J.M. Hewitt Books in Order (Updated February 25, 2026)

This guide covers J.M. Hewitt (also styled “JM Hewitt”), the UK crime and psychological-thriller author based in Suffolk (the one published by Bookouture/Endeavour/Canelo on several titles).

There is also an unrelated J.M. Hewitt credited on some horror/fantasy short fiction in the US; that’s a different bibliography and not what the reading orders below are built around.

Pick Your Track

If you want a quick, contained series test (2 books): read Detective Carrie Flynn in order.
If you want international/true-crime-adjacent atmosphere (2 books): read Detective Alex Harvey in order.
If you want modern “what would you do?” tension: start with the standalone psychological thrillers (any order works).

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Continuity Rules That Actually Matter

• Carrie Flynn = continuous duo. Read 1 → 2 for the cleanest character context.
• Alex Harvey = continuous pair. Read 1 → 2 for the smoothest carry-over.
• All other novels = standalones. No shared cast, no required order.
• Anthologies / short-story collections = optional appearances, separate continuity from the novels.

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Detective Carrie Flynn (Read in Order)

1. The Night Caller (2019): A string of disappearances around Manchester pulls DS Carrie Flynn into a case the police want to downplay, while her own history refuses to stay out of the investigation.
2. The Quiet Girls (2019): An eleven-year-old girl vanishes and Carrie’s search turns urgent and obsessive, as a family’s flight toward isolation starts to look like the clue, and the danger.

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Detective Alex Harvey (Read in Order)

1. Exclusion Zone (2016): Murders inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone force an investigator into a lawless landscape where the setting is as hostile as the killer.
2. Reckoning Point (2019): A missing young woman and a parallel murder investigation collide near the Dutch coast, dragging Alex Harvey into a case that expands across jurisdictions and motives.

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Standalone Psychological Thrillers (Any Order)

If you like marriage pressure-cookers and social masks, start with The Life She Wants.
If you like long-buried secrets resurfacing, start with The Eight-Year Lie.
If you like family fault lines, start with The Other Son.
If you like contained, high-heat settings, start with The Crew.

Publication order (handy if you plan to read several):

1. The Hunger Within (2016): A dark, human-behavior-driven thriller that leans into the question of what people will risk to satisfy a need they won’t name out loud.
2. The Life She Wants (2021): A marriage in trouble becomes the opening for a stranger’s campaign of intrusion, and the “help” offered starts to look like control.
3. The Eight-Year Lie (2022): A carefully maintained lie reaches its breaking point, forcing a woman to choose between exposure and the consequences of keeping the truth buried.
4. The Other Son (2022): A mother’s past decision returns with a new demand, and protecting her child means confronting what she’s willing to sacrifice this time.
5. The Crew (2023): A group dynamic in a confined setting turns volatile, and what was supposed to be escape becomes a situation where secrets can’t stay contained.
6. The Perfect Village (2024): A fresh start in an idyllic place becomes a trap, as “community” pressure closes in and the safest version of the story proves unreliable.
7. The Dream Job (2024): A career opportunity becomes a threat vector, and ambition turns into leverage when someone else decides what the job should really cost.

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Short Fiction and Anthology Appearances (Optional)

These are best treated as side reads you can pick up anytime, especially between novels.

• Twisted (2016): An anthology appearance built around short, sharp shock, good for sampling a different mode without committing to a full novel.
• Mystery Tour (2017): A themed anthology appearance that plays with travel and dislocation as the engine for mystery and unease.
• Given in Evidence (2020): A short-story collection appearance that delivers crime/thriller beats in smaller, faster arcs.

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A Clean “Do This, Then This” Reading Plan

1. The Night Caller (2019) → The Quiet Girls (2019) (finish the Carrie duo)
2. Exclusion Zone (2016) → Reckoning Point (2019) (finish the Alex pair)
3. Then choose standalones by premise, or go straight down the standalone publication list from The Life She Wants (2021) to The Dream Job (2024).

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Latest Release Status

• Latest confirmed novel release: The Dream Job (2024)
• Upcoming titles: No reliably confirmed next title information found in the same catalog trail as of February 25, 2026.