Clive Cussler Books In Order – Complete List

Last Updated on November 14, 2023

The Clive Cussler works include several popular series which is well worth reading in chronological order, although it is not necessarily a must. If you do want to read the author’s main series in proper order, you should start with Pacific Vortex which was published after The Mediterranean Caper but the events within come first.

Here are the New York Times bestselling author Clive Cussler books in order of publication for each fictional series, standalones, and nonfiction works.

Clive Cussler passed away at the age of 88 on Monday, February 24, 2020, surrounded by his family. Rest in Peace, Clive Cussler.

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Dirk Pitt Books In Publication Order

The first Dirk Pitt novel (and the author’s debut novel), The Mediterranean Caper was written back in 1973, however chronologically it comes second after Pacific Vortex, which was published in 1983, but takes place some years before The Mediterranean Caper. Starting from Black Wind, the Dirk Pitt novels have been co-authored with Dirk Cussler.

1. The Mediterranean Caper, 1973 – published under the title Mayday in England
2. Iceberg, 1975
3. Raise The Titanic!, 1976
4. Vixen 03, 1978
5. Night Probe!, 1981
6. Pacific Vortex!, 1983
7. Deep Six, 1984
8. Cyclops, 1986
9. Treasure, 1988
10. Dragon, 1990
11. Sahara, 1992
12. Inca Gold, 1994
13. Shock Wave, 1996
14. Flood Tide, 1997
15. Atlantis Found, 1999
16. Valhalla Rising, 2001
17. Trojan Odyssey, 2003
18. Black Wind, 2004
19. Treasure of Khan, 2006
20. Arctic Drift, 2008
21. Crescent Dawn, 2010
22. Poseidon’s Arrow, 2012
23. Havana Storm, 2014
24. Odessa Sea, 2016
25. Celtic Empire, 2019
26. The Devil’s Sea, 2021
27. The Corsican Shadow, 2023

Dirk Pitt Books in Chronological Order

1. Pacific Vortex!, 1983
2. The Mediterranean Caper, 1973
3. Iceberg, 1975
4. Raise The Titanic!, 1976
5. Vixen 03, 1978
6. Night Probe!, 1981
7. Deep Six, 1984
8. Cyclops, 1986
9. Treasure, 1988
10. Dragon, 1990
11. Sahara, 1992
12. Inca Gold, 1994
13. Shock Wave, 1996
14. Flood Tide, 1997
15. Atlantis Found, 1999
16. Valhalla Rising, 2001
17. Trojan Odyssey, 2003
18. Black Wind, 2004
19. Treasure of Khan, 2006
20. Arctic Drift, 2008
21. Crescent Dawn, 2010
22. Poseidon’s Arrow, 2012
23. Havana Storm, 2014
24. Odessa Sea, 2016
25. Celtic Empire, 2019
26. The Devil’s Sea, 2021
27. The Corsican Shadow, 2023

The NUMA Files in Publication Order

The NUMA Files book series featuring the NUMA director Dirk Pitt and Kurt Austin, the leader of the Special Assignments Team at the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) has been co-authored with several other authors, including Paul Kemprecos, popular for his nautical mystery novels, including Neptune’s Eye, Cool Blue Tomb, and The Mayflower Murder, and Graham Brown. The NUMA Files is the author’s second series, started right after Dirk Pitt.

1. Serpent, 1999
2. Blue Gold, 2000
3. Fire Ice, 2002
4. White Death, 2003
5. Lost City, 2004
6. Polar Shift, 2005
7. The Navigator, 2007
8. Medusa, 2009
9. Devil’s Gate, 2011
10. The Storm, 2012
11. Zero Hour, 2013
12. Ghost Ship, 2014
13. The Pharao’s Secret, 2015
14. Nighthawk, 2017
15. The Rising Sea, 2018
16. Sea of Greed, 2018
17. Journey of the Pharaohs, 2020
18. Fast Ice, 2021
19. Dark Vector, 2022
20. Condor’s Fury, 2023

The Oregon Files Books In Publication Order

Clive Cussler has co-authored the Oregon Files book series with Craig Dirgo, known for his John Taft series, with Jack Du Brul, an author known for Philip Mercer archaeological/adventure thriller series, with Boyd Morrison, and with Mike Maden. The Oregon Files is the author’s third written book series.

