November Man Books In Order

Publication Order of November Man Books

“November Man” is a series of international spy thrillers by Bill Granger, an author that made his name for writing some of the most explosive and popular police procedurals and spy thrillers. The first novel of the “November Man” series was the 1979 published “The November Man”. The novel went on to spawn a thirteen book series that culminated in “Burning Apostle” that came out in 1993. The seventh novel in the series “There Are No Spies” was made into a movie titled “The November Man” that starred Pierce Brosnan as Devereaux, the lead protagonist. Bill Granger the author of the series was a Chicago Newsman turned novelist that wrote police procedurals and spy thrillers that are set on the tough streets of Chicago. Bill usually wrote under his real name and sometimes as Bill Griffiths or Joe Gash. Since he started writing, he has published more than 25 novels that had a range of colorful characters such as Jesus X Mohammed, Tony Rolls, and Slim Dingo all of the Chicago suburbs.

Granger’s most known work was “Public Murders” published in 1980. The novel is about a serial rapist and killer whose work causes much political and public pressure on the detectives on the case. The novel was the 1981 winner of the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award. However, it was “The November Man” that came out a year earlier that had made his name as an author. It was especially popular in England, when the queen’s cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten was the target of an IRA bomb which eventually killed him. Granger always believed himself more of reporter than write,r given that he had spent much of four decades working for The Chicago Daily Herald, The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Sun-Times, and United Press International. As a reporter, he interviewed veterans of the Vietnam War My Lai massacre and the Northern Ireland sectarian violence. Granger suffered a stroke in 2000 and had to stop writing. His health deteriorated further until he died in 2002 of a heart attack. He left behind his wife Lori and one son.

The “November Man” series of novels star Devereaux ,a CIA agent code named November Man. Deveraux is an experienced agent who is working for the CIA’s R Section under Hanley. Devereaux does not get along with his boss and gets into several clashes with him over the course of the novels. He can afford to clash with his boss given that he is one of the most valuable agents in the team though his non willingness to suffer incompetents and fools causes a lot of friction. However, his clashes with his superiors always makes for some interesting reading especially when two other characters are introduced. Devereaux meets, clashes with, and gets into a romantic entanglement with Rita who then leaves only to reunite with him time and again. She is an individualistic, gutsy, and beautiful woman who makes going home worthwhile for Devereaux, who for the most part does not seem to acknowledge the fact. Another interesting character is Henry McGee who is arguably one of the best villains ever for a spy thriller series. We are not even sure if he is McGee or if he killed the man and taken up his identity, or pretended that he did. He is similar to Blofeld the criminal mastermind that James Bond had to face up to with his intelligence and large organization to back him up. The man is a genius when it comes to being a nuisance as he can turn a bright day into a cloudy one when he is targeting one of your loved ones. Like most villains of spy thriller protagonists he is not present in all the novels though he is one scary character when he does make an appearance. He humanizes Devereaux by showing his human side, as he often has a hard time stopping McGee but is always determined to continue to fight for the sake of decency and justice.

“The November Man” the first novel of the series is a novel grounded in firm reality of the 1970 world where human emotion and spy craft were all the rage for the spy thriller. Devereaux has just uncovered a plot that has been hatched against one of the royals. He stumbled upon the information while he was trying to make links with British Intelligence through a spy that he had made connections with during his time in England. He attempts to stamp out the plot while sidestepping double crosses, enemy spies, and murder, even as he comes to realize that his supposed colleagues and friends may not be who they seem. He needs to keep his wits about himself if he is to survive the tough intelligence world where even some members of his R Section want him dead. The novel builds to a thrilling and violent climax set on the Liverpool docks aboard a passenger hovercraft. Any character could be gone in an instant in a hair-raising and amazing climax that is the excellent introduction to the “November Man” series.

“Schism” the second novel of the series is one of the most unusual and original novels that you could ever read. The priest better known as Father Leo Tunney just came out of the Cambodian jungles and heads to Bangkok to the American embassy. Nobody has heard of him for the better part of two decades and so the CIA does not know what to do with him. He is thus held incommunicado before he is released after an order in Florida agrees to take him in. But suddenly the area is flooded with agents form a variety of international and American agencies ranging from the CIA, the Soviet Union, the Vatican and an unknown fourth group. One of the men that has moved into the area is R Section’s “The November Man”. Why are so many agents in one small area where an old forgotten priest just moved into? What could the man have to do with national security? But the old priest adds to the tension and intrigue when he lays hands on a twisted and bent woman curing her of scoliosis during an ordinary mass. It’s a suspenseful and intense novel that ups the ante over the course of the narrative in vivid even if spare action sequences.