Lee Child Books in Order – Complete List

New York Bestselling author Lee Child is undoubtedly known for his popular Jack Reacher series, which follows an ex-military policeman who likes to travel alone, but who trouble finds no matter in which far away corner of the country he happens to be at the time.

Here are the Lee Child books in order for his series, short stories, and collections. The Jack Reacher novels are now being continued by the author’s brother, Andrew Grant, who is now called Andrew Lee.

Latest Lee Child Books

Jack Reacher Books in Publication Order

1. Killing Floor ( #1), 1997
2. Die Trying (#2),  1998
3. Tripwire (#3), 1999
4. The Visitor (#4), 2000 – also under the name of Running Blind
5. Echo Burning (#5), 2001
6. Without Fail (#6), 2002
7. Persuader (#7), 2003
8. The Enemy (#8)
9. One Shot (#9), 2005 – prompted the first movie adaptation in 2012 with Tom Cruise
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. The Affair (Reacher #16), 2011
17. A Wanted Man (#17), 2012
18. Never Go Back (#18), 2013 – second movie adaptation with Tom Cruise
19. Personal (#19), 2014
20. Make Me (#20), 2015
21. Night School (#21), 2016
22. The Midnight Line (#22), 2017
23. Past Tense (#23), 2018
24. Blue Moon (#24), 2019
25. The Sentinel (#25), 2020 – from here on, the books are co-authored with Andrew Child
26. Better Off Dead (#26), 2021
27. No Plan B (#27), 2022
28. The Secret (#28), 2023
29. New Kid in Town (short story), 2024
30. In Too Deep (#29), 2024
31. Exit Strategy (#30), 2025

Jack Reacher Short Stories and Novellas in Order of Publication

• Second Son, 2011
• High Heat, 2013
• Deep Down, 2012
• Everyone Talks, 2012 (short story)
• Not a Drill, 2014 (short story)
• Good and Valuable Consideration, 2014 (short story)
• Public Transportation, 2014
• Small Wars, 2015
• James Penney’s New Identity, 2017
• Too Much Time, 2018
• The Christmas Scorpion, 2018
• I Heard a Romantic Story, 2018
• Faking a Murderer, 2018 (MatchUp Collection with Kathy Reichs)
• The Fourth Man, 2019
• Cleaning the Gold, 2019 – with Karin Slaughter
• New Kid in Town (short story), 2024

Other Jack Reacher Stories

• Jack Reacher’s Rules, 2011 (non-fiction)
• No Middle Name: The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Stories, 2017

Anthologies and Short Story Collections in Order of Publication

Non-Fiction Books in Publication Order

• The Hero, 2019
• How To Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America, 2021 (with Laurie R King)

Books About Lee Child

• The Reacher Guy: A Biography of Lee Child by Heather Martin, 2020

Lee Child Biography – About the Author

Born in 1954 in Coventry England, Lee Child  (a pen name for the British author Jim Grant, full name James Dover Grant) moved to Handsworth Wood, Birmingham at the age of 4. He attended Cherry Orchard Primary School, where he developed his love for reading books.

At the age of 10, he went to King Edward’s School, where he excelled academically and showed a strong passion for learning. He graduated from the school in 1973.

In 1974 he went to law school at Sheffield University from where he graduated in 1977, but never really practiced law.

In the mid-1970s, he worked various odd jobs, which also included working at a cardboard box factory and a Lyons Maid factory.

In 1978, Lee Child went to work at Granada TV in Manchester, where he worked for 18 years before he was downsized in 1995. This is when he decided to try his hands at writing. And it ended up being the best decision of his career ever.

Lee Child started to write this series as early as 1990, although it took him 7 years, in 1997, for his debut novel Killing Floor, the first book in the Jack Reacher series, to be published. Who is Jack Reacher? He calls himself “My name is Jack Reacher. No middle name, no address.” He travels all across America, and Reacher gets things done. Always.

In 1998 Lee Child moved to the US where he continued writing his Jack Reacher series, where he met his wife, Jane. He currently lives in New York with his wife and his already-grown daughter. A fun trivia I was pleased to read about – he dedicated A Wanted Man (published in 2012) to his wife.

