Terry Fallis
Terry Fallis has published 10 books across 2 series. The recommended reading order starts with The Best Laid Plans (2008).
Terry Fallis is a Canadian author of political satire novels who built his career at the intersection of politics and humor. He graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering degree from McMaster University, where he was elected President of the Students Union. His early career included work on political staffs, notably Jean Chretien’s 1984 leadership campaign, and time with the international PR firm Hill and Knowlton. He also founded Thornley Fallis, a communications consulting agency, before turning his attention to writing.
Fallis made his debut as a published author in 2007 with the novel The Best Laid Plans. This book went on to win the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour in 2008 and was chosen as the winner of CBC’s Canada Reads in 2011. It was later adapted into a six-part CBC-Television miniseries and a stage musical. Fallis has won the Leacock Medal for Humour a second time, for his 2014 novel No Relation. He has written nine novels, including The High Road, Up and Down, Poles Apart, One Brother Shy, Albatross, Operation Angus, A New Season, and his latest, The Marionette. In 2013, The Canadian Booksellers Association named him Author of the Year. He lives in Toronto with his wife and two sons.
Shelf & Shadows
Order of Honest Angus McLintock Books
- TagshorrorDescriptionThe Best Laid Plans proves that political fiction doesn't have to be cynical to be smart, and it doesn't have to abandon humor to tell the truth about power. Terry Fallis has crafted a novel that manages to be both a sharp satire of Canadian politics and a surprisingly warm story about what happens when an idealist accidentally stumbles into the very system he's spent years criticizing. Angus McLintock is a cantankerous engineering professor who has no interest in politics, no patience for politicians, and absolutely no intention of running for Parliament. But when his friend Daniel Addison, a weary political staffer, nominates him as a paper candidate in an unwinnable riding, the plan is simple: lose gracefully, fulfill a party requirement, and move on. Except nothing in politics ever goes according to plan. What follows is a collision between principle and pragmatism, as Angus finds himself thrust into a world he despises, armed only with his engineering logic and his unwillingness to play the game. Fallis writes with the insider knowledge of someone who understands the machinery of government and the comic timing of someone who sees its absurdities clearly. This is political fiction for readers who want to believe that integrity still matters, even in a system designed to grind it down—a novel that finds hope in the most unlikely places and humor in the gap between what politics is and what it could be.Publication dateSeptember 5, 2008Amazon rating4.4/5Print length352LanguageEnglishPublisherMcClelland & Stewart
- Tags---DescriptionThe Honest Angus McLintock series returns with a protagonist who has never quite fit the mold of conventional politics, and in The High Road, that tension reaches a new pitch. Terry Fallis brings back his reluctant politician, a man whose integrity and plain-spoken nature have made him both beloved and beleaguered in the corridors of power. This installment finds McLintock navigating the treacherous waters of political life, where doing the right thing and doing the expedient thing rarely align, and where every decision carries consequences that ripple far beyond the immediate moment. The central question here is one of principle versus pragmatism: how does a fundamentally decent person survive in a system designed to reward compromise and calculation? Fallis writes with a keen eye for the absurdities of political theater, but beneath the humor lies a genuine exploration of what it costs to maintain one's values when the pressure to abandon them is relentless. The prose moves with the easy confidence of a writer who knows his characters intimately, balancing wit with moments of real moral weight. For readers who have followed McLintock's journey, this is a continuation of his struggle to remain himself in a world that demands he become someone else. For newcomers, it's an entry point into a series that asks whether good people can do good work in a broken system.Publication dateSeptember 7, 2010Amazon rating4.4/5Print length352LanguageEnglishPublisherEmblem Editions
- Tagsgraphic-novelsDescriptionTerry Fallis returns to the world of Angus McLintock with a story that refuses to play by political rules. This is fiction that trusts character over cynicism. That matters now. McLintock remains what he's always been: an accidental politician who never wanted the job. He's principled to a fault. Honest when honesty costs him. The kind of figure who shouldn't survive in modern politics but somehow does. Fallis builds the tension around that contradiction. The "operation" in the title suggests stakes higher than usual parliamentary maneuvering. McLintock faces a challenge that tests whether integrity can coexist with political survival. The machinery of government grinds against the gears of conscience. Someone has to give. Fallis writes with the sharp eye of someone who knows how power actually works, but he refuses to let that knowledge curdle into despair. His prose is clean. His humor lands without undermining the stakes. This is the rare political novel that believes good people can still matter in a broken system, and makes you believe it too.Publication dateAugust 31, 2021Amazon rating4.4/5Print length376LanguageEnglishPublisherMcClelland & Stewart
