Riley Sager Books in Order (Updated February 19, 2026)

Riley Sager (a pen name of author Todd Ritter) writes standalone twist-driven thrillers. There’s no shared series timeline to protect, so your “right” reading order is whichever premise you want first, then you can jump around freely.

Quick answer

• Safest starting point: Final Girls (classic “Sager setup,” no prior context)
• Best “locked location” entry: Lock Every Door (one building, many rules, rising dread)
• Best newest place to begin: With a Vengeance (latest published novel)

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What order actually matters here

Continuity: These are standalones, so you won’t spoil earlier books by reading a later one.
Best experience: If you like seeing an author’s style evolve, read in publication order (next section).

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Publication order (one line per book)

1. Final Girls (2017): A woman who survived a massacre is pulled back into fear when the “final girl” pattern starts repeating.
2. The Last Time I Lied (2018): A return to a summer camp reopens a disappearance, and the truth depends on what was deliberately misremembered.
3. Lock Every Door (2019): A broke woman takes a job house-sitting in a luxury apartment building where the residents’ rules feel like a trap.
4. Home Before Dark (2020): A woman returns to a notorious “haunted house” tied to her family, unsure whether the real danger is supernatural or human.
5. Survive the Night (2021): A young woman rides with a stranger and realizes too late she may have gotten into the wrong car.
6. The House Across the Lake (2022): A woman watching her glamorous neighbor from across the water sees something that may be a crime, or may be a story she’s inventing.
7. The Only One Left (2023): A caregiver arrives at a decaying mansion to look after a notorious woman and finds the past is still actively weaponized.
8. Middle of the Night (2024): A man returns to his childhood street and can’t let go of the night his best friend vanished during a sleepover.
9. With a Vengeance (2025): A revenge-driven story set on a train ride where the plan depends on keeping everyone boxed in and panicking at the right time.
10. The Unknown (announced for August 4, 2026): A present-day film project collides with an old disappearance, and the “story” starts recreating itself in real time.

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Picking your first Riley Sager by mood

• If you want classic slasher-adjacent tension: Final Girls
• If you want “one creepy place” confinement: Lock Every Door or The Only One Left
• If you want a haunted-house-shaped mystery: Home Before Dark
• If you want the newest published entry point: With a Vengeance

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Latest release status

• Most recent published novel: With a Vengeance (June 2025).
• Next confirmed novel: The Unknown (scheduled August 4, 2026).

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FAQs

Do any Riley Sager books share characters or a timeline?
Not in a way that creates a required reading order. Treat each novel as its own world.

Is publication order still the best “recommended” order?
Only if you enjoy watching an author’s themes and tricks evolve. Otherwise, pick by premise.

Are there alternate titles to watch for?
Riley Sager’s major thrillers are generally consistent in title across markets; differences are more likely to be cover/edition branding than full retitles.

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Conclusion

Start with Final Girls if you want the cleanest, most representative entry point, then read in any order you like. If you prefer to begin at the newest published book, start with With a Vengeance and work backward.

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Research notes (not part of the article)

Sources checked for title list and release dates: Riley Sager official site; Penguin Random House (Dutton) listings for With a Vengeance and The Unknown; major book databases and retailer metadata for publication dates; and recent trade/press coverage confirming The Unknown’s August 4, 2026 release.