Paul Richter Books In Order

Publication Order of Paul Richter Books

The name ‘Paul Richter’ refers to a series of action/adventure/thriller novels written by James Barrington. The books follow the exploits of a skilled intelligence agent who saves the world from terrorist attacks.

+The Story

Paul Richter is the perfect agent. He isn’t the best but he is highly proficient. He knows how to take hits and keep moving. And that is what makes him the most appropriate weapon to deploy in ‘Overkill’, the first novel in the Paul Richter series.

Richter is introduced at a time of great crisis. The Russians have deployed a series of Nuclear weapons across the United States and Europe. They initially intended to scare the West into giving up their control over the World.

But then their Arab allies changed the rules and decided that the best way to change the world was to obliterate the West and its people as a whole.

Paul Richter is deployed and charged with finding the people responsible for this plot and separating them from any control they might have over the nuclear weapons.

The job isn’t without its challenges. Even before all the violent goons and assassins come into play, Richter must first do some serious detective work to find a substantial trail to lead him back to the bad guys.

This means looking at crime scenes and interviewing suspects and accessing the right personnel in high places until a clue finally emerges.

Once the ball begins to roll and Richter actually comes across a significant lead, the car chases and the explosions follow. Fortunately for America and Europe, Richter isn’t just smart. He is also a skilled warrior with proficiency in a number of weapons and fighting forms.

And it doesn’t take the bad guys long to realize that Paul Richter might only be one man, but he is more than capable of dismantling their forces.

The Paul Richter series is fairly typical of the action/thriller genre. Each new installment in the series introduces a new threat. If it isn’t a really big bomb on the loose, then it’s a super virus or a technological device of considerable destructive capabilities or something along those lines.

The world is almost always at stake. While the villains Richter faces do not necessarily have the strength to attack the world at large, the schemes they concoct to destabilize American and European systems and economies have the capacity to negatively impact the world as a whole.

So Richter always knows that he is fighting for more than his homeland. Richter, it should be noted, is a British Intelligence operative. He is associated with a special department within the security wing of the British government that is so secretive its operations are only known to a few people.

Richter’s people are only ever put into play when there is a mission of the utmost importance that cannot be trusted to anyone but the best. Richter always goes into the field knowing that if he is ever captured, his superiors will deny all knowledge of his existence, leaving him to fend for himself.

Before joining the intelligence service, Paul Richter was a Royal Navy Pilot. He was trained to fly every type of aircraft ever invented. He also has experience flying in all conceivable weather conditions.

Even as an army man, Richter’s abilities stood out, so much so he became the one person his superiors could rely upon to do the difficult jobs that all his colleagues would rather avoid.

It wasn’t too hard for Richard Simpson, his current boss, to spot him.

The protagonist has been described as a tall, athletic man with an imposing physical build. Unlike many of his colleagues in the intelligence game who know how to look sleek and sharp, Paul Richter always has a disheveled look to him. And he has admitted to having a total disinterest in his appearance.

It doesn’t come as much of a surprise that people can sometimes underestimate him. Though, those false impressions of the hero dissipate the moment everyone sees him in action.

Richter is designed to fit the mold of the average action hero. Though, unlike many of his literary counterparts, the hero is surprisingly vulnerable. While it is true that Richter is more proficient in combat than most, he does get hurt from time to time.

He also makes the occasional poor decision. The character isn’t infallible.

The Paul Richter books have been compared to the Tom Clancy novels primarily because James Barrington is a very detail-oriented writer. And it doesn’t always work in his favor. In fact, many a reader has complained that the author spends too much time describing guns, knives, army vehicles and other insignificant elements that have nothing to contribute to the story.

+The Author
James Barrington was a pilot in the military. He was afforded the opportunity to do espionage work during his stint. He succeeds in keeping his novels grounded by dipping into his own personal experiences.

+Overkill
Even though Russian and the West are in a state of peace, animosity still exists between them. And that is unfortunate because there are a lot of nuclear weapons left over from the cold war.

Two parties from Russia and the Middle East combine forces with the intention of dominating the West. They succeed in seeding Europe and America with Nuclear weapons and then they proceed to show their willingness to use them unless Western powers give into their demands.

Paul Richter is a British operative that has been deployed to discover and stop the mastermind behind the plan. Richter doesn’t realize just how dangerous the situation has become until the attacks on America begin.

+Pandemic
An illicit diver stumbles upon a decades-old aircraft wreck in the water. He investigates it, takes one of the four sealed flasks he finds and opens it. He dies horribly hours later.

Paul Richter is sent to the island of Crete to investigate the situation. He is met with more questions than answers. The CIA has been deployed and they seem determined to destroy the aircraft.

On top of that, anyone who knows about the flasks is being hunted, both on the island and back in the United States. There is a mystery afoot and Richter won’t rest until he solves it.