Robert Enright Books in Order: Emon’s Complete Sam Pope & Series Reading Guide
Robert Enright is a British thriller author, born in North London, best known for the Sam Pope series about an ex-elite sniper who takes on organised crime as a one-man vigilante. His books are fast, action-heavy, and often recommended to readers of Lee Child, Mark Dawson, and Vince Flynn.
Because the Sam Pope storylines carry from book to book, reading order matters. This guide lists every Robert Enright book in order, with a short summary of each, plus a clear starting point. (Looking for the forgiveness researcher of the same name? This guide covers the thriller author.)
Robert Enright Books in Order at a Glance
Sam Pope series (publication order)
- The Night Shift (2018)
- The Takers (2019)
- Long Road Home (2019)
- Too Far Gone (2020)
- The Final Mile (2020)
- Man Of My Word (2021)
- No Way Back (2021)
- The Kingdom (2022)
- Name Maker (2022)
- Out Of Reach (2023)
- Days Gone By (2023)
- The Fighter (2023)
- Blood Money (2024)
- Public Enemy (2024)
- Never Enough (2025)
- One Man Army (2026)
Sam Pope prequel novellas (optional): The Right Reason (2019), Rainfall (2020), Night One (2025)
DS Jack Townsend series: The Dead Of Night (2023), Don’t Say A Word (2024), No Judge, No Jury (2025), A Rush Of Blood (2025)
Bermuda Jones series: Doorways (2017), The Absent Man (2018), plus the prequel novella Bermuda
Standalone: One By One (2018)
Publication years follow Fantastic Fiction and other bibliographies. A few lists show The Night Shift as 2016, so check your retailer if the date matters to you.
Sam Pope Series: Each Book in Reading Order
1. The Night Shift (2018)
After a near-fatal shooting ends his career as an elite sniper, Sam Pope takes an archive job inside the Metropolitan Police, hunting criminals who beat the system. When a terrorist attack hits the London Marathon, he opens his own investigation into organised crime and police corruption. Soon he is the number one target.
2. The Takers (2019)
Sam’s war on organised crime continues, but now a tenacious young inspector leads a task force built to catch him. He is also drawn into the search for a missing girl and her desperate father. The hunt takes him deep into London’s underworld.
3. Long Road Home (2019)
After a clash with the Ukrainian underworld, Sam is cornered by an elite US military outfit called Blackridge. Under threat of prison, he joins their hunt across Europe for his former mentor, Sergeant Carl Marsden. The chase exposes the truth about Project Hailstorm.
4. Too Far Gone (2020)
Sam is lying low in Italy with files that could change the world, and he must choose between vanishing or bringing down General Wallace. When his fight threatens everyone he cares about, he returns to the UK to end it. Wallace is waiting.
5. The Final Mile (2020)
Sam is sent to Ashcroft, a secret maximum-security prison known as The Grid, where both inmates and guards want him dead. Outside, his former comrade Mac plots revenge and threatens the people Sam loves. It is a tense survival story built around a prison.
6. Man Of My Word (2021)
Sam travels to South Carolina to keep a promise to Alex Stone, who saved his life in Rome. Desperate to reunite with her siblings, Alex has joined a biker gang on the edge of a war with a local drug lord. Sam must go to extreme lengths to reach her.
7. No Way Back (2021)
Sam is living quietly and helping underprivileged kids alongside his friend Adrian Pearce, convinced his fight is over. Then a reporter who digs into a shady corporation is brutally attacked, hurting someone close to Sam. With justice unlikely, he must decide whether to return to his old ways.
8. The Kingdom (2022)
Sam follows an illegal firearm to East Anglia and sets his sights on ex-mercenary Slaven Kovac, who controls the area’s weapons and drug trade. An undercover police officer is caught on the front line as the conflict escalates. All three men are heading for a collision.
9. Name Maker (2022)
Crime boss Andrei Kovalenko’s vengeful sister puts a huge bounty on Sam’s head, dead or alive. Living off the grid, Sam does not realize an array of elite hitmen are closing in. His only way out is to fight back.
10. Out Of Reach (2023)
In Glasgow, Sam builds a relationship with a single mother and learns about Jasper Munroe, the son of a powerful billionaire who has escaped repeated sexual assault accusations. Sam decides to deliver his own brand of justice. The Munroe family has people who can make problems disappear.
11. Days Gone By (2023)
A French presidential frontrunner visits the UK while a grieving son accuses him of ordering the deaths of two French diplomats in Peru twelve years earlier. The accusation draws in Sam, the only survivor of that mission. He races to learn why he and his team were sent to die.
12. The Fighter (2023)
Covert agent Amara Singh uncovers a link between a wealthy ghost named Vladimir Balikov and a possible nuclear attack. The only way in is an underground fighting tournament in Budapest, so Sam infiltrates a Serbian war prison and fights his way to notoriety. It quickly becomes a fight for his life.
13. Blood Money (2024)
Two police officers are murdered in London within an hour of each other, and DS Jessica Sutton begins pulling at a dangerous thread. Sam senses something is wrong and finds himself on a collision course with both detectives and a mercenary named Dominik Silva. Someone paid well to have those officers killed.
14. Public Enemy (2024)
The Metropolitan Police launch a renewed push against Sam, and a face from his past helps destroy the public trust he relied on. With the walls closing in, he must clear his name and expose those trying to bury him. For the first time, Sam is completely alone.
