The Burned Man Books in Order

The Burned Man is Peter McLean's urban fantasy trilogy about Don Drake, a London hitman with a gambling debt, a talent for diabolism, and a strong reason to avoid becoming involved in anything supernatural. Unfortunately, the supernatural world has other ideas.

The series begins with Drake. Don thinks one last job will clear his debt to a demon, but the assignment goes wrong in ways that draw the attention of forces far above his usual criminal pay grade. His main allies are Trixie, an angel close to falling, and the Burned Man, an imprisoned archdemon whose help is always useful and never entirely reassuring.

Don is not a conventional hero. That is the point.

The books use a noir setup, quick jobs, bad debts, old grudges, and dangerous people with competing agendas, then add demons, magic, and myth to the mix. London matters as more than a backdrop. Its tunnels, side streets, clubs, and hidden corners give the story a grubby, lived-in place for criminal schemes and occult trouble to collide.

Dominion sends Don, Trixie, and the Burned Man into a crisis involving London's earth elementals and a spreading force of decay. In Damnation, Don is further from home and in worse shape, as the consequences of his earlier choices catch up with him. Each novel has its own immediate problem, but the larger pressure comes from Don's uneasy ties to his companions and the possibility that the Burned Man may one day get free.

Expect violent supernatural action, rude humour, and a narrator who is honest mainly when he has run out of other options. Start with Drake and read the trilogy in order. The relationships and consequences build from book to book, and the final volume lands better once you know how much trouble Don has already survived.