Ben Coes Books in Order (Updated September 9, 2026)

Ben Coes is an American political and espionage thriller writer best known for former Army Ranger and Delta operator Dewey Andreas. Coes’s novels combine covert missions, terrorism, intelligence agencies, nuclear threats, international politics, energy security, revenge, and enemies powerful enough to challenge the United States directly.

The main sequence contains ten Dewey Andreas novels through Hijack, plus the novella Shooting Gallery. Rob Tacoma, an important supporting character from the Dewey world, also leads The Russian, which launched a connected spin-off.

The short answer: read Dewey Andreas in publication order

Dewey’s missions may involve different countries and enemies, but his personal history does not reset. Friends die, relationships change, past operations create new enemies, and characters such as Hector Calibrisi and Rob Tacoma become more important as the series develops.

• Start with Power Down for Dewey Andreas.
• Read Shooting Gallery after Trap the Devil if you want the shorter material in publication order.
• Read The Russian after meeting Rob Tacoma in the Dewey novels if you want the connected spin-off.
• Continue through Hijack for the complete released Dewey sequence as of 2026.

Dewey Andreas from Power Down to Hijack

1. Power Down (2010): Coordinated attacks destroy a major hydroelectric facility and strike an offshore energy platform where Dewey Andreas is working, forcing the former Army Ranger back into action as he follows the terrorist operation toward the United States.
2. Coup d’Etat (2011): A nuclear exchange begins when Pakistan attacks India, and Dewey is drawn into a desperate mission intended to prevent the crisis from expanding into a far larger war.
3. The Last Refuge (2012): Dewey joins a covert American and Israeli effort to penetrate Iran and stop a nuclear plot aimed at destroying Tel Aviv, placing him deep inside one of the world’s most hostile intelligence environments.
4. Eye for an Eye (2013): Chinese intelligence chief Fao Bhang targets someone close to Dewey, turning an international intelligence struggle into a personal war in which Andreas pursues revenge regardless of the political consequences.
5. Independence Day (2015): Dewey races to locate a nuclear device intended for an attack on the United States around the July Fourth period while Russian intelligence, terrorists, and American agencies compete against a rapidly closing deadline.
6. First Strike (2016): Terrorists seize American students and threaten to execute one hostage every hour unless the United States releases a shipment of weapons, leaving Dewey with an operation that cannot be solved through normal negotiation or a conventional assault.
7. Trap the Devil (2017): Dewey discovers a conspiracy embedded near the highest levels of American power and becomes the target of people prepared to manipulate the government itself to achieve their goals.
8. Bloody Sunday (2018): A North Korean weapons program and the threat of a devastating biological attack push Dewey into a mission where preventing mass casualties depends on reaching the source before the weapon can be deployed.
9. The Island (2021): Terrorists seize Manhattan and isolate the island while a larger political plot threatens the government, forcing Dewey into a fight inside New York City rather than another distant foreign battlefield.
10. Hijack (2026): Dewey boards an Emirates flight from Paris to Dubai intending to assassinate terrorist Nebuchar Fortuna after landing, but Iranian suicide attackers seize the cockpit and aim the aircraft at the Burj Khalifa, trapping Dewey and his intended target aboard the same doomed plane.

Hijack is the tenth Dewey Andreas novel and the latest book in the series as of September 2026.

Power Down explains why Dewey does not begin as an active government operative

Dewey is introduced after leaving the military and trying to live outside the world that trained him. He is working on an offshore oil platform when coordinated attacks against American energy infrastructure drag him into the crisis.

That origin is important because the series repeatedly uses the tension between Dewey’s desire for independence and the government’s need for his abilities. He may work with American intelligence, but his identity is never simply that of a bureaucratic case officer.

Coup d’Etat and The Last Refuge enlarge the geopolitical scale

The second novel moves Dewey into the danger of nuclear conflict between Pakistan and India. Instead of chasing one terrorist cell, he is operating inside a crisis where decisions by national leaders can kill millions.

The Last Refuge then turns toward Iran and Israel. A nuclear threat to Tel Aviv creates the need for a deniable operation, placing Dewey inside hostile territory where capture would create consequences far beyond his own survival.

