Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deliverance | 1970 | James Dickey | Buy |
| 2 | The Zodiac | 1976 | James Dickey | Buy |
| 3 | For a Time and Place | 1983 | James Dickey | Buy |
| 4 | Sorties | 1984 | James Dickey | Buy |
| 5 | Alnilam | 1987 | James Dickey | Buy |
| 6 | To the White Sea | 1993 | James Dickey | Buy |
James Dickey published six standalone novels and prose works across his career, with Deliverance (1970) standing far above the rest in terms of cultural impact. The story of a canoe trip that turns into a life-or-death struggle in the Georgia backcountry became one of the defining American novels of the 1970s and was made into a major film directed by John Boorman.
His other novels are less well known but show a writer with ambitious range. The Zodiac (1976) is a long poem-novel hybrid. Alnilam (1987) is a dense, experimental novel about a blind father searching for his missing son at a World War II flight training base. To the White Sea (1993) follows an American airman trying to survive behind enemy lines in Japan. Sorties (1984) and For a Time and Place (1983) round out his prose bibliography. These later works attracted less attention than Deliverance but remain of interest to readers who appreciate Dickey’s muscular, image-driven prose style.