Allen Eskens Max Rupert And Joe Talbert Series Books In Order

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Max Rupert and Joe Talbert Books In Order

The Max Rupert and Joe Talbert series is not a traditional series in that the novels focus on certain characters who are interrelated but who do not appear in every book. Author Allen Eskens writes of his books, “While they are not a series, they have character arcs that revolve around a small community.”

There are four principal characters in the books.

Joe Talbert, a reporter, appears in: The Life We Bury, The Shadows We Hide, The Stolen Hours.

Boady Sanden, a lawyer, appears in The Life We Bury, The Heavens May Fall, Nothing More Dangerous, Saving Emma.

Lila Nash, Joe’s girlfriend and lawyer, appears in: The Life We Bury, The Heavens May Fall, The Shadows We Hide, The Stolen Hours.

Max Rupert, a detective, appears in: The Guise of Another, The Heavens May Fall, The Deep Dark Descending, Forsaken Country.

Nothing More Dangerous is considered a prequel to Allen’s other books in this series.

Fans of the series enjoy the suspense, the depth of the characters and Allen’s engaging writing.

Readers recommend starting with The Life We Bury and then subsequently reading the books in the order they were published; this is the sequencing we have provided. The books can also be read according to an individual character arc.

1. The Life We Bury

College student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe’s life is ever the same.

2. The Guise of Another

Who was James Putnam? Answering that question may mean salvation for Alexander Rupert, a Minnesota detective whose life is in a serious downward spiral. A Medal of Valor winner, Alexander is now under subpoena by a grand jury on suspicion of corruption.

3. The Heavens May Fall

Detective Max Rupert and attorney Boady Sanden’s friendship is being pushed to the breaking point. Max is convinced that Jennavieve Pruitt was killed by her husband, Ben. Boady is equally convinced that Ben, his client, is innocent. As the case unfolds, the two are forced to confront their own personal demons.

4. The Deep Dark Descending

A homicide detective hunts down his wife’s killers while struggling between his thirst for revenge and a twinge of conscience forbidding him to take the law into his own hands.

5. The Shadows We Hide

Journalist Joe Talbert investigates the murder of the father he never knew, and must reckon with his own family’s past, in this “brilliant sequel” to the national bestseller The Life We Bury.

6. Nothing More Dangerous

In a small Southern town where loyalty to family and to “your people” carries the weight of a sacred oath, defying those unspoken rules can be a deadly proposition.

7. The Stolen Hours

Lila Nash is on the verge of landing her dream job—working as a prosecutor under the Hennepin County Attorney—and has settled into a happy life with her boyfriend, Joe Talbert. But when a woman is pulled from the Mississippi River, barely alive, things in the office take a personal turn

8. Forsaken Country

Max Rupert has left his position as a Minneapolis homicide detective to live in solitude. Mourning the tragic death of his wife, he’s also racked by guilt—he alone knows what happened to her killer.

9. Saving Emma

A lawyer’s race to reveal a wrongful conviction collides with the dark shadow of a murder in his own home in this propulsive and perfectly-plotted thriller