The Predators Books in Order

The Predators sequence links two novels, The Predators and The Secret, into one long story about what power looks like when it passes from a self‑made survivor to a child who grows up surrounded by comfort. At the center is Jerry Cooper, an orphan who claws his way out of the worst parts of Depression‑era New York.

In The Predators, Jerry starts as a kid hustling just to eat and stay alive. Robbins sends him through the back alleys of organized crime, into the chaos of the Second World War in Europe, and eventually into the polished offices of international business. Jerry never fully leaves the underworld behind; he simply learns to speak the language of bankers and lawyers as easily as he once spoke to gangsters.

The novel moves quickly, but it always comes back to the same idea: Jerry is both predator and prey. He is used by smarter, richer men and then turns the tables, building his own fortune in industries where the lines between legal and illegal money are thin. Lovers, partners, and enemies drift in and out as he tests how far he can push before someone pushes back harder.

The Secret turns the camera toward the next generation. Jerry, older and far more established, wants his son to enjoy the opportunities he never had while keeping him safely away from the bloodier parts of his past. The son, Len, ends up in a very different kind of business, building a chain of provocative lingerie stores that sell fantasy as much as fabric.

On the surface, it is a retail success story; underneath, the same currents of sex, violence, and criminal money run through the new enterprise. Len has to navigate a world where branding and image mean everything, even as family history and old debts drag him toward the same moral compromises his father made.

Taken together, the two books paint a picture of the twentieth century as seen from the top and bottom of the ladder: street corners, war zones, corporate suites, and neon‑lit shopping malls. Expect a lot of explicit scenes, a strong dose of business detail, and a constant question hanging over both father and son: when you live like a predator, how safe are the people you love?