Special Operations Group Books in Order

The Special Operations Group books are military spy thrillers built around missions the US government wants handled, but not publicly owned. The series starts with the prequel short story Dead in Damascus, then opens fully in Trident's First Gleaming. From the start, the hook is clear: these are deniable operations, fast-moving plots, and people who know the job can go sideways in seconds.

At the center of the early books is Chris Paladin, a former SEAL Team Six operator who has stepped away from that life and become a pastor. He gets pulled back in by CIA officer Hannah Andrade, who mixes field skill with tradecraft and knows exactly when to push him. They are soon joined by Sonny Cohen, a Delta Force operator with a sharp tongue and a taste for trouble. That trio gives the series its basic rhythm, faith and force from Chris, planning and pressure from Hannah, and chaos from Sonny.

They are good company under fire.

The series grows as it goes. Later books bring in CIA brothers Max and Tom Wayne, and that shifts some of the emotional weight toward family, grief, and loyalty. Autumn Assassins turns a hostage crisis involving their father into a wider threat to the US military. Assassin's Sons keeps Max and Tom in front, sending them across Europe and the Middle East on a revenge-driven hunt that opens into something bigger. By the time you reach Patriot Dream, Templin is working with a full team, split missions, a Russian assassin, and a bioweapon problem that pulls everyone into the same storm.

The settings do a lot of work here. Damascus, London, Vietnam, China, the Alps, Turkey, Italy, and the Mediterranean are not just postcard stops. Each place changes the feel of the mission, whether that means city surveillance, hostage rescue, border crossings, or black ops on foreign soil. Templin likes to keep the scale broad, but he also keeps the action close to the operators doing the work. You spend time with the people carrying the load, not just the geopolitics in the background.

The series also has a distinct tension that separates it from a more straightforward battlefield story. Chris is not only fighting enemies. He is often trying to live with the spiritual and moral strain of returning to violence. Max and Tom bring a different pressure, family loyalty and old wounds that keep bleeding into the mission. That gives the books a little more inner conflict than you might expect from a hard-driving military thriller.

If you want slick black ops, fast pacing, and a cast that keeps expanding without losing its core, this series is an easy fit. Start with Dead in Damascus if you want the setup, or go straight to Trident's First Gleaming if you want the full version of what Templin is doing. Expect covert missions, shifting alliances, and characters who keep moving even when the cost is personal.