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Stephen Bentley Books in Order

Explore Stephen Bentley books in order, with series guides, quick summaries, author background, and clear where to start tips for each thriller.

Last updated: July 12, 2026

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Stephen Bentley books in publication order

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23 books

Who The F*ck Am I?

by Stephen Bentley

2017

Undercover cop Steve Regan infiltrates a cartel tied to a million-dollar cocaine operation and starts questioning how close he can get to the criminal life without crossing the line. Back in Britain, he must race to stop a plot to murder a leading barrister.

Dilemma

by Stephen Bentley

2018

Steve Regan goes deep into Thailand, using himself as bait to reach Texan drug lord Les Watkins. When the trail loops back to Mafia boss Carlo Vitale, every move becomes a test of loyalty and survival.

How to Drive Like an Idiot in Bacolod

by Stephen Bentley

2019

Part expat memoir, part survival guide, this witty book tackles the chaos of driving in Bacolod, Philippines. Bentley mixes road culture shock, defensive-driving tips, and genuine affection for the place.

Mercy

by Stephen Bentley

2019

Matt Deal's life implodes after a savage attack leaves his teenage daughter Mercy in a vegetative state. When money and influence threaten to bury the case, he begins to wonder how far a father should go for justice.

Rivers of Blood

by Stephen Bentley

2019

Tasked with posing as a hitman, Steve Regan uncovers a white supremacist conspiracy with the power to shake the UK. To stop it, he must go even deeper undercover and trust almost no one.

Undercover

by Stephen Bentley

2019

Stephen Bentley's memoir recounts how, as undercover detective Steve Jackson, he infiltrated Britain's 1970s LSD network during Operation Julie. It is a close-up look at the job, the danger, and the psychological cost of living a lie.

Comfort Zone

by Stephen Bentley

2020

Barrister Phil Mercer is respected, successful, and quietly unraveling. When he turns a dinner party into a sinister storytelling game called Comfort Zone, old trauma and buried rage begin to surface in deadly ways.

Mayhem

by Stephen Bentley

2020

A mob contract puts Matt Deal back in the crosshairs just as grief and family damage close in around him. Revenge, old enemies, and fresh violence turn Florida into a battlefield.

The Secret

by Stephen Bentley

2020

Before he became Steve Regan, he was Steven Hanrahan, a young Liverpool detective scarred by personal loss. His first covert job sends him to London under a new identity to expose a deadly sporting secret.

Mobocracy

by Stephen Bentley

2021

In a near-future America tipping toward disorder, Matt Deal is now chief of detectives in Florida. A stranger asking questions and a biker-gang plot against him suggest the fight for his family is far from over.

Operation George

by Stephen Bentley

2022

This true-crime account follows an audacious undercover sting that trapped Loyalist Volunteer Force figure William James Fulton inside a fake criminal world. It shows how covert police work, patience, and courtroom evidence came together in one long operation.

Montana

by Stephen Bentley

2023

After the murder of an old friend, Matt Deal moves to Cut Bank and becomes sheriff. With corruption, disappearances, and a powerful local family closing ranks, peace in Montana proves short-lived.

Night's Redemption

by Stephen Bentley

2024

Former biker Jimmie Grant, now Montana public defender Walter Williams, takes on a rape case that exposes bigotry and corruption. Matt Deal is drawn into a smaller-town fight where justice depends on nerve as much as law.

Redemption

by Stephen Bentley

2024

Retired undercover cop Steve Regan is forced back into danger when his estranged son Marco is recruited by an old friend. With the Mob closing in, father and son must navigate lies, survival, and a fragile reunion.

Behind Cartel Lines

by Stephen Bentley

2025

Bentley revisits his undercover years as Steve Jackson, infiltrating LSD makers and a cocaine-smuggling plot in the 1970s. It is true crime with a strong personal edge, showing both the thrill of the work and the damage it leaves behind.

Bloodline Vendetta

by Stephen Bentley

2025

Trying to disappear in Bangkok, Steve Regan and Marco are hit by a targeted attack that points to an old mob feud. The hunt for answers pulls them into traffickers, corrupt officials, and a past that will not stay buried.

Dark Web

by Stephen Bentley

2025

After the Rose Slayer case, Pawson and Wells join the LAPD's Cyber Crimes Unit to stop a copycat murder plot brewing online. The deeper they go into hidden forums and encrypted spaces, the darker the threat becomes.

Manhunt

by Stephen Bentley

2025

A vengeful private army descends on Cut Bank, forcing Sheriff Matt Deal to defend his family and community. Outnumbered and outgunned, he faces a brutal siege where survival is the only promise.

Merciless

by Stephen Bentley

2025

Retired and haunted, Matt Deal sets out on a revenge hunt after the men behind the Cut Bank bloodshed walk free. From Las Vegas to Texas, he chases justice the system refused to deliver.

