Hitman Books in Order

The Hitman books, co-written by Jessica Clare and Jen Frederick, are the darkest thing on this page. These stories sit much closer to romantic suspense than light contemporary romance. The heroes are killers, mercenaries, or men deep inside criminal worlds. The heroines are often in danger before the romance even begins. Nobody wanders into these books looking for a calm life.

That is the hook.

The series opens with Last Hit, where sheltered Daisy collides with Nikolai, a contract killer trying to carve out one last path to freedom. From there the books keep moving across dangerous ground. Last Breath heads into the world of trafficking and rescue as Daniel searches for his missing sister and finds Regan in the middle of a nightmare. Last Kiss shifts toward Bratva power struggles, stolen technology, and a heroine whose brains are every bit as valuable as her survival instincts. Last Hope takes the series into jungle survival territory, where a mercenary and a woman carrying dangerous information are forced to rely on each other.

These are not cozy books, and they are not pretending to be. The central tension in the series is always bigger than simple attraction. Trust is hard-earned. Safety is temporary. Past violence never stays in the past for long. Even the novella Last Hit: Reloaded works because it understands that getting the happy ending is one thing, keeping it is another.

What makes the series work is that the emotional stakes stay clear even when the external plot gets intense. The heroes are dangerous men, but they are not written as untouchable machines. They are haunted, driven, obsessive, and often more vulnerable than they want anyone to see. The heroines are not there just to be rescued, either. They adapt, bargain, fight back, and keep the books from turning into a one-note power fantasy.

The settings also help. These stories move through brothels, hideouts, criminal compounds, planes, and remote stretches of the world where ordinary rules do not apply. That gives the series a hard-edged, restless feeling. It is always in motion.

If you want Jessica Clare at her most dangerous, this is the lane to try. The romance is still there, and it is intense, but it has to grow inside fear, violence, and very bad odds. That makes the payoff feel earned.