James Rouch Books In Order

Publication Order of WWII Collection Books

Publication Order of The Zone Books

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

James Rouch is a popular British novelist of science fiction, alternate history, war, thriller, and espionage stories. He is particularly famous for writing the Zone series and the WWII Collection series. In addition to these successful series, Rouch has also penned a nonfiction book under the title of ‘Chemical Warfare’. Rouch is famous for authoring fictional novels revolving around wars. A notable feature of his books is the ‘Zone’, a fictional battleground located in central Europe at the time of the Third World War. He wrote the first of these in 1980 and published it under the name of Hard Target. So far, he has successfully published 10 books in this series. Before beginning his work on the WWIII’s Zone series, Rouch wrote and published 3 books based on the WWII, all of which were released in 1979.

In addition to writing novels, author Rouch is involved in the field of literature with a few other commitments. He is a founding member of a service of literary advice called Author Management. It was originally started as a service to provide literary agents to new writers. But, it has now become a literary & manuscript advisory company that provides authors with assistance and advice about ways to polish their writing skills and survive in the publishing industry. The company experienced this change due to a tragic accident which caused author Rouch a leg amputation. As a result, he could not travel as much as he could when he was a literary agent and had started the company. Currently, Rouch lives in Bournemouth, a south coast convention and resort city in the United Kingdom.

Rouch says that he has been working as a full-time writer for more than 30 years. In all, 14 books have been published under his name during that period. His World War II novels take place in Northern France, North Africa, and Monte Cassino, Italy, starting from the breakout in Normandy. This series was published in the USA and the UK by well-known publishers. There have been multiple reprints of each of the three books of this series and the translation rights have been sold to several countries, including Spain. The next series penned by Rouch also has the theme of war. But, it is set in the near future having alternate history. Rouch has depicted that the Berlin Wall didn’t fall and there was a meltdown suffered by the cold war. This caused an implosion of war throughout Europe and resulting in a vast area of land without any trace of humans, called The Zone.

The Zone series written by author James Rouch is comprised of a total of 10 books released between 1980 and 2007. This alternate history takes its name from a wide strip of land with no living humans in East and West Germany, where biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons have been used by the fighting sides, thereby causing huge destruction of life and property. The contaminated no-mans-land and wasteland region is known as ‘The Zone’. Author Rouch has mentioned the primary characters in this series in the roles of Major Revell, Sergeant Hyde, and a few others. Hyde is depicted as a British national, while Revell is shown as an American citizen. They join NATO and carry out missions in The Zone as per the commands of their higher authorities. The debut book of the series is entitled ‘Hard Target’. It was released in 1980 by the Zebra publication.

The book opens by showing that Western Europe’s no-mans region called The Zone is considered a hellish strip of land. It is packed with super tanks fitted with lethal chemicals, fierce missiles, and tactical nuclear weapons. With such sophisticated weapons roaming freely in the germ-infested terrain, the stakes are too high and death is expected to a bloodier form than ever. If a war breaks out in the volatile environment of the Zone, it would result in great losses for all the parties concerned. So, NATO is asked to send its most trusted agents in The Zone to destroy all the sophisticated weapons and render them useless.

Two of their best agents, American Major Revell and British Sergeant Hyde are ordered to take up this mission with the determination to win. Just like all the other members of NATO, Hyde and Revell are also known to be mavericks and misfits. They are the best the free world can offer. The first step of their mission is to destroy a tank salvage unit of the Soviet located next to a refugee camp. This task seems to be an impossible one as there are too many risks involved. But, Revell and Hyde make up their mind to move ahead anyhow as they are known to indulge in the impossible missions quite often. It is expected of them to do what others are unable to do and move on to the next step of the mission.

The second volume of this series is known as ‘Blind Fire’. It was also published by the Zebra publication in 1985. Initially, it is mentioned that the death-filled region called The Zone keeps growing larger every day. The Soviet Union fills the entire German countryside with its quad-barrelled flak-weapons and T84s that spew tactical nuclear weapons, missiles, and lethal chemicals. Consequently, the whole region has turned into a living hell. Shortly after, The Third Batlle begins in Frankfurt in a savage frenzy of fire and blood. It is an outcome of the superpowers trying to take control of the entire Western Europe with the use of super-weapons. Once again, Revell and Hyde are ordered to carry out an important task for the NATO strike force. They are asked to cause a Communist column’s delay.

Revell thinks that it is a suicide mission as risking the lives of his dedicated men only to buy a few minutes is too much to ask for. So, he decides to take the mission one step higher and destroy the column. Battling against anti-aircraft tanks with several Dragon rocket launchers and a few outdated mines is not something a wise would do. But, Revell still moves ahead with his intention of destroying the column because he is of the opinion that insanity is the only way to live in the middle of chaos and carnage.