Henry Porter Books in Order (Robert Harland series, Paul Samson series)
All of Henry Porter’s Books in Order!
Who is Henry Porter?
Henry Porter is an award-winning English author, but also a journalist and an activist. He is known for his campaigning work on civil liberties at the Observer where he is a regular columnist, and he was the British editor of Vanity Fair for 25 years.
As a writer, Henry Porter is celebrated for his thrillers–he won the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for his novel Brandenburg, and was also shortlisted for the same awards with two other books: Empire State and the Dying Light.
Porter wrote standalone books, but also the Robert Harland series and the Paul Samson series. If you like his work, you could also take a look at Mick Herron’s books.
How to Read Henry Porter Books in Order?
The Robert Harland Series
- A Spy’s Life (2001)
- Empire State (2003)
- Brandenburg (2005)
What is the plot of the Robert Harland trilogy?
For more information about the books in the Robert Harland series by Henry Porter, you’ll find below the official synopsis for all the books:
A Spy’s Life – Robert Harland ended his career as a British spy in an Austrian hospital, after being tortured and beaten by Czech security agents in the last days of the communist regime. He was young enough then to find a new life with the Red Cross and then with the UN. Twelve years later his UN plane crashes in mysterious circumstances at La Guardia airport, New York and Harland is the only survivor. Was it sabotage and, if so, was Harland the target?
Empire State – The head of the US National Security Agency is assassinated in spectacular fashion at Heathrow. An airport employee and his family are found murdered in their council house in Uxbridge. In New York, a fashionable Upper East Side osteopath receives two postcards showing the Empire State Building. A group of migrant workers are brutally gunned down in Macedonia. The quest to find the link between these apparently random events is pursued by Robert Harland – drawn back to a world he thought he’d left behind – with a dual role for the UN and MI6.
Brandenburg (aka Brandenburg Gate) – The Stasi was among the most sophisticated intelligence organizations in the world, but by the end of the 1980s the Orwellian state of East Germany was collapsing around it. In the last few paranoid weeks of the Communist world, one man will carry out one last desperate mission under the very noses of the Stasi. Dr. Rudolf Rosenharte is an academic from Dresden and an agent for MI6; his controller is Robert Harland. When Rosenharte’s security is compromised he is faced with a stark choice: to defect to the West, leaving his beloved family to the mercies of the Stasi, or return to East Germany to carry out the most dangerous assignment of his career. November 1989 will mean the end of communism. But will it mean the end of Rosenharte?
The Paul Samson Series
- Firefly (2018)
- White Hot Silence (2019)
- The Old Enemy (2021)
What is the plot of the Paul Samson trilogy?
For more information about the books in the Paul Samson series by Henry Porter, you’ll find below the official synopsis for all the books:
Firefly – From the refugee camps of Greece to the mountains of Macedonia, a thirteen-year-old boy is making his way to Germany and safety. Codenamed ‘Firefly’, he holds vital intelligence: unparalleled insight into a vicious ISIS terror cell, and details of their plans. But the terrorists are hot on his trail, determined he won’t live to pass on the information. When MI6 becomes aware of Firefly and what he knows, the race is on to find him. Paul Samson, the ex-MI6 agent and now private eye, finds himself recruited to the cause. Fluent in Arabic thanks to his Lebanese heritage, Samson’s job is to find Firefly, win his trust and get him to safety.
White Hot Silence – On a deserted road in Calabria, Greek aid worker Anastasia Cristakos is driving alone to visit one of the new refugee centers funded by billionaire Denis Hisami, whom she has recently married. She slows down to greet two African migrants she recognizes. Too late she realizes they are not her friends. This is an ambush. Anastasia has been abducted and held hostage because Hisami has explosive information that his enemies have killed for and will kill for again. But Hisami can do nothing to save his wife. Only one man can help him. Paul Samson. He’s the obvious choice. There’s only one snag. Samson was, and probably still is, in love with Anastasia.
The Old Enemy – Paul Samson is shadowing a young woman around London for a private security company. Though the brilliant Zoe Freemantle is intriguing, the work is a bit dull-until Samson is almost killed by a thuggish assassin. When other people connected to Paul come under attack, including legendary spy Robert Harland and billionaire Denis Hisami, Paul escapes to Estonia to make sense of the mysterious threat. Paul knows there’s a target on his back. The only question is whose finger is on the trigger.
Other books written by Henry Porter
Remembrance Day (1999) – Constantine Lindow is waiting for his brother Eamonn outside a central London tube station when a bus turns into the street and explodes. The next day Con is arrested as the prime suspect for the bombing. Con is determined to prove his innocence, but the only way he can do that is to find the real bomber. As he digs deeper, he finds himself confronted by his own brother’s secret life – and the cold-blooded killers from his past. The trail leads Con halfway across the world and back to London, where he tracks down a killer with a genius for encryption codes. Only Con can crack the code. Only Con can stop that telephone ringing…
The Dying Light (2009) – At the funeral, the bells of the church were rung open rather than half-muffled, as is usual for the dead. Kate Lockhart has come, along with corporate leaders, ministers, and intelligence chiefs, to a beautiful town in the Welsh Marches to mourn her soul mate, David Eyam, the brightest government servant of his generation. All that remains of Eyam are the burnt fragments of a man killed far from home in a horrific explosion. Eyam has left a devastating legacy that certain people at the funeral are desperate to suppress – but Kate Lockhart is equal to Eyam’s legacy. She becomes the focus of the state’s paranoiac power and leads the local resistance to it, directed from beyond the grave by Eyam.
The Master of the Fallen Chairs (Children book part of the House Of Skirl series, 2011) – Thirteen-year-old orphan Kim living with his elusive guardian, surly tutor, and various servants in a grand but dilapidated old house called Skirl. When one of the servant girls goes missing, a dark cloud descends on the house. The arrival of a stranger in the dead of night plunges everything further into mystery and introduces a bit of magic to the mix too…
What should you read if you like Henry Porter’s novels?
If you like reading Henry Porter’s stories, you may be interested in John le Carré’s books, Mick Herron’s books, Val McDermid’s novels, Charles Cumming’s books…
