Bill Hodges & Holly Gibney
crime thriller
Series · thriller
Joe Tesla
The Joe Tesla series by Rebecca Cantrell has 4 books and is best read in publication order, starting with The World Beneath (2013).
- Books
- 4 books
- First published
- 2013
- Status
- ongoing
- Last checked
Start here: The World Beneath (2013) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
The World Beneath
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The World Beneath - Book 2:
The Tesla Legacy
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Tesla Legacy - Book 3:
The Chemistry of Death
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Chemistry of Death - Book 4:
The Steel Shark
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Steel Shark
About the Joe Tesla series
Joe Tesla is a brilliant, agoraphobic tech millionaire who hasn't been outside in over a year, living instead in a specially outfitted apartment built into New York's Grand Central Terminal and navigating the city's underground tunnel network with his guide dog rather than risk the open sky. Rebecca Cantrell's series puts Joe's claustrophobic genius to work solving cases that play out almost entirely underground and indoors -- a natural fit for a protagonist who can't leave, and a clever inversion of the usual globe-trotting thriller hero. The World Beneath (2013) introduces Joe and the hidden world of tunnels, steam pipes and forgotten infrastructure beneath Manhattan that becomes the series' recurring stage.
The Tesla Legacy (2015) and further entries continue Joe's investigations as his particular combination of technical brilliance, claustrophilia and enforced isolation keeps pulling him into danger he can't simply walk away from. The series is a distinctive entry in the tech-thriller space, trading the genre's usual jet-setting hacker for a protagonist whose entire world is deliberately, permanently small.
Frequently asked questions
How many Joe Tesla books are there?
Four: The World Beneath (2013), The Tesla Legacy (2015), The Chemistry of Death (2015), and The Steel Shark (2017).
What order should I read the Joe Tesla books in?
Publication order, starting with The World Beneath, which establishes Joe's situation and the underground-Manhattan setting the rest of the series builds on.
What is the Joe Tesla series about?
An agoraphobic tech millionaire who lives inside Grand Central Terminal and can't go outside investigates cases that play out in the hidden tunnels and infrastructure beneath New York City, aided by his guide dog and his own technical brilliance.
Is the Joe Tesla series connected to Rebecca Cantrell's other series?
No -- it's a separate, unrelated series. Her Hannah Vogel series and her Order of the Sanguines collaboration with James Rollins are each tracked on their own pages on this site.
Is there a fifth Joe Tesla book?
None had been announced beyond The Steel Shark (2017) as of this writing.
If you like the Joe Tesla series
Reading order last verified .