Lee Child Books in Order

Lee Child is a New York Times bestselling thriller author and the award-winning creator of the Jack Reacher series, whose debut novel Killing Floor won both the Barry and Anthony Awards for Best First Novel and who later received the CWA Diamond Dager for lifetime achievement in crime writing.

This page lists all Lee Child books in order, including his series, short stories, and collections. The Jack Reacher novels are now co-written and continued by Andrew Child.

Latest Lee Child Books

Jack Reacher Series (Books in Order)

The Jack Reacher series follow former U.S. Army military police officer Jack Reacher who travels across the United States and becomes involved in dangerous situations while helping people solve their problems.

Reading Order

1. Killing Floor ( #1), 1997
2. Die Trying (#2), 1998
3. Tripwire (#3), 1999
4. The Visitor (#4), 2000 (also titled Running Blind)
5. Echo Burning (#5), 2001
6. Without Fail (#6), 2002
7. Persuader (#7), 2003
8. The Enemy (#8), 2004
9. One Shot (#9), 2005
10. The Hard Way (#10), 2006
11. Bad Luck And Trouble (#11), 2007
12. Nothing To Lose (#12), 2007
13. Gone Tomorrow (#13), 2009
14. 61 Hours (#14), 2010
15. Worth Dying For (#15), 2010
16. Second Son (#15.5), 2011
17. The Affair (#16), 2011
18. Deep Down (#16.5), 2012
19. A Wanted Man (#17), 2012
20. High Heat (#17.5), 2013
21. Never Go Back (#18), 2013
22. Not a Drill (#18.5), 2014
23. Personal (#19), 2014
24. Good and Valuable Consideration (#19.1), 2014 (with Joseph Finder)
25. Small Wars (#19.5), 2015
26. Make Me (#20), 2015
27. Night School (#21), 2016
28. The Midnight Line (#22), 2017
29. James Penney’s New Identity (#12.5), 2017
30. Too Much Time (#22.3), 2018
31. Faking a Murderer (#22.4), 2018
32. The Christmas Scorpion (#22.5), 2018
33. Past Tense (#23), 2018
34. The Fourth Man (#23.5), 2019
35. Cleaning the Gold (#23.6), 2019 (with Karin Slaughter)
36. Blue Moon (#24), 2019
37. The Sentinel (#25), 2020
38. Better Off Dead (#26), 2021
39. No Plan B (#27), 2022
40. The Secret (#28), 2023
41. New Kid in Town (#28.5), 2024
42. In Too Deep (#29), 2024
43. Exit Strategy (#30), 2025
44. Chain Reaction (#31), 2026

Contributions

1. The Chopin Manuscript, 2007
2. The Copper Bracelet, 2009

Standalone Novels

• Inherit the Dead, 2013

Short Stories

• Eleven Numbers, 2025

Short Story Collections

• James Penney’s New Identity / Guy Walks Into a Bar, 2011
• Safe Enough: And Other Stories, 2024
• The Twisted Women’s Book Club, 2025

