not entirely alone, and the bond between the two helps keep the series grounded even when the action turns wild.

The tone is direct and fast. These are action thrillers, but the stakes are often personal rather than abstract. The people Colt helps are usually ordinary people trapped in frightening situations, and that gives the violence a more immediate feel. He is not trying to save the world. He is trying to save one person, one family, or one town at a time. That smaller scale is part of what makes the series work.

At the same time, the books do not stay small for long. Colt has a habit of uncovering systems, not just bad individuals. A straightforward job can open into something much larger, and a quiet place can turn into a battlefield before the story is over. If you like wandering-hero thrillers, lots of momentum, and a lead character who answers injustice with action, this is very much that kind of series.

Start with The Thousand Dollar Man. It lays out who Colt is, why he lives this way, and what kind of promise the series is making to the reader.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shape MRB and its growth.

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