Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | La seconda vita di Nick Mason | 2016 | Steve Hamilton | N/A |
| 2 | The Second Life of Nick Mason | 2016 | Steve Hamilton | Buy |
| 3 | Exit Strategy | 2017 | Steve Hamilton | Buy |
| 4 | An Honorable Assassin | 2024 | Steve Hamilton | Buy |
The Nick Mason series is a departure from Steve Hamilton’s Alex McKnight mysteries. Starting with The Second Life of Nick Mason (2016), the books follow a convicted felon who gets out of prison twenty years early in exchange for doing whatever a ruthless crime boss asks of him. Mason wants to reconnect with his daughter and live a normal life, but the phone keeps ringing with new assignments.
The series is set in Chicago and has a harder, more noir-inflected tone than Hamilton’s Michigan mysteries. Exit Strategy (2017) and An Honorable Assassin (2024) continue Mason’s story as the demands on him escalate. The books are shorter and more tightly plotted than the McKnight series, with a constant tension that comes from Mason’s total lack of control over his own life.