Steven Gore Books In Order

Publication Order of Graham Gage Books

Publication Order of Harlan Donnally Books

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Steven Gore is a former private crime detective who turned his experience in the field of investigation to gripping international fiction thrillers. Initially, Gore had intended to venture into writing as a non-fiction writer by using material from old cases. However, he realized that would mean he would have to dig into confidential information as that was where the heart of the stories lies. Subsequently, the author thought it was unfair to make people relive past tragedies, and that would mean he changes names and facts and eventually adopts some aspects of fiction. So, he never acted upon his thoughts immediately.

Gore is based in the US and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, the same area he lived while working as a private investigator. He holds a Masters Degree in Political Theory from UC Berkley and is trained in forensic science. The author has been featured on 60 minutes and received an honor for excellence in the field of criminal investigation. He has lectured to attorney and investigator organizations on topics that range from police misconduct to the design of sophisticated investigative databases.

Gore’s transition from a field investigation to that of publishing happened during his last year of work. He was a full-time investigator and always traveling, which created a longing to spend more time at home other than on the move. The time seemed perfect for him to try writing and with the help and support of his wife; he was ready with ideas for stories. He first drafted two outlines which grew to become Final Target and White Ghost. Among his major influences are British Author Graham Greene and Ross MacDonald, who is a crime fiction writer.

The first book Gore wrote was White Ghost, which was a private investigator late in life looking back at his career. Once he was through writing the novel, he realized that he had written the last book in a series first. He set it aside and then began work on the Final Target. The two books made part of the Graham Gage series with Final Target (2010)being the first, followed by Absolute Risk(2010), Power Blind(2012) and finally White Ghost(2016). Gore also wrote three other books under the Harlan Donnally series: Act of Deceit (2011), A Criminal Defense (2013) and Night is the Hunter (February 2015).

The several years spent by Gore in investigating crime formed the ground for his stories. His books center on murder, organized crime, corruption, drugs, sex, arms trafficking and fraud throughout Europe, America and Asia. Although he was not able to seed his stories into actual events and people, the author is fulfilled by being able to include the logic and meaning of the investigation life as he lived it. In an interview, the author admits that his time investigating crime is a great contributor to his creative process. His characters are a reflection of the kind of people he has encountered in his work, while the events reflect what private investigators deal with in their careers.

Final Target (2010)

This is Gore’s debut novel and introduces the reader to the main character of the Graham Gage Series, Graham Gage. The writer takes the reader through engaging dialogues and detailed descriptions of local London, Geneva and the Channel Islands, where the story unfolds. Gage is a former cop turned private investigator chases the leads of a series of crimes onto three continents to discover a web of corruption, treachery and several dead ends. The story began when Jack Burch, Gage’s best friends shot during his routine morning jog, and while he remains in critical care at the hospital, a violent robbery occurs at his law office as pressure from Russian and Ukrainian gangsters intensifies over a natural gas agreement he brokered.

Gage has to race against the FBI and gangsters to help clear his friend’s name that is additionally facing rumors that put him into the focus of a investigation into double deal at a unsuccessful Silicon Valley fortification contractor, Sat Tek. Gore richly develops the plot and makes the story compelling to keep the reader turning the pages. His experiences as a private investigator make it easy for him to invite readers to have a glimpse of investigation life.

Absolute Risk (2010)

Once again, Graham Gage finds himself in the hunt for the truth. This is after a series of events happen in different locations of the world which might be the key to saving his wife, who is caught in between an uprising in Central China and the tyrannical Chinese government. There is a terrorist bombing in Asia, a dead FBI agent in Marseilles and several bank accounts appear which are linked to a genius finance professor in Boston. Gage has to figure out the connection between all these events and expose the treachery that underlies underneath before time runs out, or Faith Gage will die. The story follows Gage through a trail of deceit and terror conspiracy that risk to plunge the world into chaos.

Act of Deceit (2011)

Act of Deceit (2011) is the first book of the Harlan Donnally series. Donnally was a former police detective in San Francisco that retires because of disability after being shot while on the job. The former detective resorts to a quiet life in Mount Shasta, Northern California where he operates a small café. However, a plea from a dying friend cuts short his peaceful life and Donnally is forced to play postman by bearing a letter full of tragedy to a sister is unfortunately long dead, a victim of a strange crime whose counterculture lost its way.

It is in these events that Donnally learns that her killer was never prosecuted and he takes it upon himself to battle against the crooked justice system. The action finds him facing rocky trails of evil to a borderland where the falsely virtuous and the rich abuse the young and poor. In the determination to keep his promise to a dead man, the former detective stops t nothing until he knows the truth. Gore steers this book to an exciting revelation with some twists and turns that keep the reader on board all through.