The Final Cipher

by Stephen Bentley

2025

A mysterious thumb drive sends Maya and Alex toward the truth about Nightfall, global surveillance, and a sentient system called OBSIDIAN. Their final mission hinges on a choice between control and freedom.

The Last Message

by Stephen Bentley

2025

Ex-MI5 agent Alex Rennie and journalist Maya Dalton uncover a rogue surveillance AI after a London data-centre bombing. With mercenaries and secret agencies closing in, every leak could be lethal.

The Rose Slayer

by Stephen Bentley

2025

Los Angeles detectives Bill Pawson and Sean Wells hunt a serial killer who leaves a red rose beside murdered women. A missing laptop and an online book community point to a case stranger than it first appears.

The Silent Protocol

by Stephen Bentley

2025

Years after the VEGA incident, Maya Dalton finds files pointing to a plan to blackout global communications. Alex Rennie is dragged back from hiding, and Berlin becomes the center of a new digital coup.

Where to start with Stephen Bentley

If you want the original true-crime memoir: UndercoverOperation George
If you want undercover thrillers: The SecretWho The F*ck Am I?DilemmaRivers of Blood
If you want vigilante-leaning crime: MercyMayhemMobocracyMontana
If you want cyber conspiracy: The Last MessageThe Silent ProtocolThe Final Cipher
If you want an L.A. police procedural: The Rose SlayerDark Web

Detective Matt Deal books in order

Explore this series
  1. Book cover for "Mercy"

    Mercy

    by Stephen Bentley

    2019Detective Matt Deal, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Mayhem"

    Mayhem

    by Stephen Bentley

    2020Detective Matt Deal, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "Mobocracy"

    Mobocracy

    by Stephen Bentley

    2021Detective Matt Deal, Book 3
  4. Book cover for "Montana"

    Montana

    by Stephen Bentley

    2023Detective Matt Deal, Book 4
  5. Book cover for "Night's Redemption"

    Night's Redemption

    by Stephen Bentley

    2024Detective Matt Deal, Book 5
  6. Book cover for "Manhunt"

    Manhunt

    by Stephen Bentley

    2025Detective Matt Deal, Book 6
  7. Book cover for "Merciless"

    Merciless

    by Stephen Bentley

    2025Detective Matt Deal, Book 7

Detective Matt Deal books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "Mercy"

    Mercy

    by Stephen Bentley

    2019Detective Matt Deal, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Mayhem"

    Mayhem

    by Stephen Bentley

    2020Detective Matt Deal, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "Mobocracy"

    Mobocracy

    by Stephen Bentley

    2021Detective Matt Deal, Book 3
  4. Book cover for "Montana"

    Montana

    by Stephen Bentley

    2023Detective Matt Deal, Book 4
  5. Book cover for "Night's Redemption"

    Night's Redemption

    by Stephen Bentley

    2024Detective Matt Deal, Book 5
  6. Book cover for "Manhunt"

    Manhunt

    by Stephen Bentley

    2025Detective Matt Deal, Book 6
  7. Book cover for "Merciless"

    Merciless

    by Stephen Bentley

    2025Detective Matt Deal, Book 7

L.A. Cyber Noir Mystery books in order

Explore this series
  1. Book cover for "Dark Web"

    Dark Web

    by Stephen Bentley

    2025L.A. Cyber Noir Mystery, Book 2
  2. Book cover for "The Rose Slayer"

    The Rose Slayer

    by Stephen Bentley

    2025L.A. Cyber Noir Mystery, Book 1

L.A. Cyber Noir Mystery books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "The Rose Slayer"

    The Rose Slayer

    by Stephen Bentley

    2025L.A. Cyber Noir Mystery, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Dark Web"

    Dark Web

    by Stephen Bentley

    2025L.A. Cyber Noir Mystery, Book 2

Steve Regan Undercover Cop books in order

Explore this series
  1. Book cover for "Who The F*ck Am I?"

    Who The F*ck Am I?

    by Stephen Bentley

    2017Steve Regan Undercover Cop, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Dilemma"

    Dilemma

    by Stephen Bentley

    2018Steve Regan Undercover Cop, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "Rivers of Blood"

    Rivers of Blood

    by Stephen Bentley

    2019Steve Regan Undercover Cop, Book 3
  4. Book cover for "The Secret"

    The Secret

    by Stephen Bentley

    2020Steve Regan Undercover Cop, Book 4
  5. Book cover for "Redemption"

    Redemption

    by Stephen Bentley

    2024Steve Regan Undercover Cop, Book 5
  6. Book cover for "Bloodline Vendetta"

    Bloodline Vendetta

    by Stephen Bentley

    2025Steve Regan Undercover Cop, Book 6

Steve Regan Undercover Cop books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "Who The F*ck Am I?"

