Matthew Reilly Books in Order (Updated September 9, 2026)

Matthew Reilly is an Australian action and adventure novelist known for extremely fast pacing, elaborate set pieces, military hardware, ancient puzzles, impossible locations, diagrams, countdowns, and heroes forced to survive escalating chains of danger. His best-known recurring characters are Shane “Scarecrow” Schofield and Jack West Jr.

Reilly also writes standalones that range from death-game thrillers and ancient archaeology to hover-car racing, dragons, superheroes, young-adult dystopia, historical adventure, and detective fiction. The main reading-order challenge is separating the Scarecrow and Jack West Jr. series from these independent books.

Match your first Matthew Reilly book to the kind of action you want

• For military action: Begin with Ice Station and Shane Schofield.
• For ancient puzzles and global races: Start with Seven Ancient Wonders and Jack West Jr.
• For a standalone survival contest: Start with Contest.
• For archaeological action: Try Temple.
• For younger readers: Start with Hover Car Racer.
• For Reilly’s newest detective direction: Read The Detective.

The Scarecrow books need to be read in order. Reilly has specifically noted that some readers mistakenly began with Area 7 or Scarecrow without realizing they were sequels to Ice Station.

Shane Schofield’s Scarecrow missions in order

Captain Shane Schofield, nicknamed Scarecrow, is a U.S. Marine whose missions repeatedly escalate from dangerous military situations into conspiracies involving governments, private armies, advanced weapons, assassins, secret facilities, and global threats.

1. Ice Station (1998): Scarecrow leads a Marine team to an Antarctic research station after scientists discover what appears to be an extraordinary object beneath the ice, only to find several nations and special forces units prepared to kill for it.
2. Area 7 (2001): During a presidential visit to a secret U.S. military installation, a rogue force seals the base and activates a plan that turns the underground facility into a deadly battlefield.
3. Scarecrow (2003): A bounty is placed on the world’s most dangerous military operatives, including Schofield, triggering a global manhunt in which professional killers compete to claim the enormous reward.
4. Hell Island (2005): Scarecrow and a small Marine team are sent to investigate the disappearance of aircraft near a remote Pacific island and discover a classified experiment that has gone violently wrong.
5. Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves (2011): Schofield is sent to a secret Arctic installation seized by a ruthless terrorist army whose plan could trigger catastrophic consequences far beyond the frozen base.

Hell Island is a novella rather than a full-length novel, but it belongs to Scarecrow continuity and is best read between Scarecrow and Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves.

Why Ice Station cannot be skipped

Ice Station establishes Schofield’s command style, loyalty to his Marines, willingness to improvise under impossible conditions, and reputation for surviving missions that should kill him.

Later novels repeatedly build on relationships, enemies, losses, injuries, and reputations formed earlier. Beginning with Area 7 gives readers a spectacular action plot but removes much of the context surrounding the man at its center.

Area 7 is not a standalone military thriller

The title does not make the connection obvious, something Reilly himself has acknowledged. Area 7 is Scarecrow’s second full-length mission.

The same issue applies to the simply titled Scarecrow. It is book three in the core sequence rather than the character’s introduction.

Jack West Jr. and the seven-book countdown

Jack West Jr. is an Australian soldier, engineer, scholar, and adventurer whose series combines ancient civilizations, legendary structures, mathematical cycles, global competitions, historical secrets, traps, puzzles, and repeated attempts to prevent world-ending events.

Reilly deliberately used a countdown in the titles so readers would immediately recognize the sequence.

