Dead Man (Lee Goldberg) Books in Order
Part ofLee Goldberg Books in OrderExplore the Dead Man series by Lee Goldberg in order, with short summaries, series background, and where-to-start tips for fast supernatural pulp.
Last updated: January 12, 2026
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Publication Order
22 books
Reborn
by Lee Goldberg
2014
In the Dead Man finale, Matt Cahill’s fight for answers reaches a breaking point. Old enemies and new horrors converge, and Matt has to confront what brought him back from death before the darkness takes everything he has left.
The Rising Dead
by Lee Goldberg
2013
The dead don’t stay down, and Matt Cahill is forced to deal with what rises when a boundary breaks. Racing against panic and disbelief, he hunts the source of the horror before the living pay the price.
The Dark Need
by Lee Goldberg
2013
Matt Cahill faces a threat driven by hunger and obsession, the kind that makes people do unthinkable things. As the darkness closes in, he follows the clues through danger and deception, trying to keep one more life from being taken.
Streets of Blood
by Lee Goldberg
2013
When violence erupts in the streets, Matt Cahill discovers the danger isn’t entirely human. Tracking the source leads him into a brutal urban nightmare, where the rules keep changing and survival depends on one smart choice after another.
Evil to Burn
by Lee Goldberg
2013
A fresh threat leaves a scorch mark on everything it touches, and Matt Cahill is drawn into the blaze. To save strangers and himself, he has to uncover what’s feeding the evil before it burns through the last safe place.
Crucible of Fire
by Lee Goldberg
2013
A fire-centered mystery pulls Matt Cahill into a situation where evidence turns to ash and fear spreads fast. With little time and no safety net, he has to identify the threat and stop it before it becomes an unstoppable inferno.
Colder than Hell
by Lee Goldberg
2013
Matt Cahill follows a trail into a place where the cold isn’t the worst thing waiting for him. A new supernatural menace preys on the vulnerable, and Matt must act fast, even when his own body and mind are pushed to the edge.
The Killing Floor
by Lee Goldberg
2012
Matt Cahill walks onto a killing floor where violence is organized and merciless. To stop the slaughter, he has to identify what’s driving it, and confront a supernatural force that turns people into tools.
The Death Match
by Lee Goldberg
2012
Matt Cahill is caught in a deadly contest where the rules are cruel and the stakes are survival. As the body count climbs, he has to find the real mastermind and end the game before the next “match” becomes his.
The Black Death
by Lee Goldberg
2012
A terrifying mystery spreads like an infection, and Matt Cahill is forced to track it before panic takes over. Following the clues leads him into a plague of lies and fear, where the cure might be worse than the disease.
Slaves to Evil
by Lee Goldberg
2012
A new case traps people in a pattern of control and violence, and Matt Cahill is drawn into the fight. To break the hold of the evil behind it, he has to risk his own life, again, for strangers who may not survive the night.
Midnight Special
by Lee Goldberg
2012
A “midnight special” turns into a midnight nightmare when Matt Cahill follows a trail of unexplained deaths. The deeper he digs, the clearer it becomes that something old and hungry is using darkness as its cover.
Freaks Must Die
by Lee Goldberg
2012
Matt Cahill runs into a community of outsiders where the real monsters aren’t just in the shadows. When the killings begin, he’s forced to protect the people no one else believes, and to confront a threat that thrives on fear.
Fire and Ice
by Lee Goldberg
2012
Matt Cahill is pulled into a case where extremes collide, danger in the heat and danger in the cold. As bodies turn up and explanations fail, he fights to uncover the truth and stop a supernatural force that won’t quit.
Carnival of Death
by Lee Goldberg
2012
A traveling carnival brings more than cheap thrills, and Matt Cahill can feel something wrong before anyone else does. When people start dying, he has to dig into the show’s secrets and face what’s hiding behind the lights.
The Dead Woman
by Lee Goldberg
2011
Matt Cahill is drawn to a death that doesn’t make sense, and the trail leads to a woman whose secrets won’t stay buried. As the case turns darker, Matt has to protect the living from what refuses to rest.
The Blood Mesa
by Lee Goldberg
2011
A remote mesa holds a secret written in blood, and Matt Cahill can’t ignore the pull of it. Facing hostile terrain and a supernatural predator, he fights to uncover what happened, and stop it from happening again.
The Beast Within
by Lee Goldberg
2011
Something savage is waking up, and Matt Cahill is forced to face the beast within the case, and within himself. As fear spreads, he races to find the source before the horror becomes permanent.
Ring of Knives
by Lee Goldberg
2011
A ring of danger tightens around Matt Cahill as he investigates a brutal, blade-edged mystery. Every clue points to a threat that can strike from anywhere, and Matt has to act before the circle closes for good.
Kill Them All
by Lee Goldberg
2011
A ruthless plan leaves Matt Cahill with a simple problem: stop the killing or become the next target. Outnumbered and hunted, he pushes forward anyway, chasing the one clue that could end the threat for good.
Hell In Heaven
by Lee Goldberg
2011
A small town looks peaceful on the surface, but Matt Cahill senses something hellish underneath. When people start dying in impossible ways, he’s forced to uncover what’s hiding there, and why it wants him gone.
Face of Evil
by Lee Goldberg
2011
Matt Cahill is murdered and wakes up alive again, with no idea why. Drawn toward a new, unnatural threat, he’s forced to fight for answers and survival as he learns the world is darker than he ever imagined.
Series background & context
The Dead Man books are short, pulpy supernatural thrillers built for momentum. The series was co-created by Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin, with stories written in the same shared universe, and it’s designed to read like a binge, one high-impact episode after another. They follow Matt Cahill, an ordinary man who is murdered and then wakes up alive again, changed in ways he doesn’t understand. That one impossible event becomes the engine for the whole series.
After he comes back, Matt finds himself pulled toward darkness, the kind that doesn’t always wear a human face. Each story drops him into a new situation, a town with a secret, a family with something rotten at the center, a place where people are disappearing for reasons that don’t make sense. Matt’s job becomes survival first, then understanding, then stopping whatever evil is loose before it spreads.
These books lean hard into “monster of the week” energy. The chapters are quick, the cliffhangers are frequent, and the threats escalate fast. Some installments feel like creature features, others like occult mysteries, and others like straight action, but they all share the same core promise: Matt is going to run toward danger even when every sensible person would run away. The violence can be intense, but the pacing keeps it from wallowing.
There’s also an ongoing thread underneath the episodic plots. Matt wants answers about what happened to him, why he returned, and what it means for the people closest to him. That larger mystery ties the series together and gives the weirdness a point beyond shock value. It also turns Matt into something more than a wandering victim, he becomes a man trying to take control of his own story.
A good way to start is Face of Evil, which introduces Matt and the rules of his new life. From there you can keep reading in order, moving through books like Hell In Heaven, The Death Match, Ring of Knives, and beyond. Because the stories are short, it’s also easy to sample one and see if the blend of horror and action fits your taste.
If you like supernatural stories that feel more like a fast thriller than a slow, atmospheric ghost tale, this series is made for you. It’s gritty, direct, and designed to keep you flipping pages, even when you know you should have turned the light off ten minutes ago already.
Edited by
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