Book Series Guide
Blake Crouch

Author guide

Blake Crouch Books in Order

Blake Crouch is an American novelist and screenwriter whose work combines high-concept science fiction with thriller, mystery, and horror elements. He is the author of the Wayward Pines trilogy, Dark Matter, Recursion, Upgrade, Famous, and numerous earlier thrillers, novellas, and short stories. His Wayward Pines trilogy and Letty Dobesh stories have been adapted for television. Crouch lives in Colorado.

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Catalog record updated .

Blake Crouch's Newest Book

Cover of Upgrade

Upgrade

novel · First published 2022

"At first, Logan Ramsay isn’t sure if anything’s different. He just feels a little . . . sharper. Better able to concentrate. Better at multitasking. Reading a bit faster, memorizing better, needing less sleep. But before long, he can’t deny it: Something’s happening to his brain. To his body. He’s starting to see the world, and those around him—even those he loves most—in whole new ways. The truth is, Logan’s genome has been hacked. And there’s a reason he’s been targeted for this upgrade. A reason that goes back decades to the darkest part of his past, and a horrific family legacy. Worse still, what’s happening to him is just the first step in a much larger plan, one that will inflict the same changes on humanity at large—at a terrifying cost. Because of his new abilities, Logan’s the one person in the world capable of stopping what’s been set in motion. But to have a chance at winning this war, he’ll have to become something other than himself. Maybe even something other than human. And even as he’s fighting, he can’t help wondering: what if humanity’s only hope for a future really does lie in engineering our own evolution? Intimate in scale yet epic in scope, Upgrade is an intricately plotted, lightning-fast tale that charts one man’s thrilling transformation, even as it asks us to ponder the limits of our humanity—and our boundless potential."-- Provided by Goodreads

Not sure where to begin?

Start with one of these

Cover of Dark Matter

Dark Matter

A widely recognized standalone that showcases Crouch's signature blend of science fiction, suspense, and mind-bending concepts.

Cover of Pines

Pines

The natural starting point for reading the completed Wayward Pines trilogy in series order.

Cover of Desert Places

Desert Places

The first publication in the Andrew Z. Thomas / Luther Kite thriller series.

Read in order

Books by series

series · completed

Andrew Z. Thomas / Luther Kite Series

A horror-thriller series centered on suspense novelist Andrew Z. Thomas and serial killer Luther Kite, concluding with a crossover novel co-written with J. A. Konrath.

Series guide →
  1. 1
    Desert Places

    Book 1 · novel · 2004

    Andrew Z Thomas is a successful writer of suspense thrillers, living the dream at this lake house in the peidmont of North Carolina. One afternoon in late spring, he receives a bizarre letter that eventually threatens his career, his…

  2. 2
    Locked Doors

    Book 2 · novel · 2005

    In the sequel to Desert Places, Andrew Thomas is still in hiding after seven years, framed for a series of horrific murders committed by his psychotic brother, until his former girlfriend, Karen Prescott, becomes part of a nightmarish new…

  3. 3
    Break You

    Book 3 · novella · 2011

  4. 4
    Stirred

    Book 4 · novel · 2011

  5. 5
    Serial Killers Uncut

    Book 5 · anthology · 2011 Optional

    For everyone who thinks the bad guys are so much more fun to read than the good guys, this is a book just for you. The definitive volume containing every major villain from the Crouch/Konrath Universe is here. If you haven't read anything…

trilogy · completed

Wayward Pines Trilogy

A science-fiction mystery-thriller trilogy following Secret Service agent Ethan Burke in the isolated town of Wayward Pines.

Series guide →
  1. 1
    Pines

    Book 1 · novel · 2012

    The first book of the smash-hit Wayward Pines trilogy, from the New York Times bestselling author of Dark Matter, Recursion, and Upgrade One way in. No way out. Secret Service agent Ethan Burke arrives in Wayward Pines, Idaho, with a…

  2. 2
    Wayward

    Book 2 · novel · 2013

    The second book of the smash-hit Wayward Pines trilogy, from the New York Times bestselling author of Dark Matter, Recursion, and Upgrade It’s the perfect town . . . as long as you don’t try to leave. Nestled amid picture-perfect…

  3. 3
    The Last Town

    Book 3 · novel · 2014

    The final book of the smash-hit Wayward Pines trilogy from the New York Times bestselling author of Dark Matter, Recursion, and Upgrade What’s inside was a nightmare. What’s outside is a thousand times worse. Welcome to Wayward Pines, the…

series · completed

Letty Dobesh Chronicles

A series of crime novellas about Letty Dobesh, a thief and con artist repeatedly drawn into dangerous schemes.

Series guide →
  1. 1
    The Pain of Others

    Book 1 · novella · 2013

  2. 2
    Sunset Key

    Book 2 · novella · 2013

  3. 3
    Grab

    Book 3 · novella · 2013

Outside the series

Bibliography by category

Novels (10)
  1. Abandon

    novel · 2009

    On Christmas Day in 1893, every man, woman, and child in a remote mining town will disappear, belongings forsaken, meals left to freeze in vacant cabins, and not a single bone will be found -- not even the gold that was rumored to have…

  2. Famous

    novel · 2010

    A man goes to terrifying extremes to adopt his celebrity doppelganger's life in this darkly comedic psychological suspense novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Dark Matter and Upgrade. The basis for the upcoming A24 film…

  3. Snowbound

    novel · 2010

    For Will Innis and his daughter, Devlin, the loss was catastrophic. Every day for the past five years, they wonder where she is, if she is—Will's wife, Devlin's mother—because Rachael Innis vanished one night during an electrical storm on…

  4. Run

    novel · 2011

    Your name is Jack Colclough. You have a wife, a daughter, and a young son, and you just heard your name read over the air as one to be killed.

  5. Eerie

    novel · 2012

  6. Draculas

    novel · 2010

  7. Dark Matter

    novel · 2016

    Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the kidnapper knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before a man he’s never met smiles down at him and…

  8. Summer Frost

    novella · 2019

    Maxine was made to do one thing: die. Except the minor non-player character in the world Riley is building makes her own impossible decision—veering wildly off course and exploring the boundaries of the map. When the curious Riley…

  9. Recursion

    novel · 2019

    Reality is broken. At first, it looks like a disease. An epidemic that spreads through no known means, driving its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived. But the force that’s sweeping the world is no pathogen. It’s just the…

  10. Upgrade

    novel · 2022

    "At first, Logan Ramsay isn’t sure if anything’s different. He just feels a little . . . sharper. Better able to concentrate. Better at multitasking. Reading a bit faster, memorizing better, needing less sleep. But before long, he can’t…

Short fiction (8)
  1. Serial

    short-story · 2009

    Wenn Sie schwache Nerven haben ... ... dann sollten Sie jetzt besser nicht weiterlesen, denn die beiden Grossmeister des Horrors haben sich zusammengetan und ihre gefährlichsten Psychopathen aufeinander losgelassen. Jack Kilborn und Blake…

  2. Remaking

    short-story · 2010

  3. On the Good, Red Road

    short-story · 2010

  4. Shining Rock

    short-story · 2010

  5. The Meteorologist

    short-story · 2010

  6. Perfect Little Town

    novelette · 2010

  7. Unconditional

    short-story · 2010

  8. Hunting Season

    short-story · 2011

Other (2)

Frequently asked questions about Blake Crouch

Who is Blake Crouch, and what is he known for?

Blake Crouch is an American bestselling novelist and screenwriter whose work blends science fiction with thriller, mystery, and horror. He is especially known for the Wayward Pines trilogy and high-concept novels such as Dark Matter, Recursion, and Upgrade.

Source: blakecrouch.com (opens in a new tab)

Where is Blake Crouch from, and where did he study?

Blake Crouch was born in Statesville, North Carolina, and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2000. He is based in Colorado.

Sources: encyclopedia.com (opens in a new tab)blakecrouch.com (opens in a new tab)

What inspired Blake Crouch’s science-fiction writing?

Crouch has identified Michael Crichton as a major influence, particularly admiring Crichton’s ability to make complex science accessible to general readers. Crouch also became deeply fascinated by quantum mechanics and researched it extensively for his fiction.

Source: sciencefriday.com (opens in a new tab)

Has Blake Crouch won any major book awards?

Yes. Recursion won the 2019 Goodreads Choice Award for Readers’ Favorite Science Fiction; Dark Matter was also a 2016 Goodreads Choice Award nominee in that category.

Sources: goodreads.com (opens in a new tab)goodreads.com (opens in a new tab)

How has Blake Crouch’s work shaped his legacy beyond books?

His fiction has become a significant source for television adaptations: Wayward Pines was adapted for FOX, Good Behavior was based on his Letty Dobesh stories, and Crouch served as writer, showrunner, and executive producer of Apple TV+’s Dark Matter.

Sources: blakecrouch.com (opens in a new tab)blakecrouch.com (opens in a new tab)