Santino Hassell Books in Order
Explore Santino Hassell books in order, with quick summaries, series guides, and simple starting points for navigating contemporary and speculative romances.
Last updated: July 14, 2026
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Santino Hassell books in publication order
20 books
After Midnight
by Santino Hassell
2011
Twenty years after war devastated the country, drug dealer Gordon Frost survives Lexington’s violent underworld. When assassin Adam Blake spares him instead of erasing him, both men are drawn into a dangerous collision of secrets, gangs, and desire.
Evenfall Volume One
by Santino Hassell
2014
In a postwar future, former rebel Boyd is forced into service with the powerful Agency and assigned to volatile operative Sin. Their first mission demands cooperation, even as distrust, trauma, and the Agency’s secrets push them apart.
Evenfall Volume Two
by Santino Hassell
2014
Boyd and Sin’s uneasy Agency partnership continues as their work against insurgents grows more dangerous. Missions, divided loyalties, and buried wounds test whether either man can trust the other in a world built on control and deception.
Stygian
by Santino Hassell
2015
A troubled Houston band retreats to an isolated Louisiana mansion to write music and recover from loss. For drummer Jeremy, growing closer to guitarist Kennedy becomes even more unsettling as secrets, grief, and the house’s sinister atmosphere close in.
Sunset Park
by Santino Hassell
2015
Queens longshoreman Raymond Rodriguez needs a place to live, and openly gay teacher David Butler offers a room. Their easy friendship turns flirtatious, forcing Raymond to confront independence, desire, and the possibility of losing David.
Sutphin Boulevard
by Santino Hassell
2015
After twenty years as best friends, Brooklyn teachers Michael Rodriguez and Nunzio Medici cross a line on a sweltering night out. As pressure builds at home and work, Michael must decide whether to risk their friendship for love.
Fast Connection
by Santino Hassell
2016
After leaving the Army, Dominic Costigan is figuring out his bisexuality when a hookup app leads him to guarded older man Luke. Their chemistry is immediate, but Luke’s rules and Dominic’s need for more make a casual arrangement complicated.
First and First
by Santino Hassell
2016
Upper East Side professional Caleb Stone feels trapped by family expectations until he meets bold, independent Oliver Buckley on New Year’s Eve. Their connection pushes Caleb to rethink his career, his fears, and what it means to choose his own life.
Interborough
by Santino Hassell
2016
Raymond Rodriguez and David Butler are still in love, but work, school, and mismatched expectations are wearing them down. A troubled trip forces the couple to face whether their relationship can survive the parts of themselves they keep avoiding.
Strong Signal
by Santino Hassell
2016
Near the end of his deployment, Army staff sergeant Garrett Reid escapes into online games and clashes with famous streamer Kai Bannon. Their rivalry becomes a private connection, but meeting in person means facing Kai’s fear of life beyond the screen.
Citywide
by Santino Hassell
2017
A record-breaking New York heatwave brings three Five Boroughs novellas together. A blackout, a summer party, and a couples retreat test relationships as Chris, Tonya, Meredith, Stephanie, and Angel confront attraction, fear, and unfinished business.
Concourse
by Santino Hassell
2017
Manhattan socialite Ashton Townsend wants a life beyond parties, gossip, and his family’s control. When he finds refuge with childhood friend and boxer Valdrin Leka, their long-buried attraction collides with class differences and an old secret.
Hard Wired
by Santino Hassell
2017
Jesse Garvy finally meets Ian, the online friend and fellow stream moderator he knows as Cherrycakes. Attraction is easy, but Ian’s carefully guarded identities, including the bold Cerise, make honesty and trust much harder to build.
Illegal Contact
by Santino Hassell
2017
Suspended New York Barons tight end Gavin Brawley is under house arrest after a viral brawl. Recent graduate Noah Monroe takes a job keeping him out of trouble, only to discover the difficult football star is harder to dismiss than expected.
Insight
by Santino Hassell
2017
Empath Nate Black believes his estranged twin’s New York death was murder, not suicide. Traveling with skeptical engineer Trent, Nate uncovers a hidden psychic community, missing people, and frightening truths about his own ability.
Mature Content
by Santino Hassell
2017
Outspoken video creator Zane thrives on sharing too much, while Beau Starr sells a much cleaner online image. After a clash at a convention leads to a hookup, their public rivalry starts looking a lot like attraction.
Oversight
by Santino Hassell
2017
After scandal rocks the psychic Community, privileged heir Holden Payne is watched by Sixtus Rossi, a man immune to psychic influence. Their growing connection forces Holden to question his family, his power, and everything he thought he knew.
Sightlines
by Santino Hassell
2017
Chase Payne and Elijah are trapped at the Farm, isolated from the allies who could help them. To survive the Community’s escalating threat, they must trust each other while the series’ psychic conspiracy moves toward its final reckoning.
