Oliver Harris Books In Order

Publication Order of Elliot Kane Books

Publication Order of Nick Belsey Books

Oliver Harris is best known for writing a series of detective crime novels. His best known work is the Nick Belsey series of novels, the first of which was “Hollow Man” published in 2011.

If you are looking for the best escapist reading in detective crime, then there is no one currently better than Oliver Harris. Harris writes in a clean but breakneck speed that carries along the reader as he explores the city alongside the corrupt protagonist Nick Belsey. Nick the lead protagonist is the type of detective that does not play by the rules, though he is one of the best case detectives in the police force. What makes the Oliver Harris novels so great is the level of detail he gives to the reader about the city of London. He goes into such detail about the London underground including its storage depots, unused railway lines, weird deserted stations, and network of tunnels that were built with a mind to some secret Cold War objective. Even as dark, shadowy tunnels are not typical fodder for a crime detective series, Harris has done his research making for fascinating series set underneath the sidewalks of London. It just speaks to the excellence of the writer that at times it becomes almost impossible to distinguish between fact and fiction, when you become deeply immersed into the other worldly setting under the streets of London that he so masterfully constructs.

Nick Belsey may not give a damn about the chaos that he leaves behind, his job security or departmental procedures. But even as he may be a little crooked, he is incredibly clever and always seems to find a way to crack the most complex of cases. Harris creates an interesting protagonist in Nick by going against all conventional norms of what we would expect from a police detective. He sleeps with past offenders and fellow officers, takes pills, drinks, and often leaves a mess to be cleaned up by his superiors and colleagues. The novels are a tale of the mysterious disappearance of young women that the detective finds himself embroiled in. But what seems to be random disappearances are not random at all given that the detective has something to hide. Given his reputation and the fact that what he does is on the edge of what is unacceptable behavior and legal for a police officer, he often has to solve the cases on his own. This is borne of the necessity to save not only his own skin, but also that of victims that have been taken by unknown assailants hiding in London’s dark crevices. Working alone, he has to navigate the shadowy London’s literal underworld and the surrounding countryside to find assailants that have no interest in ever being found.

“The Hollow Man” is the first gritty and compelling novels featuring the cynical and amoral Nick Belsey, a London detective. But unconventional as he may be, Nick just like any detective is about the quest for justice and truth. As such, he knows he has hit rock bottom when he wakes up slightly drunk in a crashed squad car, devoid of his phone or wallet, and with a strange Masonic candlestick that he has no recollection of ever acquiring. Checking into the station to clear out his desk and retire from the force, an entry about a missing person with a Bishops Avenue address catches his eye. Alex Devereux is no ordinary man, as he was a wealthy man that lived alone on London’s richest street. He has left a suicide note and a Porsche in the garage. For Belsey, this is just what he needs, an opportunity to find the missing Man and redeem his tarnished name. But with so many people searching for the missing man, Belsey knows that this game could be over before it even starts. Soon he is proved right when the race to find the missing man and most importantly, get his fortune turns into a high stakes life and death gambit.

“Deep Shelter” the second novel in the Nick Belsey series is a white knuckle, gritty thriller that follows the adventure of the street-smart cynic, and unprincipled detective Nick Belsey. Once again, Nick finds himself in a whirlpool of danger, secrets, and mystery when a date he had taken to see an abandoned bomb shelter disappears in the shadowy labyrinths of secret tunnels. With a reputation such as his, he knows that reporting the disappearance would be a bad idea as he would be the prime suspect. Moreover, given that the date happens to be a previous offender he had collared, he is walking on the knife-edge of police ethics. He now has to find the girl without any official help and off the books, as it is not only her life that may be at stake, but his job too. Determined to find the mysterious enemy lurking in the abandoned tunnels, he rushes headlong into a dangerous game with a ruthless enemy, who thinks nothing of letting a woman die in the old Cold War era tunnels.