The Neanderthals Return combines the beginnings of three separate books in the return of the Neanderthal series -- The Neanderthals Are Back, The New World Neanderthals: The Rise of the Force, and The Rise of the Gang. These will ultimately be three separate books with ten or more additional chapters in each book. Each chapter features a complete episode as in a TV series, featuring a group of Neanderthals, and each book builds on the previous book in the series

In the first book: The Neanderthals Are Back, a paleontologist working in Germany, brings back some Neanderthal DNA and works with a scientist to bring back six Neanderthals. As part of a secret project, the children grow up initially in a lab with the help of a nursery school teacher, and at five or six, they are placed in a group home for kids with disabilities. Their secret is revealed after an unexpected incident brings in the cops and the media. Other stories in the first book continue as the children grow up, become teens, and then young adults facing the challenge of being different.

The second book The New World Neanderthals: The Rise of the Force, builds on this initial story, when the owner of a robot factory learns about the success of the first group of Neanderthals. He decides to create a workforce of Neanderthals to replace the robots in his factory and shipping facility. When some local detectives hear about this, they recruit six of the Neanderthals to help them find and catch criminals, when the usual law enforcement methods fail. In their first assignment, they track down an escaped convict who has fled into the desert and the mountains beyond it. Later stories feature the team tackling other assignments for the cops.

The third book The New World Neanderthals: The Rise of the Gang builds on this second book after a criminal gang leader learns about the Neanderthals working for the cops. He decides to create a gang of Neanderthals to help his gang commit crimes as well as thwart the efforts of the New Neanderthals Force. The first book in the series describes their initial two assignments. Later stories in the series feature their additional criminal activities and confrontations with the Force.

The Neanderthals Return features the first complete episode in each of these series. These were published separately, and now they are together.