John Gilstrap Books in Order

After a violent incident at a Virginia juvenile detention center, 12-year-old Nathan Bailey is branded a cop killer and forced to run for his life. Alone and hunted by police and a contract killer, he has to outthink adults who have already decided he's guilty.

Jake and Carolyn Brighton look like an ordinary small-town couple, until a false arrest exposes their real past as long-hidden fugitives. To save their teenage son and clear their names, they have to outrun the FBI and revisit the disaster that destroyed their old lives.

A couple grieving infertility finds a frightened little boy in the woods and stumbles into a kidnapping case that turns deadly fast. With criminals closing in and the police unsure whom to trust, they must protect the child and survive long enough to learn the truth.

Teenager Scott survives a plane crash in the snowy mountains after sneaking away from a family trip, only to face a new threat when he finds shelter. While his divided parents fight to keep the search alive, Scott discovers that rescue may be the most dangerous part.

Co-written with Kurt Muse, this true story follows an American businessman who defied Manuel Noriega's regime through an underground radio station. After arrest and brutal imprisonment in Panama, Muse became the only civilian ever rescued by the U.S. Army's Delta Force.

In this collaborative thriller, conceived and framed by Deaver, former war‑crimes investigator Harold Middleton acquires a rare Chopin score that others are willing to kill for. What seems like a music‑lover’s treasure pulls him into a global chase involving old secrets, new threats and a conspiracy with deadly reach.

Jonathan Grave, a covert hostage rescue specialist who works outside the law, takes on the abduction of a college student and walks into a bloodbath. The case leads to a powerful secret and enemies willing to hurt everyone close to him.

Harold Middleton and the Volunteers return when a terrorist plot involving “heavy water” and a mysterious copper bracelet threatens to ignite conflict in South Asia. As different thriller authors take turns advancing the story, Middleton races across continents to identify a faceless mastermind known only as the Scorpion.

When an innocent man is shot and two young people vanish, Jonathan Grave follows the trail into a dangerous cover-up that reaches far beyond an ordinary kidnapping. To keep his team alive and expose the truth, he has to go where governments would rather nobody look.

After random rush-hour shootings leave civilians dead, Jonathan Grave witnesses a gunman escape with a mother and child. Rescuing them pulls him into a nationwide conspiracy, where shadowy killers and high-level corruption point to a threat much bigger than one attack.

A bus full of teenage missionaries is taken hostage, and the kidnappers demand millions with no police involvement. Jonathan Grave ignores the rules, but the rescue soon uncovers a government secret that could do even more damage than the kidnapping itself.

The First Lady is kidnapped in a bloody attack, and Jonathan Grave is sent in before the public learns a word. What looks like a rescue mission quickly turns into a maze of lies, marital secrets, and betrayal at the highest levels of Washington.

When a child predator slips free because of FBI mistakes, agent Irene Rivers turns to Jonathan Grave in desperation after her own daughters are targeted. Their hunt for the killer becomes a harsh lesson in what justice looks like outside official channels.

A murdered Chechen scientist leaves behind a son with information that could change everything, and Jonathan Grave is sent to find him first. The mission becomes more complicated when the boy's fierce bodyguard refuses to surrender, and the stakes rise toward nuclear disaster.

Created directly for audio, this full‑cast drama follows war‑crimes investigator Harold Middleton as he tracks the flow of illicit fuel money and a shadowy figure called Starling. With cinematic sound and quick scene changes, the story delivers Deaver’s twists through performances instead of pages.

Jonathan Grave sets out to find an old combat comrade accused of killing Americans and leaking sensitive intelligence. Instead he uncovers a sprawling conspiracy, and stopping it will require his whole team to move before a catastrophe becomes irreversible.

When a young man kills the person he says once kidnapped and tortured him, his story points straight at Jonathan Grave's secret past as Scorpion. Grave must protect the witness, keep his own cover intact, and stop a terrorist plot taking shape behind the case.

Collected in one volume, this five-part thriller follows terminally ill teenager Nicki Janssen as she runs off with an escaped convicted killer. What begins as a last grab at freedom becomes a relentless manhunt driven by love, fear, and a father desperate to save her.

