John Jakes Books in Order

Young Tom Logan joins a longhorn drive north and gets the adventure he has been dreaming about. The cattle trail is exciting, dangerous, and far rougher than he expected.

This early western turns on speed, reputation, and the cost of living by the gun. Jakes keeps the action tight as old trouble catches up with a dangerous man.

An early mystery from Jakes built around deception, shifting motives, and a threat that keeps changing shape. It is a lean suspense novel with a strong paperback pace.

A compact mystery published under Jakes's Jay Scotland name. The story moves through secrets, suspicion, and a steadily tightening sense that somebody is not telling the whole truth.

Jakes heads to the ancient world for a hard-driving tale of war, power, and survival. The result is a historical adventure told from the edge of empire.

A false identity sets off the trouble in this brisk early thriller. Jakes builds the story around bluff, exposure, and the danger of trying to live inside somebody else's role.

Johnny Havoc is a cocky private eye with loose ethics and a talent for bad situations. His first outing throws him into a fast, sleazy city case full of trouble and attitude.

Lou Largo expects another routine hardboiled job and gets a mess instead. A woman named Mavis brings temptation, danger, and exactly the kind of complications he should avoid.

Pirates, shifting loyalties, and open-sea danger drive this swashbuckling adventure. Jakes keeps the story moving with plenty of action and a strong taste for old-fashioned peril.

Lou Largo prowls through another rough city case where nighttime glamour quickly gives way to danger. Jakes keeps the pressure on with sharp turns and plenty of hardboiled atmosphere.

Lou Largo gets tangled up with a woman who brings more risk than reward. The case unfolds through lies, violence, and the sort of dirty complications that make his fee look too small.

Johnny Havoc takes another case that promises money and delivers mayhem. Before long he is dodging crooks, bad deals, and one more dangerous woman than he can handle.

A charming rogue moves through a historical adventure shaped by wit, danger, and divided loyalties. Jakes gives the story a light swashbuckling touch without losing the stakes.

Jakes revisits the ancient world in a tale of court intrigue, spectacle, and desire. Salome's world is full of danger, ambition, and people willing to trade anything for power.

Set against the brutal world of public combat, this historical adventure is about survival as much as glory. Jakes keeps the stakes physical, immediate, and personal.

This early novel mixes wartime energy with romance, ambition, and the pressures of military life. Jakes keeps the focus on the people trying to make room for themselves inside the system.

Johnny Havoc tries for a change of pace and finds another mess instead. The result is a quick, mischievous detective romp with bad choices, sharp dialogue, and plenty of trouble.

A survivor carries the shadow of Cannae into a larger story of Roman war and ambition. Jakes uses the famous defeat as the start of a tense ancient-world adventure.

An ancient military adventure about divided loyalties and the cost of choosing a side. Jakes gives the book a brisk march through intrigue, violence, and shifting power.

A nonfiction look at landmark moments in sports history. Jakes traces notable firsts in a clear, lively way that makes the milestones easy to remember.

Brak, an outcast from the frozen north, heads south toward the fabled Khurdisan the Golden. On the way he meets monsters, demon cults, and one deadly trap after another.

Johnny Havoc chases a bigger score and runs into bigger danger. A striking woman, bad men, and one too-good offer push this case toward the edge of disaster.

Brak crosses the desert of Logol and gets tangled up with royal claimants and the servants of Yob-Haggoth. It is another fierce, fast fantasy quest with treachery close behind.

Still traveling south toward Khurdisan, Brak runs into malevolent magic, a sinister alchemist, and a land sliding toward ruin. Swordplay alone may not be enough this time.

A nonfiction survey of notable women journalists and the work that made them matter. Jakes keeps the portraits accessible, direct, and full of historical interest.

Jakes tells the life of Joseph Brant, the Mohawk leader who was warrior, diplomat, and public figure. It is a concise historical portrait written for younger readers.

A hidden secret on a distant world opens into danger far bigger than it first appears. Jakes mixes discovery, pursuit, and classic paperback science fiction momentum.

This satirical science fiction novel imagines a future where Mars is colonized and Earth has become something stranger and sadder. Jakes gives the idea a dark, energetic edge.

Andreas Law is a human-alien hybrid with a mind that can kill. Imprisoned and hunted, he becomes a weapon in a struggle that could erupt into interstellar war.

The dead are rising and chaos is spreading, but Cham, the last Red Magician, wants no more war. Then duty, love, and evil on a grand scale drag him back into the fight.

This II Galaxy adventure blends planetary intrigue with space-opera speed. Strange powers, rival interests, and a dangerous world turn a mission into a much larger conflict.

Angelo diStefano takes charge of an alien craft and ends up in the middle of a far larger interstellar problem. Jakes turns the setup into a nimble, idea-heavy space adventure.

Wolf Dragonard sets out to stop the theft of the Seven Stars and gets pulled deep into danger. The chase mixes high-stakes intrigue with a romance he may not be able to trust.

Time travel turns deadly when extremists try to rewrite history for racist ends. One man races across shifting timelines to stop them before the world is remade for the worse.

An early science fantasy adventure about dangerous powers slipping loose and the people forced to face them. Jakes moves quickly, keeping the mystery and threat in the foreground.

Jakes gives *The Count of Monte Cristo* a science fiction twist. An organic android survives burial on Mars and returns centuries later to ruin the descendants of the man who destroyed him.

On the planet Missouri, robot horses and staged frontier myths shape everyday life. Zak Randolph's job sounds odd enough already, then a runaway and a famous outlaw make it worse.

Jakes turns Atlantis into a comic disaster story told by Hoptor the vintner. A foolish strongman, a courtesan, and alien meddling help send the lost kingdom toward ruin.

A secret time-travel project becomes a catastrophe when a fanatic tries to alter history. Tom and Cal Linstrum chase him through changing timelines before their own world disappears.

Gavin Black stands between Earth and the Masters of Klekton, heirs to an ancient civilization that wants its old world back. The result is dark, pulpy science fantasy.

An eerie Brak adventure with a strong horror edge. Jakes mixes strange atmosphere, lurking menace, and sudden violence in one of his memorable fantasy shorter works.

A darkly satirical near-future road novel, *On Wheels* questions whether motion really means freedom. Jakes turns the open road into something stranger, sharper, and less comforting.

In a future built on ape slavery, Caesar steps out of hiding and sees the cruelty plainly. What follows is a grim, fast-moving march toward rebellion.

Philip Charboneau, the illegitimate son of an English duke, is forced out and remakes himself in America. His personal fight for place and identity unfolds against the coming Revolution.

A historical adventure driven by shifting loyalties, ambition, and sudden reversals. Jakes builds the story around characters trying to hold on while fortune keeps changing sides.

Philip Kent's story continues through the American Revolution as war and politics reshape his life. Jakes broadens the saga with new allies, enemies, and personal losses.

The saga shifts to Abraham Kent, who leaves Boston to search for his future on the early American frontier. The book widens the family's story into a new generation.

This historical novel follows characters moving toward a future they can barely imagine. Jakes uses travel, danger, and uncertainty to give the story real forward pull.

The Kent family saga grows wider as one of its key women moves to the center of the story. Family ambition and the building of a dynasty come at a hard price.

A new Kent generation faces personal conflict as the nation edges toward the Civil War. Jakes ties family rivalry to the widening crack in American life.

A medieval adventure of faith, violence, and divided loyalty. Jakes gives the Crusades-era setting enough movement and danger to make the historical stakes feel immediate.

A career-spanning selection of Jakes's shorter speculative fiction. It is a good snapshot of his range before the big historical sagas made him famous.

The Kents build power during the Civil War years, but success comes with betrayal and loss. Jakes keeps both the family and the country under intense strain.

Secret agent Max Ryan faces a spy ring called the Combine during an atomic-energy conference. It is a fast, pulpy espionage novel built on action and suspicion.

The Civil War is over, but peace brings fresh trouble for the Kent family. Their hard-won position is suddenly threatened by new enemies and old damage.

Brak reaches the sea hoping to move closer to Khurdisan and instead ends up captured as a galley slave. Raiders, sea horrors, and a vengeful witch await him.

The final Kent novel brings the family to a reckoning with its past and its future. Jakes closes the long saga with another big sweep through American change.

Jakes retells the Arthur legend as a vivid fantasy of Merlin, Arthur, desire, betrayal, and the sword that binds a kingdom together. It is brisk, dramatic mythmaking.

George Hazard of Pennsylvania and Orry Main of South Carolina become close friends at West Point. Their bond is tested as slavery, politics, and war pull their families toward the coming Civil War.

The Main and Hazard families are now fully caught in the Civil War. Battles, divided loyalties, and private grief turn old friendships and romances into matters of survival.

This collection gathers the remaining Brak stories not included in the earlier books. It is more wandering, more monsters, and more of Brak's stubborn road toward Khurdisan.

The trilogy closes in the war's aftermath, when victory settles less than anyone hoped. The Hazards and Mains must live with ruin, survival, and everything the conflict changed.

James Macklin Chance heads west chasing wealth long after the first gold-rush frenzy. What he finds is passion, enemies, and a California still remaking both itself and him.

A collection of Jakes's western fiction, full of lawmen, outlaws, revenge, and frontier hard choices. It shows how comfortably he handled the old West in short form.

Young Pauli Kroner comes from Berlin to Chicago and enters the orbit of the powerful Crown family. His immigrant dream collides with class conflict, love, and a changing America.

Another historical adventure from Jakes, built around travel, uncertainty, and the hope of a different future. The title fits, the story is about movement and what it costs.

The Crown family's second generation chases success in movies, racing, and wartime journalism. Their ambitions unfold across the restless, dangerous years leading into World War I.

Jakes adapts Dickens's classic into a stage-ready version that keeps Scrooge's transformation clear and lively. It is a brisk retelling built for performance as much as reading.

Two wartime romances unfold in the shadow of espionage, prisons, and divided loyalties during the Civil War. An actor's hatred of Lincoln pushes the novel toward history's darkest stage.

An anthology celebrating the western across many decades and styles. Jakes brings together stories that show how broad, durable, and entertaining the genre can be.

This collection gathers Jakes's stories of the American West, from lawmen and railroad workers to gamblers and avengers. The emphasis is on danger, conflict, and frontier grit.

The Bell family's fortunes rise and fall in Charleston from the Revolution through the Civil War. Jakes fills the novel with love, scandal, politics, and a city under pressure.

As Sherman's army marches toward Savannah in 1864, Sara Lester and her daughter Hattie fight to save their home. The story blends wartime danger with a surprisingly intimate Christmas tale.

Railroad magnate Sam Driver storms Newport's gilded summer world determined to win acceptance at last. His daughter's dangerous romance adds new trouble to a season built on status and spite.

A modern pulp anthology reviving the Spider, a ruthless masked crime fighter feared by criminals and police alike. Expect hard-edged action, gadgets, and vigilante justice.