Third Rail
by Santino Hassell
2017
Unsure how to explore his sexuality, Christopher Mendez meets married, openly polyamorous couple Jace and Aiden at a dating-app photo shoot. What begins as a casual encounter becomes a tender, uncertain connection among all three men.
Down by Contact
by Santino Hassell
2018
Rival football players Simeon Boudreaux and Adrián Bravo are benched after an on-field fight and assigned to coach Brooklyn teens together. Forced to cooperate, they begin to see that their fierce hostility may be hiding something else.
Where to start with Santino Hassell
For New York City romance: Sutphin Boulevard → Sunset Park → First and First
For online relationships and gaming culture: Strong Signal → Fast Connection → Hard Wired
For paranormal suspense: Insight → Oversight → Sightlines
For football romance: Illegal Contact → Down by Contact
For a darker speculative story: Evenfall Volume One → Evenfall Volume Two → After Midnight
Santino Hassell sub-series and character series
Cyberlove books in order
Explore this seriesFive Boroughs books in order
Explore this series
Sunset Park
by Santino Hassell
2015Five Boroughs, Book 2
Sutphin Boulevard
by Santino Hassell
2015Five Boroughs, Book 1
First and First
by Santino Hassell
2016Five Boroughs, Book 3
Interborough
by Santino Hassell
2016Five Boroughs, Book 4
Citywide
by Santino Hassell
2017Five Boroughs, Book 7
Concourse
by Santino Hassell
2017Five Boroughs, Book 5
Third Rail
by Santino Hassell
2017Five Boroughs, Book 6
Five Boroughs books in chronological order

Sutphin Boulevard
by Santino Hassell
2015Five Boroughs, Book 1
Sunset Park
by Santino Hassell
2015Five Boroughs, Book 2
First and First
by Santino Hassell
2016Five Boroughs, Book 3
Interborough
by Santino Hassell
2016Five Boroughs, Book 4
Concourse
by Santino Hassell
2017Five Boroughs, Book 5
Third Rail
by Santino Hassell
2017Five Boroughs, Book 6
Citywide
by Santino Hassell
2017Five Boroughs, Book 7
In the Company of Shadows books in order
Explore this seriesThe Barons books in order
Explore this seriesThe Community books in order
Explore this seriesStandalone Santino Hassell books
Author bio
Santino Hassell was raised in Brooklyn in a strict Catholic family. The author’s own published biography describes a childhood and young adulthood spent pushing against expectations, first as a school-cutting grunge kid and later as a transient twenty-something.
That background shows up in the settings of the books. New York City is not simply scenery in this work. It is a place of crowded apartments, long train rides, changing neighborhoods, work pressure, family conflict, and friendships that can become something more.
Public biographical notes do not give a detailed account of a single moment that led to writing. They do describe a gradual shift into romance fiction, with the author drawing on personal experience and an interest in relationships that are messy, intense, and rarely simple. The books often put people from very different worlds in close quarters, then ask what happens when attraction forces them to be honest.
The contemporary romances are especially tied to the city. The Five Boroughs books move through Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the Bronx, following an overlapping group of queer characters. Sutphin Boulevard begins with longtime friends Michael Rodriguez and Nunzio Medici, while Sunset Park follows Raymond Rodriguez and his new roommate, David Butler. First and First shifts toward Manhattan wealth and family expectations through Caleb Stone and Oliver Buckley.
The city keeps everybody moving.
Hassell also wrote in several other modes. The Cyberlove novels, written with Megan Erickson, focus on relationships that begin through gaming, streaming, apps, and online communities. Strong Signal pairs a soldier nearing the end of his deployment with a popular gamer he first meets as a rival online. Later books keep the digital setting but give each couple a different problem to solve once the screen is no longer enough.
There is a darker side to the bibliography, too. After Midnight is a postwar dystopian story set in Lexington, Pennsylvania, where a small-time drug dealer and a compromised assassin become tangled in each other’s lives. Stygian brings a struggling Houston band to an isolated Louisiana house for a tense, eerie summer retreat. The paranormal trilogy beginning with Insight follows psychics, missing people, and a secretive organization that claims to protect its own.
Romance is the connecting thread, but the circumstances change.
The sports romances in The Barons trade city nightlife for professional football, though the pressure remains personal. Illegal Contact starts with a suspended New York player and the assistant hired to keep him out of further trouble. Down by Contact turns a rivalry between two football players into an uneasy partnership at a youth camp.
Across these books, readers can expect flawed people, sharp conversations, desire, and conflicts rooted in class, family, identity, grief, or trust. The stories tend to stay close to characters who are trying to build better lives while carrying the baggage they already have.
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