15. Never Enough (2025)
Sam is put on the trail of a secret organisation called Veilmont, and his hunt for the truth leads across Europe. With help from an old contact in French intelligence, he uncovers a horrifying truth and a man who seems untouchable, Sebastian Glass. The powerful will do anything to keep their secrets.
16. One Man Army (2026)
A brutal militia called The Redeemers controls the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, and the wife of one of Sam’s old friends has been kidnapped as a political power play. A full rescue would start a street war, so they send in one man. That man is Sam.
Sam Pope Prequel Novellas (Optional)
These short stories show Sam’s life before his crusade. You can read them first, in the order below, or save them until you finish a few main books.
The Right Reason (2019)
Over a decade before the main series, a mission overseas goes wrong, costing Sam’s partner his life and leaving him trapped behind enemy lines. It shows the soldier Sam used to be.
Rainfall (2020)
Sam joins a covert mission to the Amazon to extract two French diplomats, only to find a bloodbath and an ambush. It sets up events that return in Days Gone By.
Night One (2025)
Sam is grieving the death of his son and the breakdown of his family while working an administrative job in the Metropolitan Police. The crimes of the notorious O’Riordan brothers give him a new purpose. It is the origin of his fight.
DS Jack Townsend Series in Order
1. The Dead Of Night (2023)
After three years undercover in dangerous UK gangs, DS Jack Townsend moves his family to Buckinghamshire and joins the Specialist Crimes Unit. Its first case is the stabbing of a woman in the woods of Wycombe Rye. As the body count rises, the new team must stop a spiralling killer.
2. Don’t Say A Word (2024)
Five months later, a suspected overdose turns out to be something more sinister, and another staged suicide follows. Townsend is stretched thin by a separate murder case. The team is hunting a killer who does not want to be found.
3. No Judge, No Jury (2025)
A video appears online of a masked man announcing a criminal’s death sentence and then carrying it out. Townsend and the unit must find the vigilante known as The Executioner as his campaign escalates.
4. A Rush Of Blood (2025)
A businessman is found murdered in a nature reserve car park, and Townsend’s undercover past in the Bell View Gang comes back to haunt him. The investigation brings him face to face with the gang’s leader, Liam Mercer. His life, and others, hang in the balance.
Bermuda Jones Series
Bermuda (prequel novella)
Franklyn Jones can see The Otherside, a hidden world in our shadows, and his claims cost him his family. A secret agency recruits him, and his first case takes him to Elvedon Forest in Suffolk. It explains how Bermuda Jones began.
1. Doorways (2017)
Bermuda is the BTCO’s finest agent, the only human to pass to the Otherside and return. Teamed with an Otherside warrior named Argyle, he investigates a missing woman and uncovers a threat to the truce between two worlds. It is a fast-paced urban fantasy with a few one-liners.
2. The Absent Man (2018)
Bermuda is sent to Glasgow to investigate a woman’s murder tied to the Otherside. He and Argyle hunt a killer hiding in plain sight, while Bermuda risks the fragile bond with his estranged daughter. The question hanging over the case: who is The Absent Man?
Standalone: One By One (2018)
Lucas Cole has a happy life until his wife, Helen, is killed by the notorious Drayton family and the police fail to bring them to justice. He sets out to put things right himself, and the violence escalates. It is a gritty revenge thriller about grief and how far someone will go for the people they love.
Where to Start With Robert Enright
Start with The Night Shift if you want his flagship series and a fast, action-first introduction. If you prefer a police procedural with a slower build, begin with The Dead Of Night. For something supernatural, try Doorways. The Sam Pope series is the one that most benefits from reading in order, since the Blackridge and Project Hailstorm arc runs through books 3 to 6.
Emon’s Reading Note
Long thriller series are easiest to enjoy when you can follow the hero’s journey from the start. With Sam Pope, I would read the main books in order and treat the prequel novellas as bonus background that adds emotional weight once you know the character.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Sam Pope books are there? There are 16 main novels, from The Night Shift to One Man Army, plus three prequel novellas.
What is the first Robert Enright book? The first Sam Pope novel is The Night Shift. His earlier titles include the Bermuda Jones book Doorways (2017).
Do I need to read the Sam Pope novellas? No. The novellas are optional prequels. They add background on Sam’s military career and the death of his son, but you can start with The Night Shift.
What order should I read the Sam Pope books? Read the main series in publication order, from book 1 to book 16. If you want the prequels, read The Right Reason, Rainfall, and Night One first or alongside the main books.
What other series has Robert Enright written? The DS Jack Townsend crime series (4 books), the Bermuda Jones urban fantasy series, and the standalone thriller One By One.
Is Robert Enright similar to Lee Child? Publisher descriptions compare the Sam Pope books to Lee Child, Mark Dawson, and Vince Flynn. Readers who enjoy Jack Reacher-style action will likely enjoy them.
Final Thoughts on Robert Enright Books in Order
Robert Enright’s best entry point is the Sam Pope series, which runs from The Night Shift to One Man Army and is best read in publication order so the Blackridge and Project Hailstorm storyline lands properly. The prequel novellas are optional extras, and his DS Jack Townsend and Bermuda Jones series offer a change of pace if you want a police procedural or urban fantasy.
With new books arriving every year, this list will keep growing. Save this guide and check back with Whimsy Read for updates and more reading-order guides.
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