Jake Brigance
legal thriller
Series · thriller
The Sailing Thrillers
The Sailing Thrillers series by Bernard Cornwell has 5 known books (5 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with Wildtrack (1988).
- Books
- 5 known books (5 novels)
- Published
- 5
- First published
- 1988
- Status
- completed
- Shelved under
- Thriller
- Last checked
Start here: Wildtrack (1988) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
Wildtrack
Wildtrack opens Bernard Cornwell's Sailing Thrillers in 1988, following a round-the-world yachtsman turned reluctant detective in a contemporary story built around Cornwell's own passion for sailing. It runs 352 pages and is generally considered one of the strongest entries in the set.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Wildtrack - Book 2:
Sea Lord (Killer's Wake)
Sea Lord -- published in the US as Killer's Wake -- centers on a disgraced sailor drawn into a Cornish smuggling conspiracy. At 510 pages, it's the longest of the five Sailing Thrillers, arriving in 1989.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Sea Lord (Killer's Wake) - Book 3:
Crackdown
Crackdown moves the series to the Caribbean for a story of drug-running and betrayal, published in 1990 at 400 pages, ahead of Stormchild .
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Crackdown - Book 4:
Stormchild
Stormchild , published in 1991 at 375 pages, follows a father searching for his estranged, radicalized daughter across dangerous waters, and is often named alongside Wildtrack as the strongest of Cornwell's five sailing thrillers.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Stormchild - Book 5:
Scoundrel
Scoundrel closes out the Sailing Thrillers in 1992, trading the nautical setting for Washington D.C. politics and an arms-dealing conspiracy -- the outlier of the five, though it keeps the same tightly-plotted thriller structure. At 326 pages, it's the shortest entry, published the year before Cornwell's Sharpe novels took over his career.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Scoundrel
About The Sailing Thrillers
Before Bernard Cornwell became synonymous with Napoleonic-era and Dark Age historical fiction, he wrote five contemporary thrillers built around his own lifelong passion for sailing. Each novel is a self-contained story with a different protagonist, but together they share a template: ordinary people — sailors, ex-soldiers, journalists — pulled into smuggling rings, fraud, political conspiracy, or violent revenge plots that play out largely on and around small boats, English coastal waters, and the sailing world Cornwell knew intimately from his own years living aboard. Wildtrack follows a round-the-world yachtsman turned reluctant detective; Sea Lord (published in the US as Killer's Wake) centers on a disgraced sailor drawn into a Cornish smuggling conspiracy; Crackdown moves to the Caribbean for a story of drug-running and betrayal; Stormchild follows a father searching for his estranged, radicalized daughter across dangerous waters; and Scoundrel, the outlier of the five, trades sailing for Washington politics and an arms-dealing conspiracy, though it retains the same tightly-plotted, competence-driven thriller structure.
Written between 1988 and 1992, the five novels were Cornwell's commercial proving ground before Sharpe's breakout success let him focus almost exclusively on historical fiction — they're leaner, faster, and more contemporary than anything else in his catalogue, aimed at readers of Dick Francis or early Clive Cussler rather than his later Napoleonic or Saxon readership.
Frequently asked questions
How many books are in Bernard Cornwell's Sailing Thrillers?
Five: Wildtrack (1988), Sea Lord / Killer's Wake (1989), Crackdown (1990), Stormchild (1991), and Scoundrel (1992).
Do I need to read the Sailing Thrillers in order?
No. Each is a standalone contemporary thriller with a different protagonist and no shared characters or continuing plot. Publication order (Wildtrack through Scoundrel) is simply the conventional listing order.
Why is Sea Lord also called Killer's Wake?
Sea Lord is the UK title; Killer's Wake is the title used for the US edition of the same 1989 novel.
Is Scoundrel really a sailing thriller?
Loosely. It's grouped with the other four as part of Cornwell's early contemporary-thriller run, but its plot centers on Washington D.C. politics and an arms-dealing conspiracy rather than sailing, making it the outlier of the set.
Did Bernard Cornwell write any more contemporary thrillers after this series?
No — after Scoundrel (1992) and the success of the early Sharpe novels, Cornwell moved almost entirely to historical fiction and did not return to contemporary thrillers.
If you like The Sailing Thrillers
Reading order last verified .