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This is from wikipedia and helps explain about the two extra books in the 1-27 series>>>

Ahern produced twenty-seven novels in numbered sequence, plus two un-numbered novels which fit between 15/16 and 21/22, selling 3.5 million copies in total[2]: despite this, and probably important for the pulp marketplace, there is usually enough recapping at the start of each novel to read them out of sequence.
The story centers around John Rourke, ex-CIA officer turned weapons and survival expert, in the aftermath of a nuclear war. The first few books cover Rourke's attempts to find his family, on the way fighting invading Soviet troops as well as typical post-apocalyptic villains such as biker gangs, mutants and cannibals in extended scenes of graphic violence. Later books head more into science fiction with cryonics, doomsday weapons and underwater cities.
Aside from leading the 1980s fad for survivalist fiction, the series is probably most notable for Ahern's attention to detail on weapons and survival techniques, and the inclusion of sympathetic Soviet characters instead of what could have been typical Cold War propaganda depictions of 'Godless Communists' -- nevertheless, most are still just cannon fodder and some are shown as sexually sadistic against women. Ahern also includes strong, positive Jewish and Black supporting characters, going against the anti-semitism and racism found in some small fringes of survivalism.
The series leaves out all devastating electromagnetic pulse effects which would in reality have been caused by a massive nuclear war such as the one described—there is a brief mention of war damage to the United States and Russian electrical equipment in the first two books total war and the nightmare begins. The name of the Mount Weather continuity of government facility has been changed, the National Emergency Airborne Command Post has mysteriously become a V-22 Osprey. and neutron bomb effects are described with significant dramatic license. There are also inaccuracies in submarine-related nomenclature and protocol, but some of these are understandable. The Soviet Union consistently refused to disclose the particulars of its internal system for referring to the types of submarines it produced. At the end of the Cold War it became publicly available knowledge that the Soviets used a system based on project numbers, instead of named ship classes such as Western navies use. The Soviet scheme has been inherited by the Russian Federation, and in fact the People's Republic of China uses a similar system.
Starting in 2007, audio versions started to be released by Graphic Audio covering the entire series of novels. The last book released in 2011.[3]
The series has been long out of print.
Some (or all?) of the books were translated into Polish. Also a French publisher (see below) extended the series.>>>>READ MORE>>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Survivalist

There were 29 volumes. But the last 2 weren't numbered. Mid-Wake. The Legend.