1. Golden Buddha, 2003
2. Sacred Stone, 2004
3. Dark Watch, 2005
4. Skeleton Coast, 2006
5. Plague Ship, 2008
6. Corsair, 2009
7. The Silent Sea, 2010
8. The Jungle, 2011
9. Mirage, 2013
10. Piranha, 2015
11. The Emperor’s Revenge, 2016
12. Typhoon Fury, 2017
13. Shadow Tyrants, 2018
14. Final Option, 2019
15. Marauder, 2020
16. Hellburner, 2022
17. Fire Strike, 2023

Isaac Bell Adventures Books In Publication Order

Clive Cussler co-authored the Isaac Bell Adventures with Justin Scott, known for his Ben Abbott mystery series, and with Jack Du Brul. Isaac Bell is a private investigator with the Van Dorn Detective Agency, an establishment he based on the real-life Pinkerton Agency. The series is the author’s fourth book series.

1. The Chase, 2007
2. The Wrecker, 2009
3. The Spy, 2010
4. The Race, 2011
5. The Thief, 2012
6. The Striker, 2013
7. The Bootlegger, 2014
8. The Assassin, 2015
9. The Gangster, 2016
10. The Cutthroat, 2017
11. The Titanic Secret, 2019
12. The Saboteurs, 2021
13. The Sea Wolves, 2022
14. The Heist, 2024

Isaac Bell Adventures Books in Chronological Order

1. The Striker, 2013
2. The Assassin, 2015
3. The Chase, 2007
4. The Gangster, 2016
5. The Wrecker, 2009
6. The Spy, 2010
7. The Race, 2011
8. The Thief, 2012
9. The Cutthroat, 2017
10. The Titanic Secret, 2019
11. The Bootlegger, 2014
12. The Saboteurs, 2021
13. The Heist, 2024

Sam and Remi Fargo Adventures In Publication Order

The Fargo series has been co-authored with Grant Blackwood, Thomas Perry, Russell Blake and Robin Burcell. The book series focuses on a team of two professional treasure hunters, Sam and Remi Fargo. It is the author’s fifth series.

1. Spartan Gold, 2009
2. Lost Empire, 2010
3. The Kingdom, 2011
4. The Tombs, 2012
5. The Mayan Secret, 2013
6. The Eye of Heaven, 2014
7. The Solomon Curse, 2015
8. Pirate, 2016
9. The Romanov Ransom, 2017
10. The Gray Ghost, 2018
11. The Oracle, 2019
12. Wrath of Poseidon, 2020
13. The Serpent’s Eye, 2024

The Sea Hunters Books in Publication Order

1. The Sea Hunters, 1996
2. The Sea Hunters II: More True Adventures with Famous Shipwrecks, 2002

Non Fiction Books in Publication Order

• Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed, 1998
• Built for Adventure: The Classic Automobiles of Clive Cussler, 2011
• Built to Thrill, 2016

Other Clive Cussler Novels In Publication Order

• The Adventures of Vin Fiz, 2006 (children’s book)
• The Adventures of Hotsy Totsy, 2010 (children’s book)

Edited Short Story Anthologies

• Thriller 2: Stories You Just Can’t Put Down, 2009

So there you have them, all the Clive Cussler novels in publication order from the first to the latest in each adventure book series, standalone novels, and non-fiction books, many of which were co-authored with other writers.

Clive Cussler Biography – About the Author

Born in 1931 in Aurora, Illinois, the author Clive Cussler grew up in Alhambra, California. He went to the Pasadena City College where he remained for two years after which e dropped out in order to enlist in the US Air Force where he got to the rank of sergeant. During his time with the army, he worked as a flight engineer and aircraft mechanic in Hawaii during the Korean War. It was during this time that he discovered scuba diving and his passion for it, one that will be with him throughout his entire life.

His first job after leaving the army was that of an advertising copywriter, after which he became a creative director for two important advertising agencies in the country. He created several radio and TV commercials that won international awards during his time at these ad agencies.

