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Series · thriller

Joe Tesla

by Rebecca Cantrell

The Joe Tesla series by Rebecca Cantrell has 4 known books (4 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with The World Beneath (2013).

Books
4 known books (4 novels)
Published
4
First published
2013
Status
ongoing
Shelved under
Thriller
Last checked

Start here: The World Beneath (2013) — then read straight through in publication order.

Book one

Cover of The World Beneath

The World Beneath (2013)

Reading order

The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.

  1. The World Beneath

    Novel

    The World Beneath (2013) introduces Joe Tesla, an agoraphobic tech millionaire who hasn't left his specially outfitted apartment inside Grand Central Terminal in over a year, and the underground tunnel network he navigates with his guide dog instead.

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  2. The Tesla Legacy

    Novel

    At 326 pages, The Tesla Legacy (2015) is the longest of the four Joe Tesla books, continuing Rebecca Cantrell's agoraphobic tech-millionaire investigator's cases through the hidden tunnels and steam pipes beneath Manhattan two years after the series opened.

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  3. The Chemistry of Death

    Novel

    The Chemistry of Death, also published in 2015, runs a much shorter 236 pages, the second Joe Tesla book that year, keeping Rebecca Cantrell's claustrophobic tech-thriller premise -- a hero who cannot leave his tunnel-linked Grand Central apartment -- at the center of the case.

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  4. The Steel Shark

    Novel

    The Steel Shark (2017) closes out the series at 378 pages, Joe Tesla's fourth case built around New York's hidden infrastructure and his particular combination of technical brilliance, claustrophilia and enforced isolation.

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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.

Reading order last verified .