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Series · espionage thriller

The Handler

by M.P. Woodward

The Handler series by M.P. Woodward has 2 known books (2 published). It is best read in publication order, starting with The Handler (2022). Dead Drop is the latest book with a fully recorded publication date.

Books
2 known books (2 novels)
Published
2
First published
2022
Status
ongoing
Shelved under
Thriller
Start here: The Handler (2022) — then read straight through in publication order.
Book one
Cover of The Handler
The Handler (2022)

Reading order

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

  1. The Handler

    Novel
    M.P. Woodward, a former naval intelligence officer, opened The Handler in May 2022 at 448 pages, forcing rising CIA case officer Meredith Morris-Dale and her ex-husband John, a once-brilliant field handler, back together to extract a defecting Iranian nuclear scientist.
    View book

  2. Dead Drop

    Novel
    Dead Drop followed almost exactly a year later, in May 2023, at 416 pages, escalating with a mole hunt that threatens to expose both Dales' pasts and picks up directly from the first book's fallout.
    View book

Key facts about The Handler series

The Handler series has 2 books on our list. Since all 2 are out now, you can read the whole list today.

Start with The Handler, since it opens the publication order in 2022. Dead Drop is book 2, from 2023.

Each title links to its own page, while the list keeps them in date order. Each book page shows its dates and editions.

Dead Drop is the latest book with a full release date, out on 23 May 2023. The catalogue marks it as ongoing, yet no next book has a date so far.

The books came out between 2022 and 2023, while their length runs from 416 to 448 pages. That is a run of 1 year.

M.P. Woodward has 7 books on our list. This is the only series by them we track, while the author page lists the rest. We shelve the books under espionage thriller.

About The Handler

Meredith Morris-Dale is a rising CIA case officer; John Dale is her ex-husband, a once-brilliant field handler whose career and marriage both imploded after a catastrophic operation. M.P. Woodward — a former naval intelligence officer who later worked in tech — draws on real tradecraft to build a series about the messy overlap of professional and personal betrayal inside the Agency. In The Handler (2022), Meredith and John are forced back together to extract a defecting Iranian nuclear scientist, an operation that reopens old wounds even as it demands they trust each other again; Dead Drop (2023) escalates the stakes with a mole hunt that threatens to expose both of their pasts.

Woodward's prose leans procedural and technically dense — dead drops, compartmentalized intelligence, the bureaucratic friction between agencies — in the vein of a modern, character-driven le Carré rather than a shoot-first action thriller, with the Dale marriage's wreckage as the emotional engine underneath the tradecraft.

Frequently asked questions

How many books are in The Handler series?

Two: The Handler (2022) and Dead Drop (2023). No third book has been announced.

What order should I read The Handler books in?

Publication order: The Handler, then Dead Drop, which continues the story directly.

Is M.P. Woodward still writing The Handler series?

No new installment has been announced since Dead Drop (2023); Woodward has since become one of the lead continuation authors for Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series.

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