Medical book series in reading order

by Stephen White

Robin Cook

43 books• 4 series

Medical thrillers are Robin Cook's whole catalogue: physicians, forensic pathologists and medical examiners. Cook published The Year of the Intern in 1972 and Coma in 1977, and the run reaches 43 books with Bleed in 2026. Jack Stapleton and Laurie Montgomery lead the longest series, and Marissa Blumenthal and Pia Grazdani head shorter ones. The 1990s were the busiest decade, at 403 pages a book.

Sarah Morgan writes contemporary and medical romance, with 119 books catalogued from Expectant Bride (1999) to The Best Christmas Ever (2026). Physicians, nurses, billionaires and Italians are among the recorded subjects, and early titles include The Doctor's Engagement (2001), The Midwife's Child (2001) and The Greek Tycoon's Bride (2002). Series lines include From Manhattan With Love, Lakeside Mountain Rescue, Glenmore Island Doctors, Cornish Consultants, O'Neil Brothers and Miller Sisters.

Medical suspense is Michael Palmer's register, physicians, patients and hospitals, several of them in Boston. The Sisterhood (1982) opens a catalogue of 25 books that runs through Side Effects (1986), Extreme Measures (1991), Silent Treatment (1995) and Miracle Cure (1998) to The First Family in 2018. Dr. Lou Welcome heads the one series, and nothing later than 2018 is catalogued.

Patrick Taylor's Irish Country novels follow two doctors, Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly and Barry Laverty, in rural Northern Ireland. A second line, the Irish Troubles books, turns to political violence. Taylor's catalogue holds 23 titles, from The West Clare Railway (1994) to An Irish Country Yuletide (2021), with short stories and non-fiction alongside. No new Taylor title has appeared since 2021.

Tess Gerritsen

38 books• 6 series

Tess Gerritsen, born Terry Tom on June 12, 1953, is an American novelist who worked as a general physician before retiring from medicine. Gerritsen's 39 catalogued books start with Adventure's Mistress (1985) and continue through The Shadow Friends (2026), with The Italian Affair listed for 2028. Rizzoli & Isles is the recurring pairing named on the page, and Detective Jane Rizzoli appears in the subject tags. Other series are the Martini Club and the Tavistock Family. Subjects range across suspense, thrillers, medical fiction, women forensic scientists and romantic suspense.

F. Paul Wilson

102 books• 26 series

F. Paul Wilson (Francis Paul Wilson, born May 17, 1946) is an American author of horror, adventure, medical thrillers and science fiction, based in Wall, New Jersey. Repairman Jack is the recurring character of novels such as Ground Zero, The Tomb and Fatal Error, and a young adult series follows Jack as a teenager. The Adversary Cycle includes The Keep (1981). Healer (1976) is the first catalogued title. Wilson has won the Prometheus Award, the Bram Stoker Award, the Inkpot Award and the Horror Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award.

Medical mysteries define Leonard Goldberg's fiction. His 21 books run from Transplant (1980) to A Scandalous Affair (2025) and divide between two main sequences: the Joanna Blalock novels, which put a forensic pathologist into Los Angeles murder cases, and the Daughter of Sherlock Holmes Mysteries. Standalones and the Dr. David Ballineau and Carolyn Ross books fill out the catalogue, which is still growing.

C.J. Lyons writes medical thrillers and police procedurals. Lifelines (2008) opens 47 catalogued books that stop at Save Her Child (2021). Nine series divide the run, among them the Lucy Guardino FBI Thrillers, Angels of Mercy, Hart and Drake, Caitlyn Tierney FBI Thriller and Fatal Insomnia. Emergency medicine, nurses, women physicians and murder in Pittsburgh supply the material. No title has followed since 2021.

Amy Andrews is an Australian romance author with 99 books in the catalogue, from The Midwife's Miracle Baby (2005) to One Night with the Doctor (2026), and Rough and Ready announced for 2027. Andrews has written contemporary romance for Harlequin Mills & Boon, Entangled, Harper Collins, Momentum, Tule and Escape, with translations into thirteen languages. Andrews spent six years on the national executive of Romance Writers of Australia and served two years as its president. Subjects include medical romance, nurses and physicians. Series include Prognosis, Sydney Smoke Rugby, Outback Heat and Brisbane General Hospital.

Freida McFadden is the pen name of Sara Cohen, an American author born on May 1, 1980, who writes psychological thrillers. The catalogue lists 35 books from The Devil Wears Scrubs (2013) through The Witch (2026), with series including Housemaid, Dr. Jane McGill and Pick Your Poison Adventure. The Housemaid (2022) became an international bestseller, and a 2025 feature film adaptation stars Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney. Subjects attached to the books range from medical and humor to crime and suspense. McFadden is still publishing.

Gilbert Morris produced Christian historical fiction at length: 248 catalogued books between 1977 and 2014. The House of Winslow follows one family across American history; the Appomattox Saga and Bonnets & Bugles take up the Civil War; Cheney Duvall, M.D. follows a woman physician; the Seven Sleepers, Dixie Morris and Too Smart Jones series sit alongside, with children's fiction among the subjects. The catalogue opens with Race Against Time (1977), reaches Raina's Choice, and is listed as likely complete.

Betty Neels (15 September 1909 - 7 June 2001) was an English author of more than 134 romance novels, born in Leyton. Mills & Boon published the novels first in the United Kingdom, and Harlequin reprinted them in North America. Neels wrote from 1969 until death, and the books are noted for being especially chaste. The catalogue lists 140 books, including Nurse in Holland (1969), Sister Peters in Amsterdam (1969) and Tempestuous April (1970). Doctors, nurses, surgeons and the Netherlands recur in the subjects, and Dr Fforde is a named series.

James Patterson

510 books• 73 series

James Patterson, born on March 22, 1947, is an American writer whose catalogue here holds 514 books published from 1976 to 2027. The run opens with The Thomas Berryman Number (1976), and Along Came a Spider (1992) and Kiss the Girls (1995) follow later. Alex Cross, Michael Bennett, Maximum Ride, Daniel X, Witch & Wizard, NYPD Red, Private, Middle School and the Women's Murder Club are among the Patterson series, alongside standalone thrillers, non-fiction and romance. Marshall Karp shares the credit on 5 of the books. Patterson's sales exceed 425 million copies, and Patterson was the first person to sell one million e-books. Forbes ranked Patterson the highest-paid author in 2016, for a third year running, and the National Book Foundation gave Patterson the Literarian Award in November 2015. 27 Stars is scheduled for 2027.

Lisa Genova writes fiction about neurological illness and the people living with it. Alzheimer's disease, patients and memory head the subject list. Seven titles are catalogued: Still Alice (2007), Left Neglected (2011), Love Anthony (2012), Inside the O'Briens (2015), Every Note Played (2018), the non-fiction Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting (2021) and More or Less Maddy (2025).

Alan Gregory is a clinical psychologist in Boulder, Colorado, and every one of Stephen White's 20 catalogued books is built around him. Privileged Information (1991) opens the run and Compound Fractures (2013) closes it. Forensic psychology and psychological suspense supply the plots, through Private Practices, Higher Authority, Harm's Way, Remote Control and Cold Case.

Ben Bova

138 books• 17 series

Ben Bova, born Benjamin William Bova on November 8, 1932, was an American writer and editor whose career lasted 60 years; Bova died on November 29, 2020. As editor of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Bova won the Hugo Award six times, later served as editorial director of Omni, and was president of both the National Space Society and the Science Fiction Writers of America. The catalogue holds 138 books of science fiction and science fact, from The Star Conquerors (1959) to Pluto (2025). Non-fiction such as The Milky Way Galaxy (1961) sits beside series including Grand Tour, Orion, Kinsman, Sam Gunn, Jake Ross and the Star Quest Trilogy. Subjects name space opera, lunar bases, space stations and space colonies.

Hannah Alexander is the shared pseudonym of Cheryl and Mel Hodde, a married Christian writing team who blended their two names into one. Mel Hodde is a physician, and the pair specialise in medical romantic suspense. The catalogue lists 33 books from Hideaway (1990) to Ashes Over Yellowstone (2025). Hideaway, Missouri, Hallowed Halls, Healing Touch and Sacred Trust are the series. Subjects include emergency physicians, women physicians, hospitals and inspirational romance.

Ben Mezrich

26 books• 6 series

Ben Mezrich, born February 7, 1969, is an American author whose nonfiction books The Accidental Billionaires and The Antisocial Network became the films The Social Network and Dumb Money. Some Mezrich books appeared under the pen name Holden Scott. The catalogue lists 26 books, starting with Threshold (1996), Reaper (1997) and Skin (1998), and including Bringing Down the House (2002), Busting Vegas (2008) and The Accidental Billionaires (2009). Gambling, cardsharping and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are recorded subjects, alongside medical thrillers. Series include the Charlie Numbers Adventures and the Seven Wonders Trilogy, and Checkmate (2026) is the newest title.

Hospitals supply the setting for Candace Calvert's fiction. Her 10 books are Christian romance with medical and suspense plots, following nurses, physicians, police officers and firefighters through emergencies. Three series divide them: Mercy Hospital, Grace Medical and Crisis Team. Critical Care (2009) opens the catalogue and Maybe It's You (2017) closes it, with nothing added since 2017.

Marie Ferrarella is an American romance writer, born Marie Rydzynski in Germany on 28 March 1948. Ferrarella has also written as Marie Nicole, Marie Michael and Marie Charles, and the novels have been translated into at least seven languages. The catalogue lists 328 books from 1983 to 2024, beginning with Scenes from the Heart, issued as Marie Charles. Series include Cavanaugh Justice, Matchmaking Mamas, Forever Texas, Baby of the Month Club and ChildFinders, Inc. Subjects include contemporary, western and suspense romance, police, physicians, single fathers and single mothers. Cavanaugh Justice: Cold Case Squad (2024) is the newest title.

Daniel Kalla is a Canadian physician and novelist who writes medical thrillers and historical fiction. Born in Vancouver in 1966, Kalla studied mathematics and then medicine at the University of British Columbia, took a screenwriting course at Simon Fraser University, and served as director of Emergency Medicine at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver. His father and grandfather practised medicine before him, and his grandfather left Czechoslovakia weeks before the Nazi annexation of 1939. Sixteen catalogued books run from Pandemic (2005) to The Deepest Fake (2025), the Adler Family and Dr. Noah Haldane series among them.