The Terminal List Books in Order

Eight published: seven James Reece novels from The Terminal List (2018) to Red Sky Mourning (2024), plus the prequel Cry Havoc (2025), which follows Reece's father. State of Exile arrives May 11, 2027. Watch the numbering: Carr's site calls State of Exile Terminal List book 8, counting only the Reece line, while Cry Havoc was already his eighth published novel. Both counts are in circulation and neither is a mistake.

Publication order: The Terminal List, True Believer, Savage Son, The Devil's Hand, In the Blood, Only the Dead, Red Sky Mourning, then Cry Havoc. For the seven Reece novels, publication order and story order are the same sequence, so there is nothing to untangle until Cry Havoc.

Only if you want to. It is set in Vietnam in 1968 and follows Tom Reece, so it is chronologically first by decades, and it is written to work as a standalone entry point. But it was written for readers who already know James Reece, and the point of it is watching the father's story explain the son's. Read it eighth unless you specifically want the older generation first. The story-order toggle on this page is really just this one decision.

No, and it cannot anymore. Season one adapts book one and season two adapts book two, but between them Prime Video released Dark Wolf, a prequel that adapts no novel and stars a character who does not appear after book one in print. The show and the books are now separate sequences that happen to share a world.

True Believer, the second novel. All eight episodes premiere at once on October 21, 2026, more than four years after season one.

No. It is an original prequel built for television, with Carr as an executive producer, developed after the show's version of Ben Edwards outgrew the minor figure he is in the novels. Carr has said he wants to write a Dark Wolf novel and reverse the usual direction, but Cry Havoc came first and no such book exists as of August 2026.

After. It is set roughly seven years earlier, but the whole series is built on the season one reveal about Ben Edwards, so watching it first spoils that twist. It is also not skippable if you plan to watch season two: Raife Hastings, Mo Farooq and Jules Landry all debut in Dark Wolf and carry forward.

No. Season one is a self-contained adaptation of book one and Dark Wolf has no book to be behind on. Going the other way is where readers get tripped up, because Dark Wolf's lead has no presence in the novels after book one.

No. The Fourth Option (May 12, 2026), co-written with M.P. Woodward, launches a separate series about a different character, former SEAL and CIA operative Chris Walker. It shares an author, not a universe. Carr's non-fiction Targeted books with James M. Scott, starting with Targeted: Beirut (September 24, 2024), are likewise outside this order.

Nothing beyond season two is confirmed. Dark Wolf season two has not been officially renewed as of August 2026 despite strong performance and Taylor Kitsch saying an outline exists, and Chris Pratt has described a Cry Havoc series as something being talked about rather than ordered. Treat all of it as unannounced.