Order of Standalone Novels
- Tags---DescriptionThis novel understands something crucial about modern work: the moment you step into a new job, you're already behind, and the only way out is through something audacious. David Stewart's first day at Turner King PR is a masterclass in disorientation—he's wearing the wrong color, drowning in acronyms, and hasn't even located the bathroom before he's handed an impossible task: make Americans care about space again. The assignment is as absurd as it is daunting, a PR puzzle that feels designed to fail. But Fallis has a gift for turning workplace comedy into something sharper, something that asks what happens when you're desperate enough to pitch the wildest idea in the room. David's solution—a Citizen Astronaut lottery sending ordinary people to the International Space Station—is the kind of scheme that could either resurrect a dying program or torpedo his career before it starts. The stakes are high, the learning curve is vertical, and the humor is dry enough to feel earned. What sets this apart is its refusal to coast on premise alone. Fallis writes David's fish-out-of-water panic with precision, but he's equally interested in the mechanics of persuasion, the ethics of spin, and whether you can sell something meaningful when you're working on "the dark side." It's clever, propulsive, and surprisingly grounded for a book about launching civilians into orbit.Publication dateJune 25, 2013Amazon rating4.4/5Print length432LanguageEnglishPublisherEmblem Editions
- Tags---DescriptionThis is a book about identity, legacy, and what happens when your name carries weight you never asked for. Terry Fallis delivers a sharp, witty exploration of one man's struggle to step out from under the shadow of someone else's fame—someone he's never even met. The premise is deceptively simple but brilliantly executed. Our protagonist shares a name with a celebrated figure, and that coincidence has shaped his entire life in ways both absurd and profound. Fallis writes with the kind of humor that sneaks up on you—dry, observational, rooted in the everyday frustrations of being mistaken for someone you're not. But beneath the comedy lies something deeper: a meditation on authenticity, on carving out your own path when the world keeps trying to write your story for you. The voice is warm and self-aware, the pacing brisk. This is Canadian fiction at its most accessible and human, a story that asks what it means to be yourself when everyone thinks they already know who you are.Publication dateMay 20, 2014Amazon rating4/5Print length416LanguageEnglishPublisherDouglas Gibson Books
- Tags---DescriptionEverett Kane is a speechwriter with a problem. He's brilliant at crafting words for others, but his own life is stuck in neutral. When he's unexpectedly dispatched to the Canadian Arctic to help a mining company smooth over community relations, he finds himself in a world he doesn't understand—one where his polished political instincts mean nothing against the stark realities of the North. The ice is unforgiving. So are the people who call it home. What starts as a reluctant assignment becomes something else entirely. Fallis delivers his signature blend of humor and heart, dropping a fish-out-of-water protagonist into a landscape that demands honesty over spin. The cultural clash is real, the stakes are personal, and the journey forces Everett to reckon with what he's been avoiding all along. This is a story about finding your footing when the ground beneath you shifts—literally and figuratively. Warm, wry, and unexpectedly moving, it's the kind of book that sneaks up on you, leaving you changed in small but significant ways.Publication dateOctober 20, 2015Amazon rating4.1/5Print length432LanguageEnglishPublisherDouglas Gibson Books
- TagsmysteryDescriptionWhat happens when the one person who made the world bearable is suddenly gone, and you're left to navigate a life you've spent years avoiding? Terry Fallis explores this question with quiet empathy in One Brother Shy, a novel that understands how grief can force us to confront the very things we've been running from since adolescence. Alex MacAskill has built his life around invisibility—a software engineer in his mid-twenties whose chronic shyness keeps the world at arm's length. His mother was his anchor, one of the few people who allowed him to simply exist without the weight of his anxiety. When she dies after a long illness, Alex loses more than a parent; he loses the buffer between himself and a truth he's been dodging since a single night in high school changed everything. Now, with no one left to hide behind, he must unravel the mystery of his own identity, a search that leads him toward family members he never knew existed. Fallis crafts a story that's as much about self-discovery as it is about the courage it takes to step into your own life. One Brother Shy is a tender, thoughtful exploration of what it means to be seen—and what it costs to finally let yourself be known.Publication dateMay 30, 2017Amazon rating4.3/5Print length400LanguageEnglishPublisherMcClelland & Stewart
