Victoria Emerson Books In Order

Publication Order of Victoria Emerson Books

Victoria Emerson series by John Gilstrap
John Gilstrap writes the “Victoria Emerson” series of thriller novels, with each novel being named with a color in the title and each referring to a code phrase integral to the plot of that novel. The books are set after America’s fall.

Victoria Emerson, a West Virginia Congresswoman, is the nation’s last hope after the fall. She’s had Luke and Caleb, her sons, prepared that something like nuclear war for all of their lives.

“Crimson Phoenix” is the first novel in the “Victoria Emerson” series and was released in 2021. With America being brought to the brink of destruction, just one woman becomes the final hope of a nation and all of its people.

Victoria is a congressional member of the US House of Representatives for the state of West Virginia. Her aspirations have always been to help her community and avoid the ambitious power plays of her peers in Washington DC. But then Major Joseph McCrea shows up on her doorstep and uses the code phrase Crimson Phoenix, which means this isn’t some drill. The United States is currently on the brink of a nuclear war. She is forced to accompany McCrea to this secure bunker. And she’s not allowed to bring along her family.

Victoria, a single mom, refuses to just abandon her three teen sons. Denied entry to the bunker, they nevertheless survive the nuclear onslaught which devastates the entire country. Now, the land’s almost uninhabitable. Electronics have been rendered useless. Food is now scarce. Millions of ailing and scared people await aid from a government that’s unable to regroup, much less organize some sort of rescue out of all this chaos.

Victoria devotes herself to reestablishing some sort of order, just to encounter the harsh realities required of a leader that is dealing with desperate people.

This is a gripping page turner, with an explosive story which keeps your pulse racing and your mind churning. Do not miss this powerful new series from a master of a thriller author. Not only does the novel raise a lot of concern over how to survive and protect your family through a situation like this, but it is a whole lot more than that. It also raises a bunch of questions about political infighting, cooperation, justice, leadership, desperation, and having to deal with losing all of the electronics that we rely on, and so very much more.

John brings such a strong sense of place and time to the events of this novel. You really feel as though he’s transported you to West Virginia and are living through the events too. This novel is fast paced, action oriented, riveting, and much too scary to even think about.

“Blue Fire” is the second novel in the “Victoria Emerson” series and was released in 2022. In the wake of this global conflict which has devastated America, those that survived live in a world without either governance or technology. They look to a single mom and former West Virginia Congresswoman to protect and lead those determined to rebuild everything they’ve lost.

They call it Hell Day, which is a world war that lasted under twenty-four hours. Nations unleashed weapons which destroyed over a century’s worth of technology. Electrical grids can’t generate power now. Computers and communications can’t run. And the remnants of the US government can’t be depended upon. Those that survived have to live like their ancestors before them did: off of a land that was ruled by nature’s whims.

Victoria is now the leader of Ortho, West Virginia, a small town. She’s been struggling to provide shelter and food for the inhabitants of the town, while also coping with some desperate refugees. One calm autumn morning is ruined when her teen son sounds the alarm with the cry “Blue Fire”: which is the code phrase for imminent danger.

One group of National Guardsmen intends on taking Ortho and all of its resources for themselves. They’ve got the firepower and soldiers to eliminate anybody that dares stop them. However Victoria swore this oath to protect and defend her people and she’s not about to surrender. It is about time she tap into the traditional American values of ingenuity, bravery, and determination, and fight fire with fire.

John Gilstrap delivers another well paced and well told story. The novel is extremely entertaining and simply impossible to put down. He does a fantastic job with the characters and the setting, as well as putting them into some sticky situations to get out of to illustrate how you’d actually do so realistically if you were in a similar situation. He asks some important questions of what it’d be like to rebuild a functioning society and what rules they should even live by.

“White Smoke” is the third novel in the “Victoria Emerson” series and was released in 2023. One woman is forced to lead, and protect, a community of survivors that are determined to rebuild all that they’ve lost in the wake of this global conflict which has left America ravaged.

Victoria Emerson, a one-time congressional representative, has gotten this request from the deposed president of America: come the bunker at Hilltop Manor, where the remnants of the US government have been imprisoned. One ruthless group has seized power, leaving these civilians to die of untreated injuries and starvation. Roger Parsons, the self-appointed leader, plans on punishing the former rulers for thrusting the entire country into Hell Day, the devastating war which changed the whole world in a matter of just hours.

Victoria’s reluctant to leave Ortho, the West Virginia town that she has defended and developed. However as a born leader, she feels the call of duty. Forging her way through this landscape that is terrorized by desperate scavengers and local warlords, she shows up at Hilltop Manor and finds a powder keg of battling factions.

The lofty ideals on which the Republic was founded and the values which held society together have just devolved into anarchy. Calling upon her deepest personal resources and her unwavering convictions, Victoria has to somehow return the rule of law to a society where many of the old laws and rules do not matter any longer.