1. Seven Ancient Wonders (2005): Jack leads a small multinational team in a race to recover pieces of the legendary Golden Capstone of the Great Pyramid before rival powers can use an ancient celestial event to gain extraordinary global power.
2. The Six Sacred Stones (2007): A new astronomical catastrophe forces Jack to locate six ancient stones and place them in hidden sacred sites before a destructive cosmic event reaches Earth.
3. The Five Greatest Warriors (2009): The race begun in The Six Sacred Stones continues as Jack searches for the secrets of five legendary warriors and a mechanism capable of saving the world.
4. The Four Legendary Kingdoms (2016): Jack is abducted and forced into a brutal contest where champions representing four ancient kingdoms compete in deadly trials tied to a larger cosmic system.
5. The Three Secret Cities (2018): The contest expands into a global hunt for three hidden cities, while Jack’s family and allies become direct targets of rival champions.
6. The Two Lost Mountains (2020): Jack races surviving enemies to locate two missing mountains and the mechanisms hidden within them before the continuing challenge reaches its final stage.
7. The One Impossible Labyrinth (2021): Jack reaches the Supreme Labyrinth, a maze built from other mazes, where the final race will determine who reaches the throne and whether the approaching universal catastrophe can be stopped.

The Jack West Jr. story is complete with The One Impossible Labyrinth. Books two and three form an especially tight pair, while books four through seven develop into another major multi-book arc.

The countdown titles are the reading order

Unlike the Scarecrow books, Jack West Jr. is difficult to misorder once the title pattern is understood.

1. Seven
2. Six
3. Five
4. Four
5. Three
6. Two
7. One

Reilly developed the countdown deliberately after seeing readers miss the series relationship among Ice Station, Area 7, and Scarecrow.

Jack West Jr. short fiction around the main series

• Jack West Jr and the Hero’s Helmet: A shorter adventure expands Jack’s world without becoming one of the seven numbered countdown novels.
• Jack West Jr and the Chinese Splashdown: This special prequel to The Two Lost Mountains begins when a satellite hunter intercepts a secret transmission from the Moon and turns to Jack for help.

The short works are optional. Readers can complete the seven novels without them and still follow the entire main plot.

Contest started Matthew Reilly’s publishing career

Contest was originally self-published by Reilly in 1996 after major publishers rejected it. He printed copies himself and placed them in Sydney bookshops, which eventually helped attract a publisher.

The novel traps Dr. Stephen Swain inside the New York State Library during a deadly intergalactic contest in which contestants from different species must hunt one another until only one remains.

It is standalone and can be read at any point. Readers who like enclosed-location survival stories may prefer it even to beginning with one of Reilly’s longer series.

Temple mixes archaeology with a modern military hunt

Temple follows linguist William Race, who is recruited to translate a sixteenth-century manuscript describing an Incan idol made from an extraordinary material.

The modern expedition becomes a race involving military forces and terrorists, while a parallel historical narrative explains how the idol was hidden centuries earlier.

No Jack West Jr. book is required first. Temple predates the Jack West series and occupies its own continuity.

Hover Car Racer books and editions

Hover Car Racer follows teenage racer Jason Chaser as he enters a high-speed racing academy where futuristic hover vehicles travel at extreme speeds and competition becomes increasingly dangerous.

The story was originally released in serial form and later collected as a complete novel. Readers should treat the collected book as one story rather than counting each serialized part as a separate novel.

The Tournament introduces Roger Ascham in Tudor Constantinople

The Tournament is a historical thriller set in 1546. Young Princess Elizabeth accompanies her tutor Roger Ascham to Constantinople for an international chess tournament hosted by the Ottoman sultan.

When murders begin occurring around the gathering, Ascham becomes an investigator while Elizabeth observes a world of politics, violence, sex, religion, and diplomacy far removed from the English court.

Roger Ascham has related shorter fiction

• Roger Ascham and the King’s Lost Girl: A shorter mystery involving Ascham provides more of the historical-detective style used in The Tournament.
• The Tournament: The full-length novel remains the main Roger Ascham book and can be read independently.

The Great Zoo of China is Reilly’s dragon thriller

The Great Zoo of China begins with the revelation that China has discovered living dragons and built an enormous secret attraction intended to rival the greatest tourist destinations in the world.

American reptile expert CJ Cameron is invited to inspect the facility before its public opening, but the assumption that the creatures can be safely controlled proves disastrously wrong.

The novel is standalone and is often a good choice for readers who enjoy the creature-survival side of Jurassic Park.

Troll Mountain is one complete fantasy adventure

Troll Mountain follows a young hero who must climb a dangerous mountain ruled by trolls in search of something capable of saving his people.