Eye for an Eye changes Dewey by making the war personal

The first three novels establish Dewey as an American operative responding to strategic threats. Eye for an Eye changes the emotional balance when Chinese intelligence attacks someone close to him.

Fao Bhang has the resources of China’s Ministry of State Security behind him. Dewey’s response is therefore not simply another counterterrorism assignment but a revenge mission against an adversary protected by a major government.

Readers starting after this point would know that earlier personal relationships ended violently without experiencing the events that shaped Dewey’s later behavior.

Independence Day has an alternate title in some markets

The fifth Dewey Andreas novel is Independence Day. Some editions use the title A Day to Kill.

They are the same novel, not books five and six. Readers collecting different national editions should count the story only once.

First Strike gives Dewey a hostage crisis with no acceptable option

The terrorists holding American students demand the release of weapons and promise to kill one student every hour the demand is refused.

Releasing the weapons would empower the attackers. Refusing means watching hostages die. A direct assault is judged impossible, leaving Dewey as the unconventional option when every official alternative appears unacceptable.

Trap the Devil moves the enemy inside American power

The seventh novel shifts away from a threat defined only by foreign geography. Dewey confronts a secret conspiracy operating close to the upper levels of the United States government.

That makes trust itself part of the problem. The people with the authority to direct intelligence and security resources may also be connected to the organization Dewey needs to expose.

Shooting Gallery fits between Trap the Devil and Bloody Sunday

Shooting Gallery, published in 2018, is a Dewey Andreas novella rather than one of the numbered full-length novels.

It is optional for the main storyline, but publication-order readers can place it after Trap the Devil and before Bloody Sunday.

Bloody Sunday sends Dewey toward North Korea

The eighth full-length novel centers on a weapons threat tied to North Korea. The mission requires Dewey to reach the source before a biological capability can be used against a much larger civilian population.

By this point, the series has moved through energy terrorism, nuclear war, Iran, China, domestic conspiracy, hostage operations, and biological weapons. Dewey’s accumulating experience is one reason the later novels can treat him as an operative trusted with threats that would normally require large teams and extensive political authorization.

Rob Tacoma steps out of Dewey’s shadow in The Russian

Rob Tacoma is a former Navy SEAL and Tier 1 operator who becomes important in Coes’s wider thriller world. In 2019, Coes made Tacoma the protagonist of a separate series.

1. The Russian (2019): Russian organized crime expands aggressively inside the United States and publicly executes two prominent politicians, leading the president to create a clandestine assassination team built around former Navy SEALs Rob Tacoma and Billy Cosgrove.

Before their mission begins, the Russian mafia kills Cosgrove at home. Tacoma is left to pursue the organization and its leadership without the partner who was supposed to share the assignment.

Macmillan identifies The Russian as Rob Tacoma book one. No second full-length Tacoma novel has been published as of September 2026.

Where The Russian belongs if you are reading everything

The simplest placement is after Bloody Sunday and before The Island. By then readers already understand the shared intelligence world and can appreciate Tacoma as an established operator rather than a completely unrelated new hero.

1. Trap the Devil: Continue Dewey’s main series.
2. Shooting Gallery: Add the optional Dewey novella.
3. Bloody Sunday: Complete Dewey’s 2018 full-length mission.
4. The Russian: Shift temporarily to Rob Tacoma.
5. The Island: Return to Dewey.
6. Hijack: Continue to the newest Dewey adventure.

The Island brings the threat directly to Manhattan

After a sequence dominated by foreign governments and overseas operations, The Island places much of its crisis inside New York.

Manhattan is seized and isolated as part of an attack whose political objectives go beyond conventional terrorism. Dewey’s skill set is therefore used inside one of America’s most densely populated environments rather than a remote battlefield.

Hijack ends a five-year gap in the Dewey Andreas series

The Island appeared in 2021. Dewey did not receive another full-length novel until Hijack in 2026.

The new book begins when Western intelligence learns that terrorist Nebuchar Fortuna has resurfaced. Fortuna’s father and brother were both killed by Dewey, creating a personal history between the two men even before they encounter one another aboard the same Emirates flight.

Dewey intends to kill Fortuna after the aircraft reaches Dubai. Instead, Iranian suicide attackers take control of the plane and point it toward the Burj Khalifa. Dewey and the man he came to assassinate are suddenly trapped inside the same airborne disaster.

A complete Ben Coes publication route

1. Power Down: Dewey is pulled back into action after coordinated attacks on American energy infrastructure.
2. Coup d’Etat: A Pakistan-India nuclear crisis raises the geopolitical stakes.
3. The Last Refuge: Dewey enters Iran to stop a nuclear threat against Israel.
4. Eye for an Eye: Chinese intelligence turns the series into a personal revenge story.
5. Independence Day: Dewey races against an American nuclear attack deadline.
6. First Strike: A hostage crisis forces Dewey into a mission with no acceptable conventional solution.
7. Trap the Devil: A conspiracy near the top of the U.S. government makes Dewey the target.
8. Shooting Gallery: Add the optional shorter Dewey adventure.
9. Bloody Sunday: North Korea and biological weapons create the next international threat.
10. The Russian: Follow Rob Tacoma into the war against Russian organized crime.
11. The Island: Return to Dewey as Manhattan becomes the battlefield.
12. Hijack: Finish with Dewey’s 2026 confrontation aboard a seized passenger jet.

A shorter Dewey Andreas sampler

Readers uncertain about committing to ten novels can sample several stages of Dewey’s career, although this route sacrifices some personal continuity.

1. Power Down: Essential because it establishes Dewey’s background and why he returns to the fight.
2. The Last Refuge: Shows Coes’s international espionage and nuclear-threat style.
3. Eye for an Eye: Demonstrates what happens when Dewey’s professional war becomes personal.
4. First Strike: Uses a compressed hostage deadline rather than a broad geopolitical campaign.
5. Trap the Devil: Brings conspiracy into the American political system.
6. The Island: Moves a large-scale attack onto Manhattan.
7. Hijack: Places Dewey inside the confined environment of a passenger aircraft under terrorist control.

This works as a genre sampler, but publication order remains the stronger choice if you already know you want the full Dewey storyline.

Dewey Andreas and Rob Tacoma share a world, not one numbered series

Rob Tacoma belongs to the same broader fictional environment and is connected to characters and organizations from the Dewey novels. That does not make The Russian Dewey Andreas book nine.

The numbered Dewey sequence runs from Power Down to Hijack. The Russian is Rob Tacoma book one and should be labeled as a spin-off rather than forced into Dewey’s numbering.

What has Ben Coes published most recently?

Hijack was released in 2026 and is Dewey Andreas book ten. It is Ben Coes’s newest novel as of September 9, 2026.

Coes’s official biography describes Hijack as his eleventh book, which matches ten Dewey novels plus the separate Rob Tacoma novel The Russian. The novella Shooting Gallery is shorter companion fiction rather than another full-length novel.

Questions about Ben Coes reading order

What is the first Dewey Andreas book?

Power Down, published in 2010, introduces Dewey and should be read first.

How many Dewey Andreas novels are there?

There are ten full-length novels through Hijack.

Where does Shooting Gallery fit?

It is an optional Dewey novella published between Trap the Devil and Bloody Sunday.

Is A Day to Kill a different Dewey Andreas novel?

No. A Day to Kill is an alternate title used for Independence Day.

Is The Russian about Dewey Andreas?

No. It stars Rob Tacoma and is the first book in the Rob Tacoma series, although it is connected to Dewey’s broader fictional world.

How many Rob Tacoma novels are there?

One full-length Rob Tacoma novel, The Russian, has been published as of this update.

What is Ben Coes’s latest book?

Hijack, published in 2026, is his latest released novel and the tenth Dewey Andreas book.

Do the Dewey Andreas books need to be read in order?

Yes. The immediate missions can often stand alone, but Dewey’s relationships, losses, enemies, and connections to recurring intelligence figures develop across the series.

The best way to follow Ben Coes from beginning to now

Begin with Power Down and remain in publication order through Bloody Sunday. Add Shooting Gallery after Trap the Devil if you want the shorter Dewey material.

After Bloody Sunday, read The Russian if you want Rob Tacoma’s connected story, then return to Dewey with The Island and Hijack. That preserves Dewey’s personal continuity while giving Tacoma’s spin-off a natural place without incorrectly numbering it as part of the main series.