Matthew Riker Books in Order

The Matthew Riker series is a run of action thrillers about a man who has tried to leave a violent life behind, only to find that his past, and his conscience, won't let him stay out of trouble. Matthew Riker is skilled, private, and used to working alone. He does not go looking for chaos, but when vulnerable people are threatened, walking away is rarely an option.

The series begins with The Import. Riker is keeping a low profile when he crosses paths with a woman and a small child on the run. Choosing to help pulls him into a cross-country fight against a New York criminal empire. It is a strong introduction to both the character and the series' basic engine: a man with hard-won abilities is forced to decide whether using them again is worth the personal cost.

Riker's former connection to an elite mercenary group called QS-4 matters throughout the books. In Ghost Agent, that past becomes an immediate danger when he finds himself on the wrong side of the organization. To survive, he accepts a protection job involving a wealthy young man with political connections and possible terrorist ties. The assignment brings high-end money, complicated loyalties, and more risk than Riker expected.

Nothing stays simple for long.

Long Way Home changes the setting and gives the series a more personal kind of pressure. Riker returns to Kingsport, Iowa, for the funeral of his old high school wrestling coach. A supposed carjacking begins to look less random, while people from Riker's past are caught up in drugs and escalating violence. The small-town setting matters because Riker is no longer protecting strangers. He is trying to help a place and people that helped shape him.

By Relentless Pursuit, the story reaches back to one of Riker's most dangerous old enemies, Charles Fraction. Riker and a small circle of allies follow Fraction across the world, with every lead carrying the chance of a trap. The threat is larger than one target, but the stakes remain close to Riker because the people he loves are exposed.

These are fast-moving, high-stakes books, but Riker is more than a problem-solving machine. He carries the strain of what he has done, and he keeps trying to decide what kind of life is possible after violence. The series works best in publication order, starting with The Import, because each book adds weight to Riker's relationships, his history with QS-4, and the choices that keep pulling him back into the fight.