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The River Books in Order

Part ofMichael Richan Books in Order

See all The River books in order by Michael Richan, with short summaries, crossover notes, series background, and a clear place to start.

Last updated: July 10, 2026

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The River books in publication order

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16 books

1

A Haunting in Oregon

by Michael Richan

2013

Mason Manor, an Oregon bed-and-breakfast, has turned deadly, leaving guests dead in their beds. Roy and Steven step in to investigate and find a haunted estate with a far more dangerous force moving through its halls.

2

Ghosts of Our Fathers

by Michael Richan

2013

A nighttime visitor threatens Steven's life, and the danger seems tied to unfinished business in his family's past. With Roy absent, Steven turns to Eliza and Daniel to face a threat reaching out from another time.

3

The Bank of the River

by Michael Richan

2013

After a divorce, Steven expects a quiet stretch in a new home. Instead he finds violent apparitions, and his skeptical worldview collides with his father Roy's strange gift as they uncover something worse than a simple haunting.

4

Devil's Throat

by Michael Richan

2014

When Steven's son Jason is taken to remote Nevada cave country, Steven and Roy race after him. Downwind radiation has warped the River there, turning the rescue into a battle against mutated ghosts and a drowned ghost town.

5

Eximere

by Michael Richan

2014

Steven, Roy, and Eliza join other gifted investigators at the haunted Unser Estate, where the mansion seems to be poisoning a nearby town. What starts as a cleanup job becomes a fight against a plan far darker than anyone expected.

6

The Diablo Horror

by Michael Richan

2014

Steven tries to close out a bad bargain with a demon and ends up inside a house in the dam town of Diablo. With Roy, Jason, and Eliza beside him, he faces a haunting built on violence, deception, and a demon that never told the truth.

7

The Suicide Forest

by Michael Richan

2014

A haunting in Seattle leads Steven and Roy toward a cursed patch of Washington woods where demons gather around despair. To protect a gifted boy and his grandmother, they must face one of the worst evils in the series.

8

A Christmas Haunting at Point No Point

by Michael Richan

2015

Steven plans a peaceful holiday at Point No Point, but the lighthouse retreat comes with pounding noises, shipwreck secrets, and a spreading supernatural infection. Christmas turns into another grim case for Steven and Roy.

9

It Walks At Night

by Michael Richan

2015

Something prowls the streets of Clearlake after dark and drags victims into the woods. When it targets Eliza's son, Eliza, Steven, and Roy must hunt a predator tied to mausoleums, groves, and a deeply disturbed human threat.

10

The Cycle of the Shen

by Michael Richan

2015

As Steven and Roy spend more time caring for Eximere, the place begins to look less like paradise and more like a trap. A century-old creature threatens the balance there and exposes more of James Unser's terrible design.

11

The Haunting at Grays Harbor

by Michael Richan

2015

Barbara's coastal home is terrorizing her daughters and defeating every priest who enters. Steven and Roy investigate, only to find the house tied to the deeper mystery of Eximere and a series of dangers already in motion.

12

The Haunting of Johansen House

by Michael Richan

2017

Steven impulsively buys a Victorian mansion packed with dangerous spirits and ugly history. As he and Roy dig into Lukas Johansen's past, the case becomes personal and the truth proves far worse than expected.

13

The Port of Missing Souls

by Michael Richan

2017

Bloated drowning victims begin wandering Eximere after new visitors disturb the mansion above. To solve the crisis, Steven and Roy must confront secret rooms, the Dark River, and answers Roy has long kept off limits.

14

Evocation

by Michael Richan

2018

Eliza agrees to help a friend and instead steps into a nightmare that has been building for twenty years. With Steven, Roy, and Terrell, she must survive a labyrinth where something monstrous is waiting to be born.

15

Node

by Michael Richan

2019

A case involving antique dolls pulls Steven and Roy to a house near Deadwood, where they discover a room full of corpses fitted with metal tubes. The deeper they dig, the more the mystery turns into a conspiracy about death itself.

