The Hunted (Kerry Barnes) Books in Order

The Hunted trilogy throws you into a modern East London firm war, seen largely through the eyes of Zara Ezra. She has grown up watching her father run a powerful crew and has no intention of staying in the background when it is her turn to lead.

In The Hunted, Zara’s past collides with her future when Mike Regan, an old flame who now runs his own outfit, is dragged into a vicious feud. His young son is kidnapped, and the usual rules of negotiation no longer apply. Zara steps in, using everything she has learned from a lifetime around gangland business, but every move she makes risks pulling both families into a conflict they might not survive.

The Rules raises the stakes again. Mike is locked up and offered a deal: his freedom in exchange for taking down the gang pushing a lethal new drug onto the streets. What begins as a straightforward job quickly reveals deeper layers and dangerous players. On the outside, Zara is keeping his firm together while a shadowy rival known as the Governor targets her directly. She has to decide whether to fight, run, or tear up the rulebook and write her own.

By The Choice, the fallout from those decisions is impossible to outrun. Zara and Mike believe they have neutralised the Governor and hidden him away, only to discover he is loose within a day and intent on revenge. Their families are moved to what should be a safe place, yet one of the boys disappears, a clear message that the game has started again. Zara faces a brutal dilemma that mirrors one she once forced on the Governor, only this time the price could be the man she loves.

Across the trilogy, the focus stays tight on loyalty, ambition and the cost of power. The books are heavy on action—kidnappings, double‑crosses, frantic searches—but they are also about a woman trying to steer a criminal empire without losing herself. Reading them in order lets you watch Zara grow from heir apparent to someone who understands exactly what her choices demand, and what they might destroy.