So who is Jack Reacher? He is a drifter who loves to hitchhike or go by bus, and who never wears a watch – yet invariably knows the exact time of day or night any time you ask him. Don’t be fooled by the word ‘drifter’ though. He knows well the art of fighting, he knows how to defend himself and anyone else around him that needs defending. Especially a good-looking damsel in distress.

Have you noticed most book covers have that lone character depicted somewhere walking on a road? I find it kind of sad that the character always chooses to be and leave alone after finishing the current job.

The stories have a beginning and an end, meaning that reading the Jack Reacher books in chronological order is not really a must but still recommended. There are no loose ties left at the end of a novel. Wherever he is at the moment, Jack solves the case, saves the needy and terminates the threat – and then moves on to another part of the country he wants to visit.

However, if you want to start the Jack Reacher books in reading order, you get to learn more about our hero in every subsequent novel – about his past, his brother, his demons and why he quit the Army Military Police Force to go around the country investigating situations that can get dangerous to people who can’t protect themselves.

A small trivia about the author Lee Child – every year he starts his new novels on September 1. This was the very date when he first purchased the paper and the pen he used to write his debut book, Killing Floor. So every year, Lee Child writes a book.

In 2019, Lee Child announced that his brother, Andrew Chld, would take over writing the popular series after a few books that the two brothers co-authored together.

The year 2020 saw the publication of Sentinel, the first first Jack Reacher novel co-written by Lee and Andrew Grant.

Currently, there are two Jack Reacher movies available starring Tom Cruise, the last one released in November 2016. Most of the novels are also available as audiobooks. In the future, there will not be any more movies with this actor. Instead, a TV series simply titled Reacher featuring Alan Ritchson to portray Reacher premiered in 2022. The first season adapted the first novel, Killing Floor.

What Is the Latest Lee Child Book?

The latest Lee Child story is Eleven Numbers, published in February 2025, an Amazon short story.

Lee Child and Jack Reacher Similarities

Having read all the Jack Reacher novels, and also several interviews with Lee Child, and of course, the authoritative biography by Heather Martin, I did find some commonalities between the author and his main character, as it is often common in literature. Many authors put parts of themselves in their most loved characters.

First of all, both Lee and Jack love freedom. Lee Child (granted after being downsized), left a stable job environment to become a full-time writer, a passion that is usually not that safe or rewarding. Yet, he did it. Reacher is also a drifter who can’t seem to stick to one particular place for too long. After solving the case he was destined to solve, the moved away, leaving any entanglements (including romantic) behind.

Tied to this is also the fact that both love a rather solitary lifestyle. The author spends most of his time writing in solitude rather than hanging out, and Reacher can never stay for long in the same place and loves to be alone.

The author never plans his stories. He follows the story wherever it goes, leaving it to a sense of surprise as to where it takes him. He never knows in advance where the story will take him, but he trusts that he will get there at the end. He starts writing, like clockwork, on September 1, and knows he will deliver the final result on time. Reacher also loves solving the cases he comes across methodically. He never plans where go to. He just gets on the next bus wherever and gets off at the end of the line or when he sees something unfolding at a station. Yet, he always delivers; he always solves the cases no matter how hard they are.

Both Lee and Jack are self-confident, to the point of being arrogant. Also, both are fighters. Lee Child’s IMDB page also mentions that he was born where “if you fell in the river, you had to go to the hospital for a mandatory stomach pump. The sort of place where minor disputes were settled with box cutters and bicycle chains. He’s got the scars to prove it. He survived, though.” Reacher is also arrogant and ready for a fight. His many scars on his body are also his testament to the fact.

Jack Reacher might just be an idealized version of Lee Child, a stronger, more skilled, and freer version of the author who can have experiences that Lee himself cannot due to real-life constraints, while at the same time both sharing the same values and beliefs. Both have the same ideas about justice, morality, and freedom.

Lee Child Awards and Nominations

This list includes both awards received and nominations/shortlists in chronological order.

• 1998
  • Barry Award for Best First Novel: Killing Floor
  • Anthony Award for Best First Novel: Killing Floor
  • Macavity Award for Best First Novel (nominee): Killing Floor
  • Dilys Award for Best Book (nominee): Killing Floor
• 2001
  • Barry Award for Best Novel (nominee): Running Blind
• 2002
  • CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger (shortlist): Without Fail