Rex Dalton Books in Order
Part ofJC Ryan Books in OrderExplore the Rex Dalton books by JC Ryan in order, with summaries, series notes, and where-to-start help for this K9 thriller series.
Last updated: June 7, 2026
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Publication Order
12 books
Sideswiped
by JC Ryan
2018
Rex flees India for Thailand, hoping surgery and distance will hide him from his past. Then Sunstra disappears, and Rex and Digger race a ransom deadline to save her life.
The Fulcrum
by JC Ryan
2018
A terrorist attack destroys Rex Dalton’s family and changes the course of his life. His grief drives him into the military, then into covert work where he becomes a weapon against extremists.
The Power of Three
by JC Ryan
2018
On a mission in Afghanistan, Rex Dalton uncovers corruption tied to the opium trade and reaching far beyond the battlefield. When officials refuse to act, Rex decides to take the war personally.
Unchained
by JC Ryan
2018
Presumed dead after Afghanistan, Rex and Digger slip into India hoping to disappear. A missing young woman forces Rex back into danger and proves his violent past is not finished with him.
Donna Teresa
by JC Ryan
2019
Back in Rome, Rex and Digger spot two women fleeing armed pursuers in Piazza del Popolo. What starts as an instinctive rescue pulls them toward a conspiracy that could ignite world war.
Duty of Care
by JC Ryan
2019
In Rome, Rex hopes to find Catia Romano, but a call from his old life changes everything. His former CRC boss has been abducted, and Rex must decide whether duty still binds him.
No Doubt
by JC Ryan
2019
On the Croatian island of Olib, a young woman is murdered and police quickly blame her boyfriend. Rex and Digger doubt the case and start their own hunt for the real killer.
The French Girl
by JC Ryan
2019
Rex and Digger hope for an easy holiday in Vanuatu, but a mysterious French woman disappears and Rex is blamed. Clearing his name pulls them into danger with international stakes.
The Inca Con
by JC Ryan
2019
In Peru, Rex and Digger befriend a retired couple lured toward a remote archaeological investment. Rex smells a con, and the people behind it will do anything to keep him quiet.
The Delphi Technique
by JC Ryan
2020
Rex, Catia, and Digger witness a public assassination on Rhodes and are pulled into a covert trail of signals, killers, and terror planning. The chase spreads far beyond a ruined holiday.
The Shanghai Strain
by JC Ryan
2020
A Hong Kong holiday turns violent when Catia, Marissa, and Digger rescue two women from a triad attack. Rex soon uncovers a secret plot with global consequences and powerful people determined to bury it.
Under the Pope's Windows
by JC Ryan
2020
Rex, Catia, and Digger set out to recover priceless Jewish libraries stolen from Rome in 1943. Their search for lost history becomes a dangerous pursuit across old crimes and new enemies.
Series background & context
The Rex Dalton series is JC Ryan’s action-thriller line, built around a damaged former operator and the dog who becomes his partner, conscience, and sometimes his best tactical advantage. Rex begins as a man shaped by loss. The Madrid train bombings kill his parents and two younger siblings, and the future he once imagined for himself disappears almost overnight.
He turns toward the military, then special operations, then the secretive world of CRC. Rex is trained to do the work governments deny in public and demand in private. He becomes an assassin with languages, fieldcraft, weapons training, and a very simple view of terrorists: stop them before they can kill again.
Then Afghanistan changes everything.
After a mission goes wrong in 2014, Rex is betrayed, his team is wiped out, and only Digger survives with him. Digger is a military-trained Dutch shepherd who had belonged to Trevor Madigan, a former Australian SAS operator and Rex’s friend. Rex promises Trevor he will take care of the dog, even though he is afraid of dogs at first. Digger has other ideas. He accepts Rex, and the two become a team.
The early books, including The Fulcrum, The Power of Three, and Unchained, explain how Rex is made, broken, and remade. Once he and Digger are presumed dead, they try to drift quietly through the world. Quiet does not last. In India, Thailand, Peru, Croatia, Rome, Vanuatu, Hong Kong, and Greece, someone always needs help and Rex cannot quite walk away.
The series works best if you like a roaming thriller structure. One book might start with an archaeological con in the Andes. Another opens with a murder on a Croatian island. Others pull Rex back toward CRC, old betrayals, Catia Romano, stolen wartime libraries, triads, bioweapons, and public assassinations.
Digger is not window dressing. He tracks, warns, intimidates, comforts, and often understands danger before the humans do.
These are fast, blunt, high-action thrillers about loyalty, revenge, rescue, and the hard question Rex keeps asking himself: is this his duty, his punishment, or just who he is now?
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