Philip Mercer Books In Order

Publication Order of Philip Mercer Books

The Philip Mercer series is a series of adventure novels written by the famous American novelist Jack Du Brul. The novels of the series feature a fictional character named Dr. Philip Mercer, who is depicted as a geologist and a mining engineer. The plots of all the novels of the series show a techno-thriller setting and show the helpful nature of Dr. Philip Mercer. Author Jack Du Brul has done the characterization of Dr. Mercer in the form of a down-to-earth mining engineer and geologist who strives to protect the world from a number of threats. There is a total of 8 novels published in the series so far, which were done between the years 1998 and 2015. Currently, the series is ongoing as author Jack Du Brul is working on the plot of the latest novel of the series, which he is going to publish very soon in the coming days. The novels of the series went on to become huge hits right from its first novel and helped author Jack Du Brul to establish is prominent writing career. As it was the first novel series written by him, it has a special place in his heart. The first novel of the Philip Mercer series was called as Vulcan’s Forge, which introduced Dr. Philip Mercer as the primary protagonist of the series. The plot of the novel shows a setting of the time of the Cold War, when the Soviet Union and the Unites States were at war against each other.

The two powerhouses of the world are depicted in the series as fighting to overcome each other as the lone powerful nation of the world. In order to achieve this feat, both the nations try to use nuclear weapons against each other, with the intention of causing a mass destruction to the other. Later, their war proceeds into a fight for gaining control of an island near Hawaii, which was considered to be a powerhouse with enormous wealth. The novel very effectively shows the dedicated efforts of Dr. Philip Mercer to protect the world from turning into a nuclear war field and causing great destruction. The second novel of the series also continues to show an adventurous plot where America tries to become an oil-independent nation endangering the oil export business of the Middle-East countries. In this novel too, Dr. Philip seems to be determined not to let any such to happen which can cause a major destruction to the world. Another character named Aggie Johnston joins Dr. Philip Mercer in his attempts to save the world from destruction. Aggie is introduced as an environmentalist by the author Jack Du Brul. The success of these initial novels of the Philip Mercer series allowed author Jack Du Brul to complete a few more novels, which also became very successful. The readers as well as the critics praised him for his efforts and gave very good reviews of the novels. This motivated Jack Du Brul to write a few other novel series’ as well and add more colors to his successful writing career. He gives the credit of his prosperous career as an author to the Philip Mercer series of novels as they allowed him to taste success for the first time at the start of his career.

The first novel of the Philip Mercer series was published by the NAL publishing house in the year 1998. It was titled ‘Vulcan’s Forge’ and introduced the main character of the series, Dr. Philip Mercer as a mining engineer and a professional geologist. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, a nuclear bomb is launched at a place which was considered as the heart of the earth and this caused a volcano to rise speedily in the hot spots of the world like Washington DC and Hawaii in America and some other places in the Far East. Later, it is revealed that the nuclear strike was done by the Russian forces as part of a secret operation against America. However, nuclear strike has caused the formation of an island near Hawaii after a few years. The island becomes famous as the source of a new mineral with clean and limitless nuclear power, derived from the volcanic eruptions and the churning and boiling lava caused by the nuclear strike of Russia. Soon, the major nations of the world begin to claim the island as their own in order to become a self-sufficient nuclear power. In Hawaii, a secessionist movement is about to take place, which was believed to turn violent as the American army was given the order of firing at the agitating citizens. Meanwhile, in Washington, DC, the subway system is about to turn into a site of a deadly gun battle. In the Far East, the world peace is about to get jeopardized because of the disrupted negotiations of the diplomats. The Russian forces also deploy a rogue submarine in the waters around the mineral rich island in order to claim it as its own. In the middle of all this mess, Dr. Philip Mercer is stuck as a geologist, who is supposed to have shady contacts in all the important places. He learns about the kidnapping of the daughter of one of his old friends, who is kept a local hospital under an armed guard. Philip vows to rescue her from the kidnappers, but does not know that it is going to be the first step that will help to unravel the fantastic secrets about the Vulcan’s Forge.

The second novel of the series was published under the title ‘Charon’s Landing’. It was published in the year 1999 by the NAL publishing house. At the start of the novel, the author has described a secret plan of the Soviet Union for destroying the oil pipeline in Alaska, which they had planned many years ago. Now, the plan has been stolen by Ivan Kerikov, who is a treacherous and a brilliant ex-agent of the KGB. He thinks of joining hands with a powerful oil minister of Arab and unleash the Charon’s Landing. However, Dr. Philip Mercer is determined to stop their evil intentions in order to protect the world from turning into a war site. The plan of destroying the Alaskan pipeline was made after the president of America had announced to become independent of foreign oil and rather use the Alaskan oil deposits to meet their needs along with other alternate energy sources. This decision of America threatened the business interest of the Middle-East countries, who were in no mood to tolerate this course of action of America. Therefore, they joined hands with Ivan Kerikov and planned to attack the oil pipeline in Alaska.

3 Responses to “Philip Mercer”

1. Douglas: 2 years ago

   I have enjoyed the ‘Mercer’ series, especially the Harry White character. I resent, no I hared ANY reference to torture to helpless animals, re:ref to bound helpless cat to Charon’s Landing. No excuse for it, and sick as it sounds, many weak minds are not in a position to take this as it is read. In a small town in Pennsylvania, a 16 year was charged for trying to do the neighbors pet. It was caught in time, but like your “”VD”” comment in ‘River of Ruin” Kids don’t need any help. They grow up fast enough.Maybe I am too emotional, but I love all animals and cannot tolerate any vision of torture.

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2. MARIE JUBY: 3 years ago

   just to inquire if the Philip Mercer series will have
   another book after Lighting stones I read all of them.
   At present it makes me travel and revisit the country’s I already visited (97 of them). I read is writing with C Cussler that (Jack) wrote with him have all the books in these time reading a good pass
   time. I leave in Montreal . Stay safe

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3. MARIE JUBY: 3 years ago

   I really like this series of book by Jack Du Brul .
   The one he wrote with Cussler also. Specially the Philip Mercer. With the Covid19 I cannot travel so
   reading them made me revisit all the country and individual place I had visit the only one was Greenland. I bee to Tibet & Nepal and some more than 1 time up to now I visit 97 countries and sail the Greek Island visiting 16 I think I did go at 88 years old. Well Jack continue writing I would like to know what are the new book . I leave in Montreal so we are not far from one another. Take care during this bad period we are going thru.
   Marie Juby

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