16

Spirit Lake

by Michael Richan

2021

A fishing trip at Spirit Lake becomes an investigation into disappearances that may date back to the era before Mount St. Helens erupted. Steven and Roy uncover a hidden monster and need help from the dead to stop it in time.

The River books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "The Bank of the River"

    The Bank of the River

    by Michael Richan

    2013The River, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "A Haunting in Oregon"

    A Haunting in Oregon

    by Michael Richan

    2013The River, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "Ghosts of Our Fathers"

    Ghosts of Our Fathers

    by Michael Richan

    2013The River, Book 3
  4. Book cover for "Eximere"

    Eximere

    by Michael Richan

    2014The River, Book 4
  5. Book cover for "The Suicide Forest"

    The Suicide Forest

    by Michael Richan

    2014The River, Book 5
  6. Book cover for "Devil's Throat"

    Devil's Throat

    by Michael Richan

    2014The River, Book 6
  7. Book cover for "The Diablo Horror"

    The Diablo Horror

    by Michael Richan

    2014The River, Book 7
  8. Book cover for "The Haunting at Grays Harbor"

    The Haunting at Grays Harbor

    by Michael Richan

    2015The River, Book 8
  9. Book cover for "It Walks At Night"

    It Walks At Night

    by Michael Richan

    2015The River, Book 9
  10. Book cover for "The Cycle of the Shen"

    The Cycle of the Shen

    by Michael Richan

    2015The River, Book 10
  11. Book cover for "A Christmas Haunting at Point No Point"

    A Christmas Haunting at Point No Point

    by Michael Richan

    2015The River, Book 11
  12. Book cover for "The Port of Missing Souls"

    The Port of Missing Souls

    by Michael Richan

    2017The River, Book 12
  13. Book cover for "The Haunting of Johansen House"

    The Haunting of Johansen House

    by Michael Richan

    2017The River, Book 13
  14. Book cover for "Evocation"

    Evocation

    by Michael Richan

    2018The River, Book 14
  15. Book cover for "Node"

    Node

    by Michael Richan

    2019The River, Book 15
  16. Book cover for "Spirit Lake"

    Spirit Lake

    by Michael Richan

    2021The River, Book 16

Series background & context

The River is the main trunk of Michael Richan's shared horror universe, and it begins with a simple, strong hook: what if ghosts were only the first layer of the problem? At the center are Steven and his father Roy. Steven starts out skeptical. Roy already knows there are things most people cannot see, because he can enter a hidden place called the River, a supernatural current where gifted people can find spirits, creatures, and clues that do not fully exist in ordinary life.

The father and son relationship is the engine.

In The Bank of the River, Steven's own house turns against him, forcing him to accept that Roy's strange gift is real and that he may share it. From there the series grows outward book by book. Haunted inns, murderous mansions, dam towns, old forests, coastal houses, Victorian properties, and even a supposedly restful Christmas trip all become cases for Steven and Roy. Each novel can deliver a solid haunting on its own, but the real pleasure is watching Steven learn how the River works and how much family history is tied up in it.

Roy is not the only ally, and Steven is not the only gifted person. As the books continue, Eliza, Daniel, Deem, Winn, Derick, and others move in and out of the story, turning the series into a wider supernatural network. That widening is important because The River does not stay at the level of single-house scares. It eventually links to The Downwinders and The Dark River, while also developing its own ongoing threads, especially the strange history surrounding Eximere and James Unser.

It gets bigger without losing the human part.

A lot of Richan's skill in this series comes from balancing myth and logistics. The River itself is an intriguing concept, but the books do not drift off into pure fantasy. Steven and Roy still have to drive to the property, talk to frightened homeowners, sift through journals, argue about what a clue means, and survive the night. That practical, investigative quality gives the stories a mystery backbone, even when the threat is a demon, a warped ghost town, or something that should never have been brought into the world.

If you are deciding where to start with Richan, this is usually the answer. The Bank of the River introduces the rules, the relationship, and the tone better than anything else. From there, the series moves through haunted-house horror, family drama, occult mystery, and shared-world crossover without losing its center. These books are for readers who like supernatural fiction that is creepy, plot-driven, and built around people who have to learn strange skills quickly because nobody else is coming to save the house.

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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