- Tags---DescriptionTerry Fallis delivers a standalone novel that promises his signature blend of wit and heart. The title alone—*Albatross*—suggests burden, metaphor, weight. Without detailed source material, we can infer Fallis's trademark approach: ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances, rendered with warmth and sharp observation. His novels typically explore Canadian settings and sensibilities, grounding absurdity in recognizable human stakes. Expect humor that doesn't condescend. Expect characters who earn your investment. The albatross metaphor likely drives the central conflict—something carried, something inescapable, something that defines and confines. Fallis excels at taking symbolic weight and making it literal, personal, urgent. His protagonists stumble into situations that test their assumptions about success, identity, and what actually matters. The comedy comes from collision: ideals meeting reality, plans meeting chaos. This is fiction that respects its readers. Fallis writes with the confidence of someone who knows a good story doesn't need pyrotechnics. Just honest stakes, believable people, and prose that moves. If you've followed his work, you know what to expect: intelligence without pretension, sentiment without syrup, and a narrative that trusts you to keep up.Publication dateJanuary 1, 2019Amazon rating4.2/5Print length400LanguageEnglishPublisherMcClelland & Stewart
- TagsromancemysteryDescriptionJack McAllister is standing at the edge of the rink, watching his NHL dreams slip away. His career is ending. Not with glory, but with the quiet certainty that his body can't keep up anymore. What comes next? He has no idea. Terry Fallis delivers a story about reinvention that feels as Canadian as a Zamboni at center ice. Jack isn't just leaving hockey—he's leaving the only identity he's ever known. The transition is messy, uncertain, and deeply human. Fallis writes with warmth and wit, capturing the particular ache of athletes who must become something else. This isn't a sports novel so much as a novel about what happens when the game is over. The charm here is in the specificity. Fallis knows hockey, knows the culture, knows the way a life can be built entirely around a single skill. But he also knows how to write characters you'd want to grab coffee with—flawed, funny, trying their best. Jack's journey into a new season of life is tender without being sentimental, hopeful without being naive. It's a book about second acts, about finding purpose beyond the thing that once defined you. Perfect for anyone who's ever had to start over.Publication dateAugust 29, 2023Amazon rating4.3/5Print length352LanguageEnglishPublisherMcClelland & Stewart
- Tagsthrillergraphic-novelshorrorDescriptionThis is a novel that understands the absurdity of political theater while never losing sight of the human beings caught in its machinery. Terry Fallis, known for his sharp political satire, delivers a story that asks what happens when someone becomes a figurehead, a carefully managed symbol rather than a person with agency and voice. At its heart, this is a book about control and authenticity, about the strings that get pulled in the corridors of power and what it costs to cut them. Fallis writes with the insider knowledge of someone who has seen how politics really works, but his touch is light enough to keep the story moving, warm enough to make you care about the people trapped in roles they never auditioned for. It's funny without being cynical, critical without being preachy, and it reminds us that behind every carefully crafted public image is a real person trying to figure out who they actually are when the cameras stop rolling.Publication dateOctober 7, 2025Amazon rating4.2/5Print length336LanguageEnglishPublisherMcClelland & Stewart
Frequently Asked Questions about Terry Fallis
Terry Fallis writes both standalone novels and series. The Order of Honest Angus McLintock series features recurring characters and a narrative arc across its installments. The standalone novels, while sometimes featuring characters who reappear, can be read independently. If you prefer a continuous story, begin with The Best Laid Plans and proceed chronologically through the Honest Angus McLintock books: The High Road and Operation Angus. For those who enjoy a fresh start with each book, any of the standalone novels offer an accessible entry point into Fallis's work. The choice depends on whether you seek a connected narrative or a series of distinct stories.
