W.A.R.P.

About the W.A.R.P. series

Riley is a Victorian-era street urchin and reluctant assassin's apprentice in 1898 London when a mysterious stranger who calls himself Chevie Trueblood saves his life -- and turns out to be a teenage FBI agent from the present day, on the run through a secret, unstable time-tunnel called W.A.R.P. (Witness Anonymous Relocation Program). When the assassin who trained Riley follows them through the portal into the 21st century, Riley and Chevie are forced into an uneasy partnership across two eras, hunted by a killer who can move freely between his own time and theirs.

Eoin Colfer -- best known for the fairy-tech heist plotting of Artemis Fowl -- swaps fairies for time travel here, mixing Victorian street-crime grit with present-day FBI procedural energy. The premise has been described as "The Matrix meets Oliver Twist": a period-detail-rich historical setting collides with modern law enforcement and shadowy government secrecy, anchored by the culture-clash dynamic between Riley's Victorian survival instincts and Chevie's contemporary training.

Three novels tell one complete, continuous story about the growing partnership between Riley and Chevie and the assassin who won't stop hunting them across time.

How to read this series

Read the three novels in publication order: The Reluctant Assassin, The Hangman's Revolution, The Forever Man. It's a single continuous story that should be read start to finish in sequence -- no other Colfer reading is required first.