Bill Hodges & Holly Gibney
crime thriller
Series · crime thriller
Jack Caffery
The Jack Caffery series by Mo Hayder has 7 books and is best read in publication order, starting with Birdman (2000).
- Books
- 7 books
- First published
- 2000
- Status
- deceased
- Last checked
Start here: Birdman (2000) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
Birdman
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Birdman - Book 2:
The Treatment
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Treatment - Book 3:
Ritual
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Ritual - Book 4:
Skin
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Skin - Book 5:
Gone
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Gone - Book 6:
Poppet
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Poppet - Book 7:
Wolf
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Wolf
About the Jack Caffery series
Detective Inspector Jack Caffery works Bristol's Major Crimes Investigation Unit, but the series opener Birdman (1999/2000) makes clear from its first pages that Mo Hayder's crime fiction sits at the extreme end of the genre: forensically graphic, willing to follow serial killers, torturers, and traffickers into territory most British crime writers avoid, and unflinching about the psychological cost to the investigators who chase them. Caffery himself carries a private wound throughout the series -- his brother Ewan's unsolved childhood disappearance, and Caffery's decades-long, increasingly compromising obsession with the man he believes responsible, his neighbour Ivan Penderecki.
The series takes a long publication gap between book two (2001) and book three (2008), and moves with Caffery from Bristol's murder squad into River Police work in its second half, but keeps returning to the same signature territory: extreme body horror, exploitation, and characters pushed past what most crime fiction is willing to show. Gone (2010) won Hayder the Edgar Award for Best Novel. Wolf (2014) is the series' final book, published seven years before Hayder's death.
Frequently asked questions
How many Jack Caffery books are there?
Seven, published 2000-2014: Birdman, The Treatment, Ritual, Skin, Gone, Poppet, and Wolf.
Is the Jack Caffery series finished?
It ends with Wolf (2014); Mo Hayder died in 2021 without publishing a further Caffery novel, so the series is closed but was not deliberately concluded.
Did any Jack Caffery novel win an award?
Yes -- Gone (2010) won the 2012 Edgar Award for Best Novel from the Mystery Writers of America.
Are Mo Hayder's books graphic?
Yes -- the series is known even within crime fiction for extreme, unflinching violence and body horror; it is not a cozy procedural.
If you like the Jack Caffery series
Reading order last verified .