After a robbery turns brutal, Nicki and the escaped killer she trusted race onward with the police right behind them. Her father and a deputy trace the couple across North Carolina, but the chase gets even worse when hostages are dragged into it.

Nicki and the fugitive she loves hole up in a Virginia hotel while police close in from every side. Her father refuses to give up, and the brief illusion of freedom starts to crack as the manhunt tightens.

Cornered in a North Carolina fishing village, Nicki and the fugitive she's chosen have no road left and no good options. With hostages in the house and her life slipping away, the story rushes toward a violent final reckoning.

Seventeen-year-old Nicki Janssen, facing a grim medical future, runs away with her childhood crush, an escaped convicted killer. As her prosecutor father begins a frantic search, the trip becomes a race between reckless love, failing health, and the law.

On the run through Virginia and North Carolina, Nicki and her fugitive boyfriend keep moving with stolen cars and borrowed time. But Nicki needs medicine to stay alive, and her father knows that failing health may stop her before the police do.

Jonathan Grave drops into the Mexican jungle to rescue a kidnapped DEA agent, only to be ambushed on the way out. Protecting the hostage and a remote orphanage soon reveals a larger conspiracy, and survival becomes a mission all its own.

A luxury island getaway turns into a hostage crisis when armed invaders seize a resort full of wealthy guests. Cut off from his usual team, Jonathan Grave has to fight through the jungle, improvise allies, and stop an international plot from igniting.

After terror attacks shake the country, Jonathan Grave goes undercover to eliminate former Special Forces operatives working for ISIS. The mission uncovers a deeper plot called Retribution, and soon Grave is being hunted while the clock runs down on mass murder.

Two boys headed for Jonathan Grave's school for children of incarcerated parents are kidnapped, and the case turns personal fast. As Grave hunts the cartel behind the abduction, he discovers rival schemes and a looming attack that could kill thousands.

As nuclear war looms, West Virginia congresswoman Victoria Emerson is ordered to a secure bunker and told she must leave her three sons behind. After the attack, she survives in a shattered America and tries to restore order among frightened survivors.

When the teenage son of Jonathan Grave's teammate disappears on a school trip to El Paso, Grave assumes old enemies are striking back. The rescue mission leads him into cartel territory and a vendetta that is deadlier than it first appears.

After Hell Day, former congresswoman Victoria Emerson is leading the survivors of Ortho, West Virginia, through hunger and uncertainty. Then armed National Guardsmen come for the town's supplies, and Victoria must decide how far she will go to defend her people.

This crime anthology gathers darkly atmospheric tales inspired by the song "Hotel California," including Amanda Flower’s contribution about secrets, betrayal, and murder in and around a mysterious California hotel where checking in is far easier than getting out.

Jonathan Grave and Boxers are hunting in Montana when assassins turn the wilderness into a kill zone. At the same time, their team back in Virginia comes under attack, revealing a coordinated strike that is only the opening move.

Twelve missionaries are kidnapped in remote Venezuela, and FBI director Irene Rivers asks Jonathan Grave to bring them home without starting an international crisis. Rescuing them is hard enough. Getting them alive to the extraction point may be harder.

Victoria Emerson leaves the fragile safety of Ortho, West Virginia, for a bunker where the remains of the U.S. government have become prisoners. Crossing a lawless landscape, she faces warlords, rival factions, and the harder question of how to rebuild the rule of law.

After fentanyl disguised as candy kills a 12-year-old at Jonathan Grave's school for children of incarcerated parents, he decides to hit the cartels directly. Operation Heat Seeker turns personal grief into an all-out war on the people profiting from poison.

This mystery anthology riffs on songs from Meat Loaf's classic album and includes John Gilstrap's story, "All Revved Up with No Place to Go." The collection mixes murder, suspense, and dark fun across a range of voices and settings.

Former FBI director Irene Rivers thinks a West Virginia farm will give her family a fresh start, until her nephew finds a body in a cave on the property. Old crimes, local power, and new threats force Irene into a fight with no help coming.

After a disgraced president is forced from office, his loyalists start eliminating everyone on a secret enemies list, including Jonathan Grave's own circle. Grave's team survives the first strike, but the real attack aims straight at people and values he cares about most.