Unmissable 99p deals on bestselling crime fictionExplore deals

Unmissable 99p deals on bestselling crime fiction Explore deals

David Raker books in order

Looking for Tim Weaver’s David Raker books in order? Look no further!

Tim Weaver is the bestselling author of the David Raker series.

Raker is a missing persons investigator who specialises in finding the lost – whether dead or alive. Based in London, his cases take him all over the country as we watch him go to any lengths to track down those in trouble. If you want to find out more before diving in, Tim Weaver tells you all you need to know about Raker in his piece for Dead Good.

Released in June 2023, Tim Weaver’s most recent book is The Last Goodbye.

The next book in the David Raker series is The Missing Family, and it will be released in July 2024.

This series has fast become a new favourite of ours. The books are complex and full of clever twists and turns that will keep you guessing and turning those pages. These novels give you everything you could want from a thriller – and the quality of Weaver’s writing sets them apart from the rest.

Read on for a taster of the David Raker series!

Tim Weaver’s David Raker books in order:

Chasing the Dead by Tim Weaver

1. Chasing The Dead

Mary Towne’s son, Alex, went missing six years ago. Five years later he finally turned up – as a corpse in a car wreck. Missing persons investigator David Raker doesn’t want the work: it’s clearly a sad but hopeless case of mistaken identity brought to him by a woman unable to let go of her son. But haunted by a loss of his own, Raker reluctantly agrees. Big mistake.

For as he digs deeper, he discovers that Alex’s life was not the innocent one his mother believed. Buried in his past are secrets that were never meant to be found – and dark, dangerous men willing to kill to protect them.

Soon Raker will discover that there are things far worse than death…

The Dead Tracks by Tim Weaver

2. The Dead Tracks

Seventeen-year-old Megan Carver was an unlikely runaway. A straight-A student from a happy home, she studied hard and rarely got into trouble. Six months on, she’s never been found.

David Raker knows what it’s like to grieve. He knows the shadowy world of the lost too. So, when he’s hired by Megan’s parents to find out what happened, he recognizes their pain – but knows that the darkest secrets can be buried deep. And Megan’s secrets could cost him his life. Because as Raker investigates her disappearance, he realizes everything is a lie. People close to her are dead. Others are too terrified to talk. And soon the conspiracy of silence leads Raker towards a forest on the edge of the city. A place with a horrifying history – which was once the hunting ground for a brutal, twisted serial killer. A place known as the Dead Tracks…

Vanished by Tim Weaver

3. Vanished

For millions of Londoners, the morning of 17 December is just like any other. But not for Sam Wren. An hour after leaving home, he gets onto a tube train – and never gets off again. No eyewitnesses. No trace of him on security cameras. Six months later, he’s still missing.

Out of options and desperate for answers, Sam’s wife Julia hires David Raker to track him down. But in this case the secrets go deeper than anyone imagined. For, as Raker starts to suspect that even the police are lying to him, someone is watching. Someone who knows what happened on the tube that day. And, with Raker in his sights, he’ll do anything to keep Sam’s secrets to himself…

Never Coming Back by Tim Weaver

4. Never Coming Back

It was supposed to be the start of a big night out. But when Emily Kane arrives at her sister Carrie’s house, she finds the front door unlocked and no one inside. Dinner’s cooking, the TV’s on. Carrie, her husband and their two daughters are gone.

When the police draw a blank, Emily asks David Raker to find them. It’s clear someone doesn’t want the family found.

But as he gets closer to the truth, Raker begins to uncover evidence of a sinister cover-up, spanning decades and costing countless lives. And worse, in trying to find Emily’s missing family, he might just have made himself the next target…

Fall From Grace by Tim Weaver

5. Fall From Grace

When Leonard Franks and his wife Ellie leave the clamour of London for a dream retirement on the seclusion of Dartmoor, everything seems perfect. But then the dream shatters. Late on a January afternoon, only two years into their new life, Leonard leaves the house to fetch firewood – and never returns. Nine months later, he’s still missing.

With the police investigation dead in the water, Ellie and her family turn to David Raker. Raker tracks down missing people for a living. He knows how they think. But nothing can prepare him for what he’s about to find. Because, behind Leonard Franks’s disappearance, lies a deadly secret, buried so deep it was never meant to be found. And, by the time Raker starts to uncover the truth, it’s not just him in danger – it’s everyone he’s ever cared about…

What Remains by Tim Weaver

6. What Remains

Missing persons investigator David Raker specializes in finding the lost. Whether dead or alive, he brings home the truth to the families left behind. But there’s one person he’s never been able to save.

