Gabriel Cohen Books In Order

Publication Order of Detective Jack Leightner Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Gabriel Cohen is one of the reputed authors from America, who is famous for writing nonfiction, detective fiction, and mystery books. He is particularly well known for writing the Jack Leightner series of novels. The debut book of author Cohen was nominated for the popular Edgar Award in the category of the Best Debut Novel. It is called as Red Hook. Besides this, some of the other standalone novels written by Cohen include The Graving Dock, Neptune Avenue, The Ninth Step, Boombox, as many others as well. Author Cohen had the opportunity to write for a number of literary magazines such as the Time Out New York, Poets and Writers, New York Times, Shambhala Sun, New York Post, and Gourmet.in. In addition to writing novels, he is also involved in teaching Writing Program at the Pratt Institute. Author Cohen has also taught the art of writing at the University of New York. He has even been involved in working as a staff writer and giving lectures extensively for the newspaper called New Heaven Advocate. Author Cohen is one of the founders and coordinators of the reading series called Sundays at Sunny’s. As a teacher, he was also associated with the Kripalu Yoga Health Center and Omega Institute. Cohen was invited as a guest speaker on board the famous ocean liner, the Queen Mary II. Author Cohen was born in Brooklyn, New York, the US. He still resides in Brooklyn. Cohen went through a difficult time in his life when his wife left him and gave him a divorce. He was very devastated because of the destruction of his marriage and did not know what to do. Then, he decided to write a book on divorce and its effects on human lives. The book did a great business and became extremely successful. This success gave author Cohen a purpose in life and a reason to live. Since then, he has never looked back and enjoys his successful writing career.

Author Cohen started writing in the year 2001, and released his first detective novel in the same year. After that, he went through a dry spell of 6 years. Then suddenly, Cohen landed three book deals from 3 different publishers, and based on 3 different genres. He wrote all the books successfully and they reached the shelves in the same year within a small time gap from one another. These book deals helped author Cohen to get his writing career back on track once again. After being born in Brooklyn, author Cohen got a chance to live in different places such as Rio de Janeiro and Afghanistan. When he was a small boy, Cohen’s father had moved to these places to help in the training of elementary school teachers. Finally, Cohen’s family settled in Washington. Initially, Cohen studied at the Wesleyan University, located in Connecticut. Around the same time, he also had small stints with a weekly newspaper and a musical band. After a few years, author Cohen shifted to New York in search of employment. Finally, he ended up reaching Boerum Hill on the Wyckoff Street, where he lives permanently now. In 1991, Cohen was trying his hand at writing a novel when he came across a teenager who used to play gangsta rap in the locality. In spite of numerous complaints the teenager and his mother would not listen. When some time passed, Cohen thought of using this incident to develop a book. He took the real situation and added some fictitious characters to it, finally creating his popular novel entitled Boombox. However, Cohen did not sell the novel to any publisher as he got busy in writing a crime story. Eventually, Red Hook was completed and published before Boombox. Nowadays, Cohen invited the famous writers of New York for monthly book reading of their essays and books through his literary effort started in the year 2002. After his wife left Cohen, he says her only once again, at the office of her lawyer. Cohen has stated that if his ex-wife gets a chance to read his book based on divorce, he hopes that she does not think of it as if she is to be blamed for whatever went wrong between them.

The Jack Leightner series written by Gabriel Cohen is comprised of a total of 4 books, which were released between the years 2001 and 2010. Each and every book of this series features the chief protagonist as Jack Leightmer, who works as a detective in the New York Police Department. An initially written book of this series is titled as ‘Red Hook’. At the start of the book, Jack sees a dead man stabbed brutally. He had seen numerous deaths before, but this one made him feel restless. Jack is not able to understand why he has become obsessed with the low priority case. The investigation of the murder case takes Jack Leightner to a place where he does not want to be, and this jeopardizes both his life and career. In the Red Hook neighborhood, Jack remembers the days of a troubled childhood and also comes across a devastating secret. The estranged son of Jack, named Ben, is also compelled by the place because of its fascinating history. He wishes to make a documentary about the place. The drug dealers and dockworker dwell in the place, including Joey Gallo and Al Capone. Being a documentary maker, Ben wants to know why the well known waterfront has turned into a ruin. He also wants to establish its relation with his family’s destruction. Jack knows that he must seek his redemption and solve the mystery. The book served as a crime novel as well as a sympathetic exploration of human nature’s mysteries, and the blessings and curses of family.

Neptune Avenue is another mind blowing book that author Cohen wrote as a part of this series. The Minotaur publishers released it in 2009. The opening sequence of the story shows that Jack Leighner hears about the killing of a Russian friend on the Neptune Avenue. As he begins to investigate, he gets increasingly attracted towards the stunning widow of the man, named Eugenia. Through her, Jack learns about the troubles that his friend had with a nightclub operator named Semyon Balakutis. Jack also comes to know that Semyon practices extortion. Meanwhile, another case comes to his notice about a mysterious man, who kills young women living in the central parts of Brooklyn and makes them look like suicides. These two difficult cases make Jack dig deeper to find out why people act in an angry mood and end up committing brutal crimes. The investigations take him from Brighton Beach’s emigre community to the racial neighborhood of the Crime Heights, and from the Second World War crimes to his own dad’s harshness. In the end, the book turns out to be a riveting mystery comprising of excellent characters and a thrilling story.

One Response to “Gabriel Cohen”

1. tomconstans: 9 months ago

   The 9th Step, book 4, left me hanging with loose threads. I would like to read one more book in the series to tie things up.

   Reply