Reading order

Isaac Bell reading order

Clive Cussler

The Chase2007
The Wrecker2009
The Spy2010
The Race2011
The Thief2012
The Striker2013
The Bootlegger2014
The Assassin2015
The Gangster2016
The Cutthroat2017
The Titanic Secret2019

7.77.7 / 10
67 ratings
Score: 11 volumes
Volumes: 2007–2019
Published: about 90 h
Reading time: Completed
Status: Adventure
Genre

Thriller

Quick answer

Start withThe Chase2007 · Volume 1 of 11

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Publication order

11 volumes2007–2019Completed

Clive Cussler’s historical adventure thrillers, later co-written with Justin Scott, about Isaac Bell, the chief investigator of the Van Dorn Detective Agency in the early 1900s, a wealthy, elegant and relentless hunter of bank robbers, saboteurs and spies across America and beyond, with era trains, early aircraft and ships set pieces.
The Chase, the first, is the one with enough ratings.
Each case stands alone, but Bell’s life moves forward; read in order if you can.

A plan for the whole series

11 volumes, 4,938 pages, about 90 hours. At 45 min a day that is about 4 months.

Per day: 45 min

Stages

6 stages, with 5 short books from outside the series between them. You finish around March 19, 2027, 20 days later than in one go.

1
Stage 120 habout 4 weeksby November 25, 2026
- 1. The Chase2007 · 416 pages · 8 h
- 2. The Wrecker2009 · 696 pages · 13 h
Short breakThe Fire Next Time · James Baldwin · 120 pp. · score 8.82 h, by November 29, 2026. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
2
Stage 216 habout 3 weeksby December 21, 2026
- 3. The Spy2010 · 477 pages · 9 h
- 4. The Race2011 · 408 pages · 7 h
Short breakThe Emperor's Soul · Brandon Sanderson · 96 pp. · score 8.82 h, by December 24, 2026. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
3
Stage 314 h19 daysby January 12, 2027
- 5. The Thief2012 · 384 pages · 7 h
- 6. The Striker2013 · 378 pages · 7 h
Short breakOn Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century · Timothy Snyder · 128 pp. · score 8.42 h, by January 16, 2027. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
4
Stage 416 habout 3 weeksby February 6, 2027
- 7. The Bootlegger2014 · 448 pages · 8 h
- 8. The Assassin2015 · 418 pages · 8 h
Short breakAnimal Farm · George Orwell · 128 pp. · score 8.32 h, by February 10, 2027. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
5
Stage 516 habout 3 weeksby March 3, 2027
- 9. The Gangster2016 · 416 pages · 8 h
- 10. The Cutthroat2017 · 448 pages · 8 h
Short breakTo Be Taught, If Fortunate · Becky Chambers · 153 pp. · score 8.33 h, by March 8, 2027. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
6
Stage 68 h11 daysby March 19, 2027
- 11. The Titanic Secret2019 · ≈ 449 pages · 8 h
The end of the series
March 19, 2027

In one goFebruary 27, 2027about 4 months

In stages, with breaksMarch 19, 2027about 5 months · +11 h of other books

We count 1.1 min per page, the pace of an average novel reader. Faster? Move the slider.

≈ next to a page count: a volume with no page count in our data is counted at this series’s average.

How this plan is calculated

The plan comes from the pages and ratings of each volume: we split the series into stages of about three weeks’ reading, size each break to the stage before it, and read the chance of finishing from how many readers rate the last volume compared with the first. How we work out the plan →