Adam Plantinga Books In Order

Publication Order of Kurt Argento Books

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Adam Plantinga is an American author and police sergeant. He is married and lives with his wife and their daughters as well as their dog Ziggy somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area.

He has served in law enforcement for over two decades, including seven years served with the Milwaukee Police Department and over fifteen with the San Francisco Police Department. These years of experience have helped him to write his nonfiction books all about law enforcement, 400 Things Cops Know and the book Police Craft: What Cops Know About Crime, Community, and Violence.

His fictional novel The Ascent became available to readers in 2024 for the first time. The book did very well and was a bestseller on the USA Today book charts. It was optioned for television by Universal. It has received high praise from others, including author Lou Berney, who called it a ‘ferociously propulsive thriller’. Author Harlan Coben called the novel ‘authentic’ and ‘gripping’.

Nancy Allen also praised the book’s ability to ‘serve up thrills’ from the start to the end. Author Sean Doolittle referred to the story as a ‘fantastic’ thriller and lauded its ability to stand apart from the crowd. Author Nick Petrie also raved about the book, enjoying its ‘sly wit’ and ‘jaded authenticity’ and said that it was so good that he would gladly read ‘anything else’ the author cares to write.

The book was extremely popular and it wasn’t too long before the rights to it were landed by Universal Television, one of Universal Studio Group’s division. Universal gave a preemptive bid and has gotten Davis Entertainment to executive produce the adaptation. The Creative Acquisitions and IP Management Team of Usg was also part of the process of securing novel rights. The story of the adaptation will largely be kept the same, following along with former Detroit street cop Kurt Argento who has an itchy spot for injustice and has not only idealism but the fighting ability to back it up.

The Ascent is the first book in the Kurt Argento series from Adam Plantinga. If you love a good thriller and can’t resist a gripping story, then you should check out this tale from Plantinga and see what you think!

A high security prison fails, and when that happens, a cop and the daughter of a governor ultimately join forces to get out in this compelling story that readers will not be able to put down.

The main character of Kurt Argento has always been someone who doesn’t like to let injustice slide. The former Detroit street cop cannot do it, and he’s trained to be able to physically back up his beliefs. He’s a great fighter, and he’s not going to let people commit crimes in front of him and get away with it. If he sees something wrong being done, he’s going to step in to help and cause a lot of damage to the perpetrator in the process.

The only problem is that defending justice doesn’t always go according to plan. When he is in a small town in Missouri and sees a girl being pulled into an alley, he goes in immediately to rescue her. The only issue is that the town is severely corrupt, and he is beaten and put into prison for his troubles. Not a run of the mill, prison, either– a maximum security one.

This is obviously an overreaction, and Kurt is absolutely guilty of only being in the wrong place at the wrong time and doing what they deemed to be the wrong thing. However, Julie Wakefield is a graduate student and also the daughter of the governor. She’s about to tour the prison when the security system goes haywire and a lot of the prisoners are set free.

Just like that, the fight for survival starts. Kurt gets involved in the fray and ends up assisting a small civilian and staff group. This includes Julie as well as the two state troopers assigned to be with her, and they all try to get to the roof where they can be safe.

The only trouble is that there are six floors packed with dangerous prisoners, some of the most extreme in the state. Can they make it to the top, or is this ex-cop in over his head? Read this thriller to find out!

Hard Town is the second novel in the Kurt Argento series by author Adam Plantinga. A retired cop answers a call for help that will end up taking him to Fenton, Arizona, a small town in the desert.

Once he shows up, things immediately seem off. Things are not what they appear, and Kurt discovers that there are more secrets here than he would have expected.

Kurt was just happy to have made it through the prison break, and now he just wants to enjoy some peace and quiet. He is getting through his grief over his wife’s passing, and now is house sitting with his Chow Chow-Shepard Hudson for a friend. Argento is happy with his free-flowing life, where he gets different jobs as he goes.

However, his simple life is interrupted by the arrival of Kristin Reed and her son, Ethan. She asks Kurt to help her locate her missing husband, but Kurt turns her down. He thinks that he’s not an investigator anymore, just a handyman. However, something going wrong and letting it pass by him is not in his nature either, no matter how much he has tried to move on.

Kurt tries to get in touch with Kristin again, but then discovers that she and Ethan have gone missing. The ex-cop starts to look at the town more closely now, and starts to see that it is covering up a lot.

There’s the public safety team that has special tactics and weapons that are beyond sophisticated. There’s the American government boosting small businesses that are are about to fail. There’s also one man who doesn’t even have a name but appears to have an extension of unprecedented control over the town.

The more he looks, the more he finds. Kurt starts to find himself getting not to the bottom of everything but the conspiracy that has been covered up by an entire town. This place is going to take him to his limit. Will he be ready, and can he deliver justice? Read Hard Town to find out!