The story was originally released in parts but is now best approached as one complete fantasy novel rather than a conventional multi-book series.

The Secret Runners of New York

The Secret Runners of New York is a young-adult novel about students at an elite Manhattan school who discover a way to travel into the future.

What initially appears to be an extraordinary secret becomes frightening when the future version of New York reveals evidence of an approaching catastrophe.

The book is standalone and unrelated to Scarecrow, Jack West Jr., or Hover Car Racer.

Cobalt Blue is Reilly’s superhero novella

Cobalt Blue, published in 2022, imagines a world where the United States and Russia have each possessed a superhuman champion for decades.

When America’s hero dies and an overwhelming attack begins, an apparently ordinary young woman may be the country’s only remaining defense. Her codename is Cobalt Blue.

The book is a standalone science-fiction novella rather than the beginning of the Scarecrow or Jack West series.

Mr Einstein’s Secretary moves through twentieth-century history

Mr Einstein’s Secretary follows a woman whose life intersects with Albert Einstein and major events of the twentieth century, combining historical figures with a fictional adventure narrative.

The book stands apart from Reilly’s established action heroes and can be read without any previous novel.

The Detective is Reilly’s newest released novel

The Detective, published in 2026, introduces private investigator Sam Speedman and moves Reilly into a mystery structure set in isolated parts of the American South.

For roughly 150 years, women have disappeared in the same region, and investigators who tried to solve the mystery have vanished as well. Speedman takes the case and discovers that the pattern is tied to secrets far older and stranger than a normal missing-person investigation.

The novel is standalone as of this update and does not require any Scarecrow or Jack West Jr. background.

Matthew Reilly standalones in a useful reading order

1. Contest: A doctor is trapped inside the New York State Library during a deadly interspecies tournament.
2. Temple: A linguist follows an Incan manuscript toward a dangerous ancient artifact while armed groups race to reach it first.
3. Hover Car Racer: A teenager enters a futuristic racing academy and competes in machines capable of extraordinary speed.
4. The Tournament: Roger Ascham investigates murders during a chess competition in sixteenth-century Constantinople while Princess Elizabeth watches him work.
5. The Great Zoo of China: A secret Chinese attraction built around living dragons becomes a survival nightmare.
6. Troll Mountain: A young hero climbs into troll territory in a fantasy quest to save his people.
7. The Secret Runners of New York: Teenagers discover a method of seeing New York’s future and learn that a disaster is approaching.
8. Cobalt Blue: A new American superhuman may be the only person capable of stopping an overwhelming attack after the country’s established hero dies.
9. Mr Einstein’s Secretary: A fictional woman’s life intersects with Einstein and major events of modern history.
10. The Detective (2026): Sam Speedman investigates a 150-year pattern of missing women and missing investigators in the American South.

These are independent stories, so the order above is for publication and career orientation rather than continuity.

Matthew Reilly short stories worth knowing about

• Time Tours: A shorter science-fiction adventure involving the dangers of treating time travel as entertainment.
• The Mine: A compact action story built around a dangerous location and Reilly’s preference for rapidly escalating peril.
• Altitude Rush: A high-altitude action story using speed and physical danger in a shorter format.
• The Rock Princess and the Thriller Writer: A playful shorter work that places celebrity and thriller storytelling inside an action-oriented plot.
• The Dead Prince: Another short adventure that stands outside the main Scarecrow and Jack West Jr. novel sequences.
• Roger Ascham and the King’s Lost Girl: A historical mystery connected to the Roger Ascham material.
• Jack West Jr and the Hero’s Helmet: Optional Jack West Jr. material between the larger novels.
• Jack West Jr and the Chinese Splashdown: A special prequel to The Two Lost Mountains.

Scarecrow and Jack West Jr. are separate continuities

Both heroes inhabit the kind of heightened action world Reilly enjoys, but they are not two branches of one required crossover series.

Scarecrow stories emphasize military teams, bases, weapons, special forces, and modern conspiracies. Jack West Jr. focuses more on archaeology, ancient civilizations, puzzles, temples, global races, and cosmic mechanisms.