Clive Cussler wrote his first novel in 1965, 15 years after he’s been working as a copywriter while being at home with the kids as his wife was working night shifts at the police department. It took him 18 years to publish his very first novel under the title Pacific Vortex.

Over the years he wrote numerous books alone and in cooperation with other authors, in creating several popular book series, including his Dirk Pitt novel series, the NUMA Files, the Oregon Files, the Isaac Bell Adventures and the Fargo Adventures. He also wrote several non-fiction books, with his first one being The Sea Hunters, written in 1996.

With so many books written under his belt, if you’re looking to read the Clive Cussler novels in order, considering that there are several series that he put out so far, it might be a tad difficult to navigate the sea of his novels and find out which comes before which book and what is the right order of his many book series.

I’ve started reading the books by Clive Cussler back in the 80s when I first discovered them. At the time he and Tom Clancy where my main mystery authors that I was religiously following – Tom Clancy with his political thrillers and Mr. Cussler with his maritime adventure mysteries called Dirk Pitt, with the main character named after the author’s son called Dirk Cussler, with whom he actually co-authored some of his later books.

Now just to see the huge amount of books written by this author, the Dirk Pitt series has so far 27 books, the NUMA series includes 20 books, the Oregon Files 17 books, the Isaac Bell 14 books and The Fargo Adventures 13 books, not to mention the several standalone and non-fiction books he has written during his lifetime. That makes it a total of over 70 books published to date, with each year the number getting bigger and bigger.

He also wrote 2 kids’ books and several non-fiction books, among which one is a book I’ve read called Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed. It’s worth checking it out.

Even at his advanced age, Clive Cussler liked to scuba dive (a hobby which is well reflected in his Dirk Pitt adventures novels). He was living in Paradise Valley, Arizona before he passed away. He co-authored with other novelists, one of them being his own son, Dirk who helped his dad write several of the latest Dirk Pitt novels.

Of course, the main character of his most popular book series was named after his son. Dirk started working with Clive Cussler in 2004 after he left his job as a controller at Motorola Iridium in Phoenix.

When he did the research for the next books, Clive Cussler liked to take real-life events and twist them to suit the needs of his main characters and storyline. For example, in his novel The Assassin, he invented a story about investigating real-life John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil monopoly.

While he still wrote books, Clive Cussler was more in a rewriting stage toward the end. The authors wrote the first 100 or so pages, which they then sent to Clive to check and edit, following which they got it back from him to continue the stories.

An interesting fact about Mr. Cussler, a few years after starting his Dirk Pitt adventure series, which features a fictitious National Underwater Marine Agency focused on finding underwater artifacts, he actually created the same-named nonprofit organization to find and preserve maritime history.

So far this agency found over 60 shipwrecks and donated their findings to museums or various related government agencies.

In an interview, Cussler was asked whether he believes his Dirk Pitt series (his most popular book series to date) will go on after he is gone. His answer was, “I hope Dirk Pitt will go on after me.”

As for the question of whether we should read the Clive Cussler book series in order, I think it’s not absolutely necessary. Each book has a starting and ending story, so they can be perfectly read on their own, out of order.

Having said that, many books have references to previous novels that might enrich your reading experience if you know what the author is talking about. I personally prefer reading all my mystery series in order, even when if they really don’t have to strictly be.

So how many Clive Cussler works are there? Currently, if we combine all his series together, there are well over 100 books in total, all this without the author’s standalone novels, plus his non-fiction books and children’s books.. However, the author’s collaboration with other author also contributed to this number, not to mention after his death, his works are still being actively written.

Adaptations of Works

Clive Cussler had two novels adapted into movies. In 1980, Raise the Titanic was adapted and released by Paramount Pictures with Richard Jordan as Dirk Pitt, and Jason Robards, David Selby, and Anne Archer as additional main characters.

The second novel adapted was Sahara in 2005, again by Paramount Pictures. This time Matthew McConaughey played our famous Dirk, assisted by Steve Zahn, Rakie Ayola, Penélope Cruz, and Lambert Wilson as main characters.

The non-fiction book The Sea Hunters received a TV series that aired between 2002 and 2006. The documentary series follows an expert team of underwater archaeologists, divers, and technicians who locate, identify, and explore some of the world’s greatest, and often forgotten shipwrecks.