Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adrenaline | 2010 | Jeff Abbott | Buy |
| 2 | Sam Capra’s Last Chance | 2012 | Jeff Abbott | Buy |
| 3 | The Last Minute | 2011 | Jeff Abbott | Buy |
| 4 | Downfall | 2013 | Jeff Abbott | Buy |
| 5 | Inside Man | 2014 | Jeff Abbott | Buy |
| 6 | The First Order | 2016 | Jeff Abbott | Buy |
| 7 | Traitor’s Dance | 2022 | Jeff Abbott | Buy |
Sam Capra was a CIA officer living in London with his pregnant wife when a bomb destroyed his office and his wife vanished, leaving Sam holding the blame for a breach that cost lives. Stripped of his career and his family, Sam sets up a network of bars in global cities that double as intelligence gathering points, and he keeps getting pulled back into the world he left by people who need someone with his particular skills and nothing left to lose.
Jeff Abbott structured the series to move across different locations — each book plants Sam somewhere new, from London to New Orleans to Amsterdam — which keeps the setting fresh without losing the thread of Sam’s ongoing search. The early books in particular, Adrenaline through Downfall, build the mythology of the shadowy organization behind Sam’s troubles and give the series a sense of forward momentum that rewards readers who follow the sequence.
The later entries, including The First Order and Traitor’s Dance, broaden Sam’s world and bring in new characters while keeping his core drive intact. Abbott writes action sequences with economy, keeping violence purposeful rather than decorative. The result is a spy thriller series that cares as much about Sam’s psychological state as his physical survival.