Colm Healy was one of the Met’s best detectives – until the unsolved murders of a mother and her twin daughters consumed his career, his family and his life. For him, there can be no redemption without justice. Re-opening the case together, Raker soon learns the hard way how this puzzle breeds obsession. But the worst is yet to come.

Because, at the end of this trail of tragedy and darkness, an elusive killer watches, waits – and prepares to bury the truth forever…

Broken Heart by Tim Weaver

7. Broken Heart

A woman drives to a secluded beauty spot on the Somerset coast. CCTV watches her enter but doesn’t see her leaving – in fact, Lynda Korin is never seen again. How can someone just disappear?

Her sister calls missing persons investigator David Raker. For him, the mystery of where she went is only the start. The real question is why a woman with no reason to run would choose to leave her entire life behind. Was it her decision? Or did someone make it for her?

Raker is an expert at following the echoes of decades-old lies. But only Lynda Korin knows the most shocking secret of all – and she’s missing, presumed dead…

I Am Missing by Tim Weaver

8. I Am Missing

When a young man wakes up bruised and beaten, with no memory of who he is or where he came from, the press immediately dub him ‘The Lost Man’. Naming himself Richard Kite, he spends the next ten months desperately trying to find out who he is. But despite media appeals and the efforts of the police, no one knows him.

Richard’s last hope may be private investigator David Raker – a seasoned locator of missing people. But Raker has more questions than answers. Who is Richard Kite? Why does no one know him? And what links him to the body of a woman found beside a London railway line two years ago?

Could Richard be responsible for her death – or is he next?

You Were Gone by Tim Weaver

9. You Were Gone

Three days after Christmas, a woman walks into a police station. She has no phone and no ID, just a piece of paper with the name of investigator David Raker on it. She tells officers that Raker is her husband. When he turns up at the station, Raker is stunned. The woman looks exactly like his wife. She knows all about their marriage, their history, even private conversations the two of them had. There’s just one problem: Raker’s wife has been dead for eight years.

The woman tells the police that Raker had a breakdown. A respected doctor backs up her account. Items are missing that prove Raker’s side of the story – and, worst of all, he soon becomes the prime suspect in a disappearance. Could Raker have imagined their whole marriage? Is he delusional? Is this really the woman he loved and grieved for? Hunted by the police, Raker will have to find out the truth before it costs him everything – his memories, his sanity, his life…

No One Home by Tim Weaver

10. No One Home

At Halloween, the residents of Black Gale gather for a dinner party. As the only nine people living there, they’ve become close friends as well as neighbours. They eat, drink and laugh. They play games and take photographs. But those photographs will be the last record of any of them.

Because by the next morning, the whole village has vanished.

With no bodies, no evidence and no clues, the mystery of what happened at Black Gale remains unsolved two and a half years on. But then the families of the missing turn to investigator David Raker – and their obsession becomes his.

What secrets were the neighbours keeping from their families – and from each other? Were they really everything they seemed to be? And is Raker looking for nine missing people – or nine dead bodies?

The Blackbird by Tim Weaver

11. The Blackbird

Ten seconds before the crash, Cate and Aiden Gascoigne are recorded on CCTV. The couple are laughing – happy, untroubled. Then their car plunges into a ninety-foot ravine.

The impact should kill them. And if that doesn’t, the fire will. Within seconds, the vehicle is an inferno – with the Gascoignes trapped inside.

But when fire crews arrive at the scene, they find something impossible. The vehicle is empty. Cate and Aiden have vanished.

Now only missing persons investigator David Raker can solve the mystery…

The Last Goodbye by Tim Weaver

12. The Last Goodbye

Tom Brenner and his nine-year-old son Leo visit Seven Peaks theme park and head straight for the ghost house. They don’t come out.

Forty years ago, when Rebekah Murphy was three, her mother walked out of their childhood home and never returned. Nearly four decades on, Fiona Murphy is still missing. But then, out of the blue, a letter arrives in the post for Rebekah. It says it’s from Fiona.

Missing persons investigator David Raker is hired by Rebekah to find out if the letter is actually from her mum – and, if it isn’t, why someone would pretend to be her. As he starts to connect the dots from Fiona to the Brenners, he begins to realise he can’t trust anyone – even the people closest to him…

The Missing Family by Tim Weaver

13. The Missing Family (July 2024)

On a beautiful summer’s day, at a remote lake in the middle of Dartmoor, three members of the Fowler family take a dinghy out onto the water, leaving mother Sarah at the shore. Less than sixty seconds later, she checks to see where they are. The boat is drifting in the middle of the lake. It’s empty.

