How to Read the Evan Tanner Series
The Evan Tanner series, penned by Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Lawrence Block, is a delightfully offbeat blend of Cold War espionage, satirical humor, and globe-trotting adventure. Introduced in 1966, Evan Tanner is not your average secret agent. Thanks to a piece of shrapnel from the Korean War that destroyed the sleep center of his brain, Tanner is a permanent insomniac. He has 24 hours a day to fill, which he spends learning obscure languages, writing college term papers for quick cash, and joining fringe political groups dedicated to lost causes. This sleepless lifestyle eventually makes him the perfect accidental recruit for a nameless, ultra-secret intelligence agency.
Because the series maintains a loose chronological continuity—particularly in relation to Tanner's domestic life and his foster daughter, Minna—the best way to experience these novels is in publication order. Fortunately, the publication order matches the internal chronological order of Tanner's exploits, making the reading path straightforward.
The Complete List of Evan Tanner Books in Order
Below is the complete list of Evan Tanner novels, including alternative titles under which they were released in different markets:
1. The Thief Who Couldn't Sleep (1966)
The book that started it all introduces us to Evan Tanner, his sleepless condition, and his passion for fringe causes (like the restoration of the Stuart monarchy or Macedonian independence). Looking to fund his interests, Tanner heads to Turkey to locate a hoard of hidden Armenian gold. Naturally, things go spectacularly wrong, landing him in a Turkish jail and drawing the attention of both the CIA and Soviet intelligence, who assume he is a top-level operative for the other side.
2. The Canceled Czech (1966)
Tanner's antics in his first adventure catch the eye of the Chief, the head of a nameless, shadow government agency. He is recruited for a seemingly impossible task: infiltrate Czechoslovakia, sneak into a secure prison in Prague, and break out an unrepentant Nazi war criminal. Despite his personal disgust for the target, Tanner heads behind the Iron Curtain, relying on a network of Israeli militants and local contacts to retrieve the target and locate documents exposing a underground network of hate.
3. Tanner's Twelve Swingers (1967)
Tanner travels to Soviet Latvia on a personal favor to rescue a friend's lost love. The mission spirals out of control when she refuses to escape unless Tanner also smuggles out her eleven gymnastics teammates. Adding a subversive writer and a young girl rumored to be the rightful heir to the throne of Lithuania (Minna) to his entourage, Tanner has to shepherd his twelve "swingers" across the tightly controlled Soviet border in a hilariously complex escape plan.
4. The Scoreless Thai / Two for Tanner (1968)
Posing as a lepidopterist searching for rare butterflies, Tanner travels to Thailand to locate a missing Kenyan jazz singer who has run off with a stolen fortune in jewels. The mission devolves into a wild survival story after Tanner is captured by a band of local jungle guerrillas and must rely on a mischievous local youth to help him make his escape.
5. Tanner's Tiger (1968)
Sent to Montreal during the Expo 67 World's Fair, Tanner is tasked with investigating mysterious disappearances connected to the Cuban pavilion. He quickly gets sidetracked by a woman wearing a tiger-skin outfit, stumbles upon a major drug smuggling ring, and finds himself working to foil an assassination plot aimed at the visiting Queen of England.
6. Here Comes a Hero / Tanner's Virgin (1968)
Tanner is hired by an anxious mother to rescue her daughter, Phaedra, who has allegedly been kidnapped by white slavers in the remote mountains of Afghanistan. Before he can complete the rescue, Tanner has to swim the English Channel, outmaneuver Soviet agents, and survive a series of deadly encounters across Asia.
7. Me Tanner, You Jane (1970)
Tanner is sent deep into the heart of Africa to locate the missing ruler and the stolen national treasury of a tiny, unrecognized country called Modonoland. The rescue mission quickly becomes a crowded affair, with the CIA, white supremacist mercenaries, local revolutionaries, and a jungle-dwelling missionary's daughter named Sheena all clashing over the fate of the country.
8. Tanner on Ice (1998)
After a 28-year publishing hiatus, Block resurrected his sleepless hero by writing him into a cryogenic freeze at the end of his late-1960s adventures. Thawed out in New York City in 1998, Tanner has to adjust to the modern world (including computers and mobile phones) before being dispatched on a mission to Myanmar (Burma) to ostensibly destabilize the military regime by assassinating Aung San Suu Kyi—a plot Tanner inevitably subverts in his own chaotic way.
The 28-Year Cryo-Gap and Continuity
One of the most interesting aspects of the Evan Tanner series is the gap between Me Tanner, You Jane (1970) and Tanner on Ice (1998). Rather than writing Tanner as an aging senior in the late 1990s, Lawrence Block chose a creative, tongue-in-cheek sci-fi solution: Tanner had been cryogenically frozen by his enemies and left in a basement. When he is defrosted in 1998, he is still the same age he was in 1970, though he must quickly catch up on nearly three decades of historical and technological changes. This narrative choice preserves the character's youthful energy and charm while allowing Block to poke fun at the modern era.
What to Know Before You Start
Before diving into the series, readers should keep a few details in mind:
- A Satirical Tone: Do not expect a grim, realistic thriller in the vein of John le Carré. The Tanner novels are lighthearted, satirical, and highly episodic spoofs of 1960s spy mania (such as James Bond and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.).
- A Product of Its Time: The early books are firmly rooted in the geopolitics of the Cold War. Part of the series' charm is its humorous depiction of Soviet borders, minor political factions, and cultural stereotypes of the late 1960s.
- Fringe and Lost Causes: Tanner's driving motivation is his sympathy for lost causes. He is a member of the Flat Earth Society, the League for the Restoration of the Stuart Dynasty, and various regional independence movements. These organizations provide a recurring source of humor throughout the books.
- Alternative Titles: Depending on which edition you purchase, two of the books carry different titles. Two for Tanner is the same book as The Scoreless Thai, and Here Comes a Hero is the same book as Tanner's Virgin.
- Minna: The young girl Tanner rescues in Tanner's Twelve Swingers eventually becomes his foster daughter. Her growth and education form the primary running thread of continuity across the later books, which is why reading in order is recommended.