You can read all five Scarecrow stories without Jack West Jr., and all seven Jack West Jr. novels without Scarecrow.

A Matthew Reilly route for readers who want the biggest action first

1. Ice Station: Begin with Schofield and one of Reilly’s defining enclosed-location military thrillers.
2. Area 7: Continue Scarecrow inside an even more heavily fortified military environment.
3. Scarecrow: Turn the whole world into the battlefield during an international bounty hunt.
4. Hell Island: Add the shorter island mission.
5. Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves: Complete the current Scarecrow sequence.
6. Seven Ancient Wonders: Switch from military action into Jack West Jr.’s ancient-puzzle world.
7. The Six Sacred Stones: Begin the next major Jack West arc.
8. The Five Greatest Warriors: Complete that connected crisis.
9. The Four Legendary Kingdoms: Enter the final countdown arc.
10. The Three Secret Cities: Continue the global contest.
11. The Two Lost Mountains: Move toward the endgame.
12. The One Impossible Labyrinth: Finish Jack West Jr.’s seven-book saga.

A shorter Reilly sampler without committing to either long series

1. Contest: See Reilly’s earliest death-game concept and the book he originally self-published.
2. Temple: Add archaeology and a parallel historical storyline.
3. The Tournament: Try his Tudor-era mystery and historical adventure.
4. The Great Zoo of China: Move into a creature-survival blockbuster.
5. Cobalt Blue: Sample Reilly’s superhero fiction in a much shorter book.
6. The Detective: Finish with his 2026 mystery and one of his clearest departures from the Scarecrow and Jack West formula.

Which books are most tightly connected?

• Ice Station, Area 7, and Scarecrow: The first three major Shane Schofield missions build directly on the same protagonist and supporting cast.
• The Six Sacred Stones and The Five Greatest Warriors: The second book ends with major unfinished business that continues directly into the third.
• The Four Legendary Kingdoms through The One Impossible Labyrinth: These four novels form the concluding Jack West Jr. countdown arc.
• Nick of Time style adventure is not part of Reilly’s bibliography: Do not confuse Ted Bell’s separate series with Reilly’s work simply because both authors write fast-paced adventure.

Matthew Reilly’s latest release status

The Detective is Reilly’s latest released novel as of September 2026. It was published in 2026 and introduces Sam Speedman in a standalone mystery set in the American South.

The Jack West Jr. saga is complete with The One Impossible Labyrinth. No eighth countdown novel has been announced.

The most recent Scarecrow full-length novel remains Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves. Reilly has not published another full Scarecrow novel since then.

Questions readers often have about Matthew Reilly

What Matthew Reilly book should I read first?

Ice Station is the best general starting point for Reilly’s signature action style. Seven Ancient Wonders is better if ancient puzzles and archaeology appeal more than military bases.

What is the first Scarecrow book?

Ice Station introduces Shane Schofield and should be read before Area 7.

Where does Hell Island fit?

Read Hell Island after Scarecrow and before Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves.

How many Jack West Jr. novels are there?

There are seven main novels, beginning with Seven Ancient Wonders and ending with The One Impossible Labyrinth.

Is Jack West Jr. complete?

Yes. The One Impossible Labyrinth provides the conclusion to the seven-book countdown saga.

Is Contest part of a series?

No. It is a standalone novel and was Reilly’s first published book.

Is Cobalt Blue connected to Scarecrow?

No. Cobalt Blue is a separate superhero novella.

What is Matthew Reilly’s newest book?

The Detective, published in 2026, is his newest released novel as of this update.

The simplest way to organize Matthew Reilly’s books

Keep Scarecrow and Jack West Jr. as two separate series. Read Scarecrow from Ice Station through Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves, placing Hell Island before the final full-length book. Read Jack West Jr. strictly through the seven-to-one countdown.

Everything else can largely be chosen by premise. Contest offers a survival game, Temple archaeology, The Great Zoo of China dragons, Cobalt Blue superheroes, and The Detective mystery. That makes Reilly’s bibliography easy to navigate once the two recurring-action series are separated from the standalones.