At the Skyline Casino in London, the security team have just made a headline-grabbing arrest: they’ve spotted and detained a man suspected of murdering a high roller. After locking him in one of their holding cells, the team station themselves outside and wait for the police. But when the cops arrive, they find something impossible. The killer is no longer inside the cell.

David Raker is an expert at solving missing persons puzzles – but these mysteries are unlike anything he’s ever seen.

As he digs into the Fowler’s, his long-time ally – ex-detective, Colm Healy – tries to get to the bottom of what happened at the casino. But the men are in danger. Because, buried in the shadows of both cases, is a deadly secret that was never meant to come out…

Plus…

The Shadow at the Door by Tim Weaver

The Shadow at the Door, a collection of four connected stories

It’s a night just like any other in the Conister home – but then Paul heads upstairs and never comes back. When his wife Maggie goes to see where he is, she can’t find him. His phone and wallet are by the bed. The windows are locked from the inside. Paul has vanished.

Missing persons investigator David Raker is an expert in locating the lost. So when he’s hired by Maggie, he knows that in every disappearance – however impossible it seems – there’s an answer. What he doesn’t know yet is that his search for Paul Conister will become linked to three other mysteries…

A night patrolman on the London Underground makes a deadly discovery. A cold case is reopened – but the key witness appears to no longer exist. And thousands of miles away, a random shooting may not be random at all.

David Raker is key to unlocking the truth…

There you have it – all Tim Weaver’s David Raker books in order! How many have you read? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Love David Raker? You’ll love these…

43 Comments

    I’ve read all these and apart from the very first book they are all brilliant.
    On the reading order though i would put Shadow at the Door between No One Home and The Blackbird as it references some things about Healy that get followed up in The Blackbird.

    Amazing author! His books are so well researched and constructed: I don’t know how he generates all these ideas and brings together such complex plots so clearly.

    My son bought me my first tim weaver book as a stand alone book but realising there was a whole series of the David raker books I went back to book 1 and have read them all now up to and including the final last goodbye. I cannot put his books down once started as they just engage you from the first page and you’re hooked. My very very favourite author and if you’ve never read any you simply must. David raker and colm healy are brilliant characters and you fall in love with them and have so much empathy with them you feel all of their emotions. Just fantastic x

    Have read all of them in order and hope, after reading the last chapter of The Blackbird, he is well on his way to writing the next one.

    I started reading Tim Weaver when I found Blackbird in a book store. I’ve now read all previous books, except the first two which I’ve not been able to get copies of, up to You Were Gone. Raker is such a great character these are books you can’t put down and on reaching the end I’m desperate to read the next one.

    Have read and enjoyed the first 9 Raker books and would definitely recommend them. David Raker is a great character and the various plots are well thought out.
    About to start No One Home.

    Half way through The Blackbird – please write faster to keep me occupied and on the edge of my seat. – Can’t wait for David Raker No. 12

    I agree with all the comments, I also love his way of writing, and the sense of humour that comes through.

    Thoroughly enthralled by Tim Weavers David Raker. He has made him so very real for me that I felt all the emotions and empathy I would have if a real friend was going through all the horrors he faced in You Were Gone. Cant wait to read all the others. Thank you Tim. X

    Had never heard of Tim Weaver until I picked up No one Home in our holiday cottage back in May – hooked from then on. About to start book 8 -please keep them coming Tim Weaver!

    Started the Raker series about 8/9 weeks ago just finished the last one No one home I’ve been reading crime fiction for over 50 years Tim Weaver as taken my top spot in story telling

    I’m on my sixth book which I have read one after another, not a dull page
    in any of them, so pleased I found such a brilliant writer.

    Have read them all and loved every one of them. Please hurry up with the next one!!! 🙂

    I have just read the last one!!! I had not heard of Tim Weaver before and had picked it up from our book club. I plan to start at the beginning and work my way through them. Fantastic read.

    early 2020, I started reading the David Raker series, I could not put them down, one book after another. Desperately waiting for the next one to arrive before I even finished the one I had at the time. Once I read them last, No One Home, I was wanting more. Please continue, with more of that type reading!!

    When one is an avid reader it’s so exciting to find an author who keeps tempting you into their books. Tim Weaver is such an author. Having read one, I had no option but to read the rest. The sadness is knowing the number of books is finite…… I am now waiting for the next Raker……

    Just finished No One Home, absolutely loved it. I’ve read all the David Raker books now and couldn’t put them down! So glad I read them in order, really hope there’s another one coming soooon!

