James Hankins Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

James Hankins is a bestselling American author of Thriller, Mystery and Suspense books famous for his standalone books The Prettiest One and Brothers and Bones which became Amazon number one bestsellers. Brothers and Bones received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly and were listed as the Best Books of 2013.

Hankins wrote screenplays in Hollywood and later became lawyers and wrote books at night. Now he’s a fulltime writer, writes books while his kids are at school and night when they go to sleep.

Brother and Bones

Brother and Bones introduce us to Charlie Beckham an assistant U.S Attorney thrown into a loop when a madman on a subway addresses him by a nickname is only known to one person in this world- his brother Jake who vanished over ten years ago and has since been presumed dead.

Charlie searches Boston’s back streets for the elusive drifter and finds a Bon, a man suffering from amnesia with the grooming of a Sasquatch, severe mental instability and the fighting skills of a Navy Seal and soon Charlie’s life comes down crumbling.

Charlie blows the most significant case of his professional career, a partner, Angel’s body is found in his apartment, and soon he finds himself on the run from the authorities with Bonz as his only alliance. To get out of this mess alive, the pair must solve a complex mystery- one that joins together Bonz foggy past, Jake’s fate and a missing audiotape. Some villainous guys also hunt the couple, and one of the bad guys is hammering nails to people’s heads.
James Hankin’s clever adventure contrasts two, unlike characters. The first being Charlie whose well-organized life comes crumbling down into theft and paranoia and Bonz who works towards practicing better hygiene and forming coherent sentences. The two finally settle into a fascinating dynamic as their status equalizes with Charlie’s strict legalism finally paying Bonz’s practicality and unself-conscious violence.

Hankin’s surrounds his main character with a crack jack cast of weaselly lowlifes, beady-eyed feds and bristling thugs and he ties all these together with well-crafted dialogue, action scenes, and mordant humor poised beautifully between chaos and menace.

The Prettiest One

The Prettiest One introduces us to Caitlin Sommers- a real estate agent who has no recollection of date, time or where she is. She only recalls going to a local store and purchasing something yellow- but she wakes up in a strange place and can’t seem to remember how she arrived. She gets in a mysterious car and begins driving not knowing where she’s going, but fortunately, she manages to navigate her way to Bristol.

When Caitlin arrives home, her husband Josh is happy to see her for she has been missing for seven months. Josh is shocked that his wife returns home wearing different clothes and with red hair rather than blonde. Caitlin has also lost weight, and she has no clue where she’s been for the last seven months.
With no recollection at all, Caitlin is unaware that people suspected her husband of foul play since the cops were unable to locate her whereabouts. Everyone was desperately searching for her; she’s got blood on her clothes but doesn’t seem to be hurt.

Since she’s exhausted, Caitlin goes to bed, and they await the next day to search for answers and figure out everything. They agree that she will go back how she came and see if she can remember anything that could help them solve the mystery of where she’s been for the last seven months.

However, when they get back to the car, they find a gun, a gun, and prosthetic hands. She and her husband decide not to report the matter to the cops, and they resolve to find the answers first before the cops. In a desperate search to find the truth, they discover that Caitlin used a pseudonym and was living with a man named Bix in Massachusetts. She had a job and was living an entirely different life and now cannot remember who Bix is or where he is.

The three of them, (Bix, Josh, and Caitlin) embark on an epic journey, one that’s related to a perilous past. However, soon they find themselves entangled in the midst of a crime; murder and an evil scheme from years ago collide with the present.

Why would Caitlin move to another town and live a normal life with another man and be unable to remember that life? People have been killed, and they are led to basement fight clubs and uneven bars, and it seems Caitlin was a regular customer. What was she doing in such places? Can Bix and Josh solve the mystery of this woman?

The more internet searches Josh conducts, the more he discovers that his wife may have a dissociate fugue disorder. This condition can be triggered by extreme trauma or stress, and it can last for a few minutes, days or years.

As more layers of the mystery are slowly peeled away, more hidden barbarous acts are unraveled and the detective assigned to the case is clueless. Then there’s a murder, warehouse shooting, fingerprints, redhead, and long ago abduction. How are all these events related?

One thing you’ll appreciate about James Hankins is how he crafts his books. Each book he’s authored is creative, unique and different and The Prettiest One is not an exception. The story will hook you from the start to the last page keeping you in suspense never knowing what comes next. The author does a superb job with the emotion, wit, humor, intensity and the exasperation of both Josh and Bix in this love triangle mystery. How they stick together for a greater and better cause, help each other find the murderer and protect Catlin becomes the strongest part of The Prettiest One. For thriller fans, the strongest part of this thriller book is the abduction of three girls many years ago, the barbarous man and the family that’s involved in the present story.