    Who The F*ck Am I?

    by Stephen Bentley

    2017Steve Regan Undercover Cop, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Dilemma"

    Dilemma

    by Stephen Bentley

    2018Steve Regan Undercover Cop, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "Rivers of Blood"

    Rivers of Blood

    by Stephen Bentley

    2019Steve Regan Undercover Cop, Book 3
  4. Book cover for "The Secret"

    The Secret

    by Stephen Bentley

    2020Steve Regan Undercover Cop, Book 4
  5. Book cover for "Redemption"

    Redemption

    by Stephen Bentley

    2024Steve Regan Undercover Cop, Book 5
  6. Book cover for "Bloodline Vendetta"

    Bloodline Vendetta

    by Stephen Bentley

    2025Steve Regan Undercover Cop, Book 6

The Last Message books in order

Explore this series
  1. Book cover for "The Final Cipher"

    The Final Cipher

    by Stephen Bentley

    2025The Last Message, Book 3
  2. Book cover for "The Last Message"

    The Last Message

    by Stephen Bentley

    2025The Last Message, Book 1
  3. Book cover for "The Silent Protocol"

    The Silent Protocol

    by Stephen Bentley

    2025The Last Message, Book 2

The Last Message books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "The Last Message"

    The Last Message

    by Stephen Bentley

    2025The Last Message, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "The Silent Protocol"

    The Silent Protocol

    by Stephen Bentley

    2025The Last Message, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "The Final Cipher"

    The Final Cipher

    by Stephen Bentley

    2025The Last Message, Book 3

Stephen Bentley collections, short stories, and related book types

Non-Fiction

  1. Book cover for "Undercover"

    Undercover

    by Stephen Bentley

    2019Operation Julie
  2. Book cover for "How to Drive Like an Idiot in Bacolod"

    How to Drive Like an Idiot in Bacolod

    by Stephen Bentley

    2019
  3. Book cover for "Operation George"

    Operation George

    by Stephen Bentley

    2022
  4. Book cover for "Behind Cartel Lines"

    Behind Cartel Lines

    by Stephen Bentley

    2025

Standalone Stephen Bentley books

  1. Book cover for "Comfort Zone"

    Comfort Zone

    by Stephen Bentley

    2020

Author bio

Stephen Bentley was born in Accrington, Lancashire, and grew up between Accrington and Huyton, near Liverpool. He has described himself as a lanky, awkward child who read constantly, even labels on cereal boxes. One of the books that stayed with him from those early years was Gulliver's Travels, and that habit of reading widely seems to have fed both his storytelling and his curiosity about how people behave.

His road to writing was not neat or planned. Before books became his main job, he worked a run of ordinary, practical jobs, including warehouse work, hospital portering, motorcycle courier work in London, truck driving, and later operating heavy machinery for a water company. That matters because his fiction rarely feels polished in the wrong way. The people in it usually sound like people who have worked, worried, argued, and carried real weight.

Bentley also spent 15 years as a detective, including undercover work on Operation Julie, the major drugs investigation that targeted Britain's LSD manufacturing and distribution network in the 1970s. The drugs world knew him under another identity, and that experience clearly stayed with him. After leaving the police, he went back to study law in London in his late forties, completed bar school at the Inns of Court School of Law, and then worked for about 14 years as a criminal barrister, defending clients in serious cases and appearing in courts around London and the English provinces.

He did not come to writing early.

Bentley has said that he only became a writer after retiring from legal practice, when he finally had the space to tackle the story he had been carrying for years. That became Undercover: Operation Julie - The Inside Story, the memoir that first brought him to many readers. It is not just a book about raids and arrests. It is also about what it means to live inside a false identity, to gain people's trust, and then to live with what that costs afterward.

From there he moved into fiction, and the transition makes sense. His Steve Regan novels take the emotional strain of undercover work and turn it into propulsive crime thrillers. Books like Dilemma, Rivers of Blood, and Redemption put readers inside fast-moving operations where loyalty is shaky and danger can come from almost any direction. Readers who like those books often respond to the lived-in detail, the dry humor, and the sense that Bentley understands both the criminals and the people chasing them.

That same grounded feel carries into the Matt Deal books, starting with Mercy, where personal tragedy pushes the story into revenge, policing, and moral gray areas. Elsewhere he shifts gears without losing that directness. Comfort Zone leans into psychological suspense. The Rose Slayer and Dark Web bring a darker Los Angeles procedural energy. The Last Message moves into surveillance and cyber-thriller territory, showing that his interests have widened even while crime and justice remain at the center.

That lived experience gives his books their bite.

Across Bentley's work, the recurring themes are clear. He writes about loyalty, betrayal, institutional failure, and the damage violence leaves behind. He also writes a lot about identity, what people hide, what they become under pressure, and how hard it is to return to ordinary life after extreme work. He now lives in the Philippines with his wife and family, and that later chapter has added another strand to his writing too, including How to Drive Like an Idiot in Bacolod, a nonfiction detour with the same plainspoken voice and sharp eye for human behavior.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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