The Takers Books in Order

The Takers is the Aherns at their most globe-trotting and gleefully adventurous. The series follows Josh Culhane and Mary Frances Mulrooney, a pair who are smart, stubborn, capable, and constantly in danger. Josh is the two-fisted adventurer type, the man who will go almost anywhere if the stakes are high enough. Mary brings scholarship, nerve, and a feel for the strange corners of history and myth. Together they make a good team because neither one is calm enough to let the other get comfortable.

Comfort is not really part of the deal here.

The first book, The Takers, sends Josh and Mary into a chase that runs through old manuscripts, ancient mysteries, and a villainous father-daughter pair with terrifying ambitions. The story stretches from modern pursuit into mythic territory and eventually all the way beneath Antarctic ice, where the series shows one of its favorite habits: starting with pulp action and then opening the door to something much bigger and weirder.

River of Gold keeps the same spirit but changes the scenery completely. This time the trail leads from Istanbul to the Upper Amazon, mixing ransom, exploration, ritual, and the lure of a lost city hidden deep in the Brazilian rain forest. The setting matters a lot in these books. Jungle, ruins, ice, ports, and old marketplaces are not just backdrops. They are part of the pressure. The Aherns like places that feel old, dangerous, and full of stories no one has finished telling.

Then Summon the Demon swings toward Charleston, voodoo, storms, and apocalyptic sabotage. By that point you know what kind of promise this series makes. It is never only one thing. It can be relic hunt, occult thriller, conspiracy story, science fiction adventure, and relationship sparring match in the same breath. If a reader enjoys strict genre fences, this may feel unruly. If a reader likes old paperback energy and big premise twists, that unruliness is the point.

Josh and Mary carry the whole thing. Their mix of attraction, argument, trust, and exasperation gives the books a human center. They are not cozy partners. They are better than that. They are the sort of duo who can bicker, improvise, and still walk straight toward a nightmare because the alternative would be letting somebody worse get there first.

If you want the Aherns in full action-adventure mode, this is a great place to start. Begin with The Takers and read in order. The pleasures are simple and sturdy: brisk pacing, wild ideas, dangerous travel, and two leads who never get to take the easy way out.