Kent Harrington Books In Order

Publication Order of Michael O'Higgins Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Kent Harrington was born to a Guatemalan mother and an Irish-Jewish father and he is a fourth generation San Franciscan. He was educated at the Palo Alto Military Academy, where he was sent at a young age. Harrington attended San Francisco State University, receiving a degree in Spanish Literature.

He spent time living in both Latin America and Spain before coming back to the Bay Area and starting a career as a novelist. He worked as a factory worker, teacher, life insurance salesman, and carpenter to support himself.

His novel “Red Jungle” was picked as one of the “Ten Best Crime Novels” by Booklist.

His novels are noir thrillers. His first novel, “Dark Ride” was released in the year 1997.

“Dark Ride” is the first stand alone novel, which was released in the year 1997. Jimmy Rogers has everything he could ever want. A medical student, a golden boy, and the mayor’s son and heir to a family fortune. Jimmy would gladly throw it away for a woman named Eve, the woman of his dreams, but she marries an older guy, one that owns the town’s bank. Jimmy’s world crashes down around him when his father dies of a stroke.

Colonel Rogers, Jimmy’s dad, leaves both Jimmy and his mom nothing but a pile of debt and a legacy that reeks of corruption. Jimmy quits school, goes back, and gets a job at the bank that Phil Stack (Eve’s husband) owns. He quickly finds out that Phil’s wealth is from a profitable side gig in money-laundering. Phil convinces Jimmy to come into the game easily.

Eve is not done with Jimmy, however, as she seduces him once again. It is just a matter of time before Eve and Jimmy start planning a life with each other. This means getting Phil permanently out of the way. One rainy night on a mountain road, there is a car left on a dangerous curve. Phil is killed, as is a young lady that worked at the bank that Jimmy was dating.

It looks rather suspicious. Bank examiners are already wondering over what business Phil was actually in. while the net starts to close around Eve and Jimmy, they plan a final desperate act that could let them get away alive.

“Dia de Los Muertos” is the second stand alone novel, which was released in the year 1997. DEA Agent Vincent Calhoun’s luck has been great. He and his crooked judicale partner are making a lot of money coyoteing rich refugees and crooks into America from their posts in Tijuana.

On the Day of the Dead, a female gets off of a bus, and Calhoun’s luck suddenly heads south. A rolling nightmare of dengue fever, gambling debts, kinky sex, hot lead, and sins of the past catch up to Vincent in a brutal punch in the mouth of a story that is set in a moral gray area.

The book has a beautifully brutal ending, and this whole entire book is a fine piece of writing with dread, action, violence, and suspense. The book is a twisted and fast paced read that is recommended for readers of dark crime fiction.

“The American Boys” is the third stand alone novel, which was released in the year 2000. Alex Law is a guy that has a talent for fighting on the run and corrupting people. Career spy Alex Law staggers out of a cafe in Mexico, after being mocked by the younger CIA types who rely solely on their computers rather than front-line experience. He fights to keep his dignity intact. After spending two decades working in big cities all around the world, far from his patrician family and the banking fortune, he is pulled into a scary conspiracy near to home.

A pair of high-ranking CIA operatives get shot down in Langley, and Richard Claymore, who was supposed to be joining them, escapes for a short time before being killed. He is blamed for the first two being killed. Before dying, he precipitates a sequence of events that is going to make Alex the sole person that will be able to save the president’s life and stop the conspiracy.

While the stakes get higher, Helen (Alex’s estranged wife) and Michael (Alex’s son who has just secretly joined the CIA) are pawns in the conspiracy. The conspiracy involves some high-ranking security personnel that have sold out to the drug cartels.

“The Tattooed Muse” is the fourth stand alone novel, which was released in the year 2001. A writer’s group goes erratic after one of the members, who is a skateboarding and struggling writer, tries to kill someone and then commits suicide.

Michael, his master-of-the universe best friend and drives a Porsche and lives out in the country, has lent group members money. It makes them wonder if he is drawing attention away from some of the behind-the-scenes goings on.

“Red Jungle” is the fifth stand alone novel, which was released in the year 2004. Russell Cruz-Price is the kid of an elite family of a high society Guatemalan mom and an American dad. His mom was murdered when he was young, which was supposedly committed by communist insurgents. It cheated him of a normal childhood, and he now views the world as a hostile place.

He was educated at US military school and college, and he is now a financial reporter that is sent to Guatemala to cover a politically chaotic and an increasingly dangerous economy. Here the prices have been crashing, and any policies that Washington and IMF have mandated have not kept the country from being close to disaster.

While Russell is on assignment, he befriends Gustav Mahler, a young German archaeologist. He believes that a priceless treasure, a legendary lost piece called “Red Jaguar”, from Mayan antiquity can be dug up on one specific failing coffee plantation. The pair of men combine their resources and go into the jungle in search of wealth and fame. During the search for their fortune, Russell is going to gamble all he has in this game where not just his future is at stake, but the whole country of Guatemala, too.