Anthologies

• Fresh Blood 3, 1999
• The Mammoth Book of Tales from the Road, 2002
• The Best British Mysteries IV, 2003
• Like a Charm: A Novel in Voices, 2004 (edited by Karin Slaughter)
• The Cocaine Chronicles, 2005
• Greatest Hits: Original Stories of Hitmen, Hired Guns, and Private Eyes, 2005
• Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night, 2006 (edited by James Patterson)
• Death Do Us Part: New Stories about Love, Lust, and Murder, 2006
• Killer Year, 2008 (edited by Lee Child)
• Bloodlines: A Horse Racing Anthology, 2008
• The Mammoth Book of Best British Mysteries, 2008
• The Lineup: The World’s Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives, 2009
• Phoenix Noir, 2009
• The Dark End Of The Street, 2010 (edited by Jonathan Santlofer)
• First Thrills, 2010 (edited by Lee Child, foreword by Steve Berry)
• Agents of Treachery, 2010
• The Penguin Book of Crime Stories, Volume II, 2010 (edited by Peter Robinson)
• The Best American Mystery Stories 2010, 2010
• First Thrills: Volume 2, 2011 (edited by Lee Child, foreword by Steve Berry)
• A Study in Sherlock, 2011
• Mystery Writers of America Presents The Rich and the Dead, 2011
• Vengeance, 2012 (edited and introduced by Lee Child)
• The Interrogator And Other Criminally Good Fiction, 2012
• The Marijuana Chronicles, 2013
• The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime 10, 2013
• USA Noir, 2013
• Mammoth Book of Best British Crime 11, 2014
• Belfast Noir, 2014
• FaceOff, 2014
• The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook, 2015
• Manhattan Mayhem, 2015
• The Best American Mystery Stories 2015, 2015 (edited by James Patterson and Otton Penzler)
• In Sunlight or In Shadow, 2016
• The Best American Mystery Stories 2017, 2017
• No Middle Name: The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Stories, 2017
• The MatchUp Collection, 2017 (author edited)
• Anatomy of Innocence, 2017
• Alive in Shape and Color, 2017
• Ten Year Stretch: Celebrating a Decade of Crime Fiction and CrimeFest, 2018
• It Occurs to Me That I Am America: New Stories and Art, 2018 (edited by Jonathan Santlofer)
• Love Is Murder, 2018 (edited by Sandra Brown)
• The Best American Mystery Stories 2018, 2018
• Exit Wounds, 2019
• Invisible Blood, 2019
• Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night, 2019
• The Big Book of Espionage, 2020
• Deadly Anniversaries, 2020
• Dear NHS, 2020
• The Nicotine Chronicles, 2020
• The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year: 2021 (edited by Lee Child and Otto Penzler)
• Killer Year: Stories to Die For, 2021
• An Unnecessary Assassin, 2023
• Crimebits: 100 Opening Gambits for Great Thrillers & Linked Mystery Puzzles, 2024
• Birds, Strangers and Psychos, 2025

Non-Fiction Books

• Jack Reacher’s Rules, 2011
• The Hero, 2019
• How To Write a Mystery, 2021 (with Laurie R King)
• Jack Reacher: A Mysterious Profile, 2022

Lee Child Biography

Lee Child is a British thriller author whose work includes the Jack Reacher series. He has published more than 30 novels since his debut, Killing Floor, in 1997.
Official website: jackreacher.com

Lee Child was born in 1954 in Coventry, England, under the name James Dover Grant. He grew up in Birmingham and studied at King Edward’s School. In 1974, he attended law school at Sheffield University, graduating in 1977, though he never practiced law.

In the mid-1970s, he worked various odd jobs, including at a cardboard box factory and a Lyons Maid factory, and Granada TV in Manchester, where he remained for 18 years.

In the 1990s, he started writing fiction novels, leading to the publication of Killing Floor, which introduced the Jack Reacher character.

In 1998, Lee Child moved to the United States, where he continued writing the Jack Reacher novels. In 2019, he announced that the series would be continued with his brother, Andrew Grant, who now writes under the name Andrew Child. The first co-authored Jack Reacher novel, Sentinel, was published in 2020.

Lee Child currently lives in the United States.

Lee Child Book Adaptations

• One Shot – adapted into the movie Jack Reacher (2012)
• Never Go Back – adapted into the movie Never Go Back (2016)
• Jack Reacher series – adapted into the Amazon Prime television series Reacher (2022-2026)

Lee Child Awards and Honors

Lee Child has received multiple major crime and thriller awards around the world, including debut awards, best novel prizes and lifetime achievement honors. The list below highlights key awards and also includes a full record of wins and nominations.

Major Awards and Honors

• Killing Floor – Barry Award for Best First Novel (1998)
• Killing Floor – Anthony Award for Best First Novel (1998)
• The Enemy – Nero Award (2005)
• The Enemy – Barry Award for Best Novel (2005)
• 61 Hours – Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (2011)
• CWA Diamond Dagger (2013)
• Thrillermaster Award (2017)
• Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution Award (2017)
• British Book Award: Author of the Year (2019)

Awards (Full List)

Nominations and Shortlists

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