Rick Yancey Books In Order

Rick Yancey has a following in the crime mystery circles, the sci-fi / apocalyptic circles, as well as the Young Adult adventure lovers’ circles. After his book, The Fifth Wave has been made into a recent movie, even those readers who’ve never heard of him before started checking out his books. This is how I got to learn about this author as well.

His crime mystery series is called The Highly Effective Detective, featuring Theodore “Teddy” Ruzak, a guy who failed the police academy, so decided instead to open his own private investigation office in Knoxville, Tennessee. The series has 4 books so far.

Here are the Rick Yancey books in order for his mystery and sci-fi series.

The Highly Effective Detective Series

1. The Highly Effective Detective (book #1), 2006

2. The Highly Effective Detective Goes to the Dogs (book #2), 2008

3. The Highly Effective Detective Plays the Fool (book #3), 2010

4. The Highly Effective Detective Crosses the Line (book #4), 2011

The 5th Weave Series

1. The 5th Wave (book #1), 2013

2. The Infinite Sea (book #2), 2014

3. The 5th Wave (book #3), 2016

About The Author

Rick Yancey (website) was born in 1962 in Miami, Florida. He started writing books early in his life, while he was in seventh grade at the age of 14 at the Crystal Lake Junior High School in Florida.

Upon graduation from Lakeland Senior High School, he enrolled at the Florida Southern College, where he majored in Communications. After a year of college, he transferred to the Florida State University and one year later to Roosevelt University in Chicago, from where he earned his B.A. in English.

After his graduation, at the gentle nudge of his father, Rick decided to become a lawyer, so he enrolled in law school. It was, incidentally, the same school where his father studied law back in the day as well.

He left the school after one year, however, once he realized that it was not his dream at all. Instead, he began working for the IRS in 1991, where he spent his next 12 years.

During his time with the IRS he met his wife Sandy with whom he started a family.

While with IRS, he kicked off his writing career by writing screenplays. One of them became his first published book in 2003 under the title A Burning In Homeland. The book became a success, giving him the encouragement to leave the corporate world and start writing books full time. He left the IRS in 2004. This was the same year that also saw the publication of his memoir called Confessions Of A Tax Collector, based on his experiences with working with the IRS.

Once his memoir was published, Rick Yancley began working on two separate series: one for adults, one for teens. His Alfred Kropp YA series was born in 2005 and The Highly Effective Detective series saw the light in 2006.

In 2010 he released the first book in The Monstrumologist children series, and in 2013 his famous The 5th Wave came to life as well.

The author has written so far fifteen novels and a memoir, all books which have been published in over thirty languages. Several of his books won notable awards.