    Tim Weaver, thank you for keeping me sane during lock-down. Absolutely love the David Raker books.

    My daughter recommended No One Home. Brilliant book, so full of twists and turns. Well written. I couldn’t put it down. So cross I hadn’t read his earlier books first, but will start asap!

    just read You Were Gone thought it was excellent couldn’t put it down, pity I’ve read the last one first ! Never mind I now have 2 previous ones to read….

    This guy is the best writer I have ever read!! I look foward to each new book and have read them all. Genius pure and simple!!

    I have only just discovered Time weaver but what a spell binding athour he is, I put him on a par with peter James and Lee Childs, excellent.

    i,ve read them up to I am missing,But what Remains had me Locked in ,I read it in 2 sittings I couldn,t put it down

    I started off off with ‘You were gone’ and I loved his writing and detail so I looked for more and realised it was a series. So I’ve bought them all, I’m now on ‘vanished’ and reading them in order. I absolutely love his books and I love the character David Raker.

    I’ve just finished ‘Vanished’ yesterday evening, Carol!

    Fantastic story, very atmospheric and complex. I always have to wait a week or so before I start the next one, as I need to get my breath back…

    I have read all of Tim Weavers books except No one Home and I’m already putting off reading the last one as I don’t want this to be the last one. I have enjoyed all the books immensely and they have brought David Raker to life. Please let there be more!

    I have read all of Tim Weaver’s books, including his latest, “No One Home.” An exceptional author, you are immediately drawn in by his characterisation and involved plots. I feel that I know David Raker, that he is real and the friendship he has with Colm Healy has become symbiotic and full of compassion. As an academic who has spent their life concerned with facts I couldn’t have come across a better author of fiction. I eagerly await Tim’s next novel.

    I’ve only read you were gone but im starting to read vanished

    I have read all of Tim Weaver’s David Raker books so far and I am looking forward to the next due on 16 May 2019. Weaver by name, weaver by nature – his novels draw you in and take you on a journey, visiting places and meeting people, getting a better understanding of both. To have someone close go missing has to be the worst experience to not know what has happened, to spend your life waiting to hear news, with nothing but your imagination driving your fears. Tim Weaver’s focus from the investigator’s view has given another dimension to the mystery of the missing. Genuinely easy and interesting to read.

    I read You were gone and thought it was fantastic! Now want to read all of his previous work!

    I have just discovered Tim Weaver! Absolutely brilliant- read you were gone in one sitting- couldn’t put it down! Need to read the rest – excellent author.

    I cant put these down. Go away! I wake up in the middle of the night to read them. Its an addiction. Only three books to go.

    Love Raker books .. read a couple but now have downloaded number 1 as l want to know him from the beginning . Love audible as well

    All the David Raker books are a very good read. They would make a great TV series.

    Wouldn’t they just! I absolutely love his character! Love his books.

    I am Dyslexic Tim Weave David Raker has held attention, I read all of the authors books except,( the dead tracks) Just about to start read, can not wait the new Book

    I’ve read the first 3 books and Mr Weaver just got better and better. Vanished was excellent, a riveting read.
    Highly recommended.

    Tim Wearer has grip my imagination and I am not an avid, reader, has I am dyslexic, but down loading with kindle on audio, reading along, IPod the books come alive, thank you author Patrick Ayling

    I love Tim Weaver novels, have read Broken Heart, Fall from Grace, I am missing and Never Coming Back, I am just checking this site out to find a couple of books to add to my reader for a trip to Florida. He is a great story teller, I read on and on as I can’t wait to get to the end and know the truth.
    Love a mystery.

    Just loved Broken Heart the first book i have read in this series. I am part was through Never Coming Back, and have I Am Missing
    read to read after that. Tim Weaver is a new author to me and i have passed Broken Heart onto my sister in law and she is hooked as well.
    Cheers Maxine
    03/10/17

    You really need to read these books in order starting with Chasing the Dead as David Raker’s personal life is an essential part of each book. You will see why in Book 9 You were Gone.

    Amazing author. You know it’s a good book when you don’t want it to end!!
    Just read the four In the series. Never coming back. Chasing the dead , dead tracks, vanished.
    Have more downloaded on kindle ready to go.
    Keep them coming

    I have read all of this books apart from What Remains which I hope to get to during the Christmas break. I love the simplicity of his mysteries and the way people just disappeared leaving you trying to work out how!

Join the discussion

Please note: Moderation is enabled and may delay your comment being posted. There is no need to resubmit your comment. By posting a comment you are agreeing to the website Terms of Use.