Author Jack Carr has led a pretty interesting life. The former Navy SEAL joined up in the ’90s and saw combat, and now he’s used all that knowledge and insight to create a brilliant series of books around the character James Reece.

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In the Reece books, we read about the marine who’s fated to save the world, all while trying his hardest to stay alive despite some very powerful people keen to see him dead. The books are as exciting as they are captivating, and his first novel was even turned into a Prime Video television series starring superstar Chris Pratt and Constance Wu.

If you loved the television series The Terminal List, or have heard about Jack Carr’s adrenaline pumping books from a friend and want to read them from the beginning, then check out our guide on how to read all Jack Carr books in order.

Jack Carr books in order

1. The Terminal List (2018)

This shoud have been Lieutenant Commander James Reece’s last ever combat deployment. It should have been time to celebrate all he’d achieved. Instead, he saw his entire team murdered in a horrific ambush, all while he could do nothing to stop it. Already feeling terrible, he heads home, only for those closest to him to also be killed on the day he arrives back to the States.

Devastated, Reece begins doing some research. He soon discovers that what happened to his unit was no act of war from a powerful foreign enemy, or even an act of terror from some lonely, angry cell looking to get back at the U.S for destroying their country and livelihood. As it transpires, everything terrible that’s happened to Reece is part of a conspiracy that goes right to the very top of the U.S government.

Alone, angry, and confused, Reece realizes he’s free to do what he wants. And what he wants more than anything is to have his revenge. Utilizing all the skills he’s picked up from a decade of service in active war zones, he begins a journey to gain vengeance. Methodical, ruthless, and smart, Reece discovers the names and faces of his enemies, before taking them out one by one without any regard for the rules of combat, or even the law of the land.

A political action thriller like no other, this book will leave you breathless as you race towards the shocking end, all while being swept along by some great character work and even better plotting. Carr’s attention to detail and incredible knowledge of governmental structures and fighting techniques brings everything to life in a way that few other authors can. There’s a reason this was turned into a television show.

2. True Believer (2019)

After his bloody, revenge driven rampage through the upper echelons of U.S politics, James Reece has gone into hiding to avoid retribution. His unit and his loved ones in the U.S were massacred for political reasons, so all he really has left is himself, but that’s all former SEAL really needs.

He thought he was safe deep in the jungle in Mozambique, but even a man as talented and well prepared as him can’t run away forever. So, when a string of devastating terrorist attacks rips through the western world, he isn’t too surprised to find the CIA have found him, and want his help to stop the bloodshed.

With nothing to lose and nowhere else to go, Reece reluctantly agrees to a new mission for the government that took away everything he knew and loved. He is sent around the world to target the leaders of various terror organizations in an attempt to bring some semblance of peace back to the globe. But as the mission goes on, he realizes there’s even more to it than he’d first considered. Now he must decide: does he unravel another conspiracy and potentially put himself in even more danger, or simply be a good little tool of the U.S government and earn his freedom back?

3 Savage Son (2020)

After the events of his last adventure, James Reece needs a rest. He’s being forced into some quiet anyway, thanks to the fact he’s recovering from brain surgery in the wilds of Montana. His companions, the investigative journalist Katie Buranek, and old pal and former SEAL teammate Raife Hastings are trying to help him piece his shattered life back together. However, a man like Reece has made too many enemies to take it easy, and now one of the most powerful is ready to try and take his life again: the Russian government.

The Slavic Bear is angry, and not just as Reece either. They’ve sent a man full of secrets to tail and murder a woman who knows too much and escaped to Siberia. And they’ve heard from their mole — a turncoat CIA officer — that they could kill two birds with one stone, if they can just convince a certain former SEAL that he needs to help them out, before turning on him themselves. Reece finds himself in his most precarious situation yet, so how will he escape with his life this time?

4. The Devil’s Hand (2021)

Twenty years after the Twin Towers were felled, the men who orchestrated the event are ready to strike again. They’ve been waiting in the shadows, learning about the U.S and adapting their methods to cause maximum damage once more. It seems only one man has the skills and knowledge to ensure there isn’t yet another attack that will scar the U.S for decades to come: James Reece.

Reece, however, would rather not. But the CIA has him in a bind, and as a result he has no choice but to try and take on the Islamist threat. But they’re much more adept than they’ve ever been, and even with all his know-how, and the resources of the U.S government on his side, there’s every chance he might fail.

5. In the Blood (2022)

A horrific plane explosion will always lead to lots of questions being asked, but when one of the passengers is an Israeli assassin who’d just taken care of a big target in Burkina Faso, the intrigue is dialled up to the max.

Watching the news on the other side of the world, James Reece thinks it might have just been a horrible accident, but as he sees the names and pictures of the victims plastered across his television screen, he notices a familiar person: a Mossad operative who’d worked with the CIA in Iraq. Reece thought he’d never see her again, yet now he’s certain she’s central to the plane tragedy.

Before he knows it, Reece is globetrotting around the world in an attempt to track down her killer. With help from new and old friends alike, he’s sure he can do it. But is he really solving a mystery, or is he walking into a trap that’s been set up by his fellow Americans?

6. Only the Dead (2023)

A political conspiracy that began in 1978 with the murder of a freshman senator is finally set to come to fruition, and it appears there’s nothing anyone can do about it. Not that many folks are paying attention: the world is teetering on the edge of global conflict, rampant inflation has made life unbearable for most people, and political division is worse than ever. The secret cabal of global elites who’ve been planning a takeover for decades are finally ready to pounce, a move that should be made easier by the fact that the one man who could stop them is locked in solitary confinement.

James Reece, however, has other ideas. The odds might be stacked against him, but he knows the truth, and he knows how to make sure it gets out. But can he take on the most powerful organization the world has ever seen and come out alive?