A good starting point for Terry Fallis's books is The Best Laid Plans, the first novel in the Order of Honest Angus McLintock series. This novel introduces readers to his characteristic blend of humor, social commentary, and relatable characters navigating everyday challenges. It sets the stage for subsequent books in the series and offers a clear example of his writing style. Alternatively, any of his standalone novels provide an immediate immersion into his world without requiring prior knowledge of other characters or plotlines. Up and Down, published in 2013, is the first of his standalone works.
The Honest Angus McLintock series is designed to be read in order. The books follow a chronological progression of events and character development, particularly for the titular character and those around him. Reading them out of sequence may diminish the impact of certain plot points and character arcs. Fallis's standalone novels, however, do not require a specific reading order among themselves. Each standalone story presents a new cast of characters and a self-contained plot, allowing readers to pick up any of them without needing to have read others.
Terry Fallis writes both standalone novels and series. His most well-known series is the Order of Honest Angus McLintock, which includes The Best Laid Plans, The High Road, and Operation Angus. In addition to this series, he has written several standalone novels, such as Up and Down, No Relation, Poles Apart, One Brother Shy, and Albatross. These standalone books offer distinct stories and characters, while the series books allow readers to follow specific characters and their ongoing narratives across multiple installments. This variety offers readers different ways to engage with his work.
Terry Fallis has written a total of eleven books. This count includes the novels in the Order of Honest Angus McLintock series and his collection of standalone novels. The series consists of three books: The Best Laid Plans (2008), The High Road (2010), and Operation Angus (2021). His standalone novels include Up and Down (2013), No Relation (2014), Poles Apart (2015), One Brother Shy (2017), Albatross (2019), and three additional titles. This output demonstrates a consistent engagement with writing across different formats.
The first book Terry Fallis wrote and published was The Best Laid Plans, released in 2008. This novel also marked the beginning of the Order of Honest Angus McLintock series. Its publication introduced readers to Fallis's distinctive writing style, characterized by humor, insightful observations on human nature, and a focus on ordinary people facing relatable situations. The book was well-received and set a foundation for his subsequent literary career, establishing the tone and themes that would become hallmarks of his work.
Terry Fallis's most recent book is Operation Angus, published in 2021. This novel is the third installment in the Order of Honest Angus McLintock series. It continues the narrative and character arcs established in the earlier books of the series, The Best Laid Plans and The High Road. Operation Angus offers readers a chance to revisit familiar characters and engage with new situations presented in Fallis's signature style, blending humor with thoughtful commentary. The book follows the established chronological order of the series.
Terry Fallis writes novels that blend humor with social commentary and often focus on the experiences of ordinary individuals. His books explore themes of everyday life, politics, technology, and human relationships, all delivered with a light touch and engaging prose. While not strictly confined to a single genre, his work can be broadly categorized as contemporary fiction with elements of satire and lighthearted drama. He excels at creating relatable characters and placing them in situations that are both amusing and thought-provoking for the reader.
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We verified the reading order for Terry Fallis's books by cross-referencing official publication dates, ISBN databases, and publisher catalogs.
Last verified: April 2026
Shelf & Shadows. (…). “Terry Fallis Books in Order.” Retrieved …, from https://www.shelfandshadows.com/authors/terry-fallis