With a staggering 500 million copies sold worldwide, Robert Ludlum defined and popularized some of the most recognizable tropes within the thriller and spy fiction literary genres.

While his name may not be on everyone’s lips, his works certainly are. His most famous work, the Bourne Trilogy, continues to captivate readers four decades after its inception, while his other works remain in the public eye through numerous adaptations and spinoff stories.

However, navigating Ludlum’s immense bibliography can be an overwhelming task—one that grows even more complicated with the inclusion of other writers’ continuations of his series.

If you’re eager to read Robert Ludlum’s books in order and understand the intricate continuity of his works, you’re in the right place. Read ahead for a comprehensive guide to his bibliography and all the information you need to confidently immerse yourself in his world of crime, conspiracies, and mystery.

1. Robert Ludlum, His Posthumous Work, and The Ludlum Brand
2. All Of Robert Ludlum’s and the Ludlum Brand’s Books In Order
3. The Road To Series
4. The Matarese Dynasty Series
5. The Jason Bourne Series
6. The Treadstone Series
7. The Covert-One Series
8. The Paul Janson Series
9. Stand Alone Books
10. Reading the Robert Ludlum Books In Order Is Easier Than It Seems

Robert Ludlum, His Posthumous Work, and The Ludlum Brand

In life, Ludlum wrote over 20 novels and created a collection of series that were incredibly well-received by the public and remain some of the most well-known action sagas in popular culture.

However, his untimely passing in 2001 left many of his works unfinished or in drafts. As such, Ludlum Entertainment—his state—soon greenlighted the publication of some of his drafts posthumously and later allowed multiple authors to continue his work.

Since then, eleven authors have been authorized to publish works under the Ludlum brand—with his name cited on the cover of the books. Most of these writers have continued Ludlum’s series far beyond his original writing, adding up to 32 published novels, with many more scheduled to come out.

All Of Robert Ludlum’s and the Ludlum Brand’s Books In Order

There are two distinctive groups regarding Robert Ludlum’s books—the novels written by Ludlum himself and those penned by multiple authors under his brand name.

To simplify things, the following list of Robert Ludlum’s books in order is comprehensive and features both categories. In this manner, readers can understand the continuity of his universes while still being able to separate his life’s work from his legacy.

For convenience, the series will be listed first with the appropriate reading order, while the stand-alone books will be left for last.

The Road To Series

The Road To series is a duology written exclusively by Ludlum. However, the first book was published under the pen name Michael Shepherd.

Action-packed yet witty, The Road To series is a comedy that follows General McKenzie Hawkings’s misadventures and his quest for over-the-top revenge after being kicked out of the Army.

		Book Title 📚📘📕	Year 📅
1		📚The Road to Gandolfo	1975
2		📚The Road to Omaha	1992

The Matarese Dynasty Series

Another duology by Ludlum, the Matarese Dynasty series, is a set of spy thrillers set during the Cold War. It centers around the Matarese—an international association of assassins responsible for a series of murders that threaten to send the world on the edge of apocalyptic disaster.

		Book Title 📚📘📕	Year 📅
1		The Matarese Circle	1979
2		The Matarese Countdown	1997

The Jason Bourne Series

Undoubtedly Ludlum’s most popular series, it follows the titular spy, a man who suffers from amnesia yet has to come to terms with his past, present, and future. 

The original saga written by Ludlum is comprised of three books. 

		Book Title 📚📘📕	Year 📅
1		📚The Bourne Identity	1980
2		📚The Bourne Supremacy	1986
3		📚The Bourne Ultimatum	1990

After Ludlum’s passing, Eric Van Lustbader continued the Jason Bourne saga with eleven more books. 

		Book Title 📚📘📕	Year 📅
4		📚The Bourne Legacy	2004
5		📚The Bourne Betrayal	2007
6		📚 The Bourne Sanction	2008
7		📚The Bourne Deception	2009
8		📚The Bourne Objective	2010
9		📚The Bourne Dominion	2011
10		📚 The Bourne Imperative	2012
11		📚The Bourne Retribution	2013
12		📚The Bourne Ascendancy	2014
13		📚The Bourne Enigma	2016
14		📚The Bourne Initiative	2017

In 2018, Van Lustbader left the series, and Brian Freeman became the new head writer of the Bourne saga. He has published five novels to date, with more to come. 

		Book Title 📚📘📕	Year 📅
15		📚The Bourne Evolution	2020
16		📚The Bourne Treachery	2021
17		📚The Bourne Sacrifice	2022
18		📚The Bourne Defiance	2023
19		📚The Bourne Shadow	2024

The Treadstone Series

This is a spinoff derived from the Jason Bourne series. It is published under the Robert Ludlum brand but has no books written by him; Joshua Hood is the sole author. 

		Book Title 📚📘📕	Year 📅
1		📚The Treadstone Resurrection	2020
2		📚The Treadstone Exile	2021
3		📚The Treadstone Transgression	2022
4		📚The Treadstone Rendition	2023

The Covert-One Series

The Covert-One series is almost entirely postmortem, a collaborative effort between Robert Ludlum and multiple other authors. It follows the titular top-secret agency comprised of high-level experts working against threats moving in the shadows. 

The first three books are written alongside other authors, as listed here.

		Book Title 📚📘📕	Year 📅
1		📚The Hades Factor	2000
2		📚The Cassandra Compact	2001
3		📚 The Paris Option	2002

Since then, each subsequent book has been written by different authors. 

		Book Title 📚📘📕	Year 📅
4		📚The Altman Code	2003
5		📚The Lazarus Vendetta	2004
6		📚 The Moscow Vector	2005
7		📚 The Arctic Event	2007
8		📚 The Ares Decision	2011
9		📚 The Janus Reprisal	2012
10		📚 The Utopia Experiment	2013
11		📚 The Geneva Strategy	2015
12		📚 The Patriot Attack	2015

The Paul Janson Series

This series follows the titular hero, a man on the run after a mission goes wrong, and he uncovers deadly conspiracies. The first book in the series, The Janson Directive, was published posthumously. 

		Book Title 📚📘📕	Year 📅
1		📚The Janson Directive	2002

Ten years later, the book became a series under the Ludlum brand by writer Paul Garrison, who has written three more books in the series to date.

		Book Title 📚📘📕	Year 📅
2		📚The Janson Command	2012
3		📚The Janson Option	2014
4		📚The Janson Equation	2015

Stand Alone Books

The following books are self-contained stories not connected to any other sagas within Ludlum’s creative universe; therefore, you are not required to read them in order. 

		Book Title 📚📘📕	Year 📅
1		📚The Scarlatti Inheritance	1971
2		📚The Osterman Weekend	1972
3		📚The Matlock Paper	1973
4		📚Trevayne	1973
5		📚The Cry of the Halidon	1974
6		📚The Rhinemann Exchange	1974
7		📚The Gemini Contenders	1976
8		📚The Chancellor Manuscript	1977
9		📚The Holcroft Covenant	1978
10		📚The Parsifal Mosaic	1982
11		📚The Aquitaine Progression	1984
12		📚The Icarus Agenda	1988
13		📚The Scorpio Illusion	1993
14		📚The Apocalypse Watch	1995
15		📚The Prometheus Deception	2000
16		📚The Sigma Protocol	2001
17		📚The Tristan Betrayal	2003
18		📚The Ambler Warning	2005
19		📚The Bancroft Strategy	2006

Reading the Robert Ludlum Books In Order Is Easier Than It Seems

As overwhelming as Ludlum’s books can be, their lack of crossovers or prequels means that reading them in order can be an uncomplicated ordeal that does not require jumping back and forth.

However, remember that as self-contained as his adventures are, all his series build up on the content of the previous entry, so reading them in order is the best way to explore the world of action and conspiracy he and his heirs have crafted.

If you’d like more crime and action books, check out Michael Connelly’s books in order. On the other hand, if you’d like a bit more horror in your fiction, don’t hesitate to look at H.P. Lovecraft’s and Stephen King’s best books.