Jack King Books In Order

Publication Order of Detective Cliff Husto Books

Publication Order of Time Rider Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Jack King
Jack King was born in Tennessee to a military family, and he crisscrossed the country multiple times while growing up. He’s twice lived on the east and west coasts, and in many states in between.

After he obtained graduate degrees in history and business, he started a successful career in marketing and sales working for mid-sized, start up, and Fortune 500 firms along the way.

“Wildertrek” is the first novel in the “Time Rider” series and was released in 2014. TJ is an ordinary fourteen year old with extraordinary issues at school and home. Broken family over his parents’ bitter divorce, evil bullies that attack him just about every afternoon, failing grades despite being a brilliant kid, snobby girls, boring classes, mean teachers, getting cut from basketball tryouts, and very few friends. Life is rough for TJ Cockrell.

This mysterious green book inexplicably throws him into the past. Not just any past, however the untamed forbidding forests of 1802 eastern Tennessee, with wild beasts, backwoods ruffians, savage Indians, bloodthirsty robbers, odd characters galore, and a rugged log cabin life. Certainly not present day Knoxville, Tennessee any longer.

TJ had thought his present life had been bad news, however his adventures have merely begun. Along the way, he battles braves, bandits, and killer beasts, meets a cocky teenaged David Crockett, gains this world of assurance in himself, finds his very first real love, and gets befriended by this fantastic frontier family that has it all together.

Then he returns to the present day a changed man; shrewd, emboldened, and forthright. He will need all of this newfound strengths, however in order to set things right in his screwed up real world.

“Game for the Middle Kingdom” is the first stand alone novel and was released in 2014. A heavenly bounce.

Long before Jordan. Before Yao. Before Bird, Wilt, or Cousy. Before either the CBA or the NBA. Well before Dr. Sun or Mao rose to prominence even, it’d taken root already. Rapidly growing in popularity, winning converts everywhere, and spreading all across the vast reaches of this giant but crumbling empire.

China’s enduring and ever growing love affair with basketball first started with just a little help from above. And from overseas.

An adventure saga that is filled with temptations, delayed true romance, heartbreak, dangers, and selfless mission, this is unlike any other story you’ve ever read.

“Beyond Blood” is the first novel in the “Detective Cliff Husto” series and was released in 2019. Detective Cliff Husto investigates the deaths of this well respected couple in Houston, with the meager evidence just points to a murder/suicide that was fueled by jealous rage. However Cliff’s instincts tell him otherwise.

He had just stumbled across the invisible trail of this fiendishly clever mass murderer. It’s a homicidal maniac that doesn’t leave any physical trace and zero hint at a possible motive. While several employees of Mathis & Oliver, the iconic advertising agency, suddenly start piling up dead, Cliff starts this tangled cross country search which ultimately leads him to this terribly depraved family history, and this gruesomely executed present.

However time is running out to catch this Madman. Because Cliff, his wonderful wife, their two young songs, and Reagan (their Irish setter) are the next ones on this killer’s agenda.

“Against Blood” is the second novel in the “Detective Cliff Husto” series and was released in 2020. Houston’s currently falling apart. Crazed neo-fascist cults, gang violence in the streets, and violent mischief abound, steeping the Texas city in bedlam and chaos. And to make things worse, twisted half-truths and mounting conspiracies behind closed doors threaten to set the absolute worst against one another in this all-out city-wide war for vengeance and power. While tension mounts and some lethal plans are made, Cliff Husto (HPD senior officer) reluctantly gets drawn into this fray.

However once what he believes are merely minnows in a world of crime devolve into a series of inexplicably clean murders of some military personnel, Cliff’s faced with his most baffling case to date. The detective has to now unravel the web of vendettas and conspiracies that entangle Desert Storm veterans that suffer from PTSD, hard-line and racist American nationalists, and this group of Islamic college students on the path to radicalization. Cliff has to extinguish the rapidly spreading criminal wildfire that’s tearing its way through the city’s streets before time runs out.

“False Blood” is the third novel in the “Detective Cliff Husto” series and was released in 2022. Husto has faced the seemingly unsolvable and most baffling case of his twenty year career.

The deliberate arson of this well known saddlery and equestrian outfitter’s store. This series of perplexing murders, including that of this suspected terrorist. A kidnapping of this innocent young girl. And the wanton slaying of Cappuccino, her gorgeous mare.

Let’s not forget about the apparent planned assassination of his good friend, Narcotics Detective Lieutenant Nandy Perez. Could there be a turf war going on? Or something much more secretive? These incidents each seemed to be heading in the same lethal direction.

“Vile Blood” is the fourth novel in the “Detective Cliff Husto” series and was released in 2023. 1980. The gristly remains of a young girl, with her big toe cut off, shocked the city of Houston. “MBT Jane Doe” would go on to become a notorious cold case, with the victim and perpetrator’s identities remaining a mystery.

Decades later, and this string of murders with some striking similarities to the MBT case begin surfacing. Detective Cliff Husto, who is now captain, has to delve deep into the darker corners of Houston’s seedy underbelly and the exclusive world of the city’s elite in order to uncover the truth.

While Husto follows this twisted trail of clues, he finds he’s navigating a putrid labyrinth of petty criminals, murderers, ruthless politicians, and pedophiles. With the stakes higher than ever before, he races against the clock in order to bring this slayer to justice and end the reign of terror forever.

Jack King weaves a crime story which will keep the reader on the edge of their seats. This is the latest heart pounding installment in the series, taking us through the shadowy world of serial killers and the ceaseless efforts of those that work tirelessly to bring them to justice.