Most Recommended Books

Track reading, wishlists & new-book alerts

Get
Skip to content
Share:

See all the Sam Reilly books by Christopher Cartwright in order, with summaries, series background, and guidance on the best adventures to start with.

Last updated: January 16, 2026

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases (at no extra cost to you).

Publication Order

Sort:

38 books

1
New

The Celtic Prophecy

by Christopher Cartwright

2026

When fragments of an ancient Celtic prophecy emerge, hinting at a disaster still to come, Sam Reilly is drawn into a race to interpret the warning. Following clues through rugged coasts and old stone sites, he has to stop the prophecy from turning into reality.

2

The Shield of Hercules

by Christopher Cartwright

2025

During the catastrophic 1953 North Sea flood, one death was quietly disguised as a drowning. Decades later, a skeleton is found in the mud of a drowned Dutch village, clutching an artifact that may point to the legendary Shield of Hercules. As Sam Reilly investigates, he collides with killers prepared to do anything to keep the shield's true purpose hidden.

3

The Elixir of Life

by Christopher Cartwright

2025

A young researcher records something impossible inside a cliffside church in Ethiopia, and her video of the event goes viral. Watching from the research vessel Tahila, Sam Reilly's crew realise it may mean someone has rediscovered the Elixir of Life and that the world is in grave danger while Sam himself is missing.

4

Shōgun Resurrection

by Christopher Cartwright

2025

A new case pulls Sam Reilly into a mystery rooted in Japan's shogun past, where echoes of feudal power intersect with ruthless modern ambitions. As he follows a trail of buried history and present day violence, he must stop an old legacy from reshaping the world.

5

Necropolis of the Gods

by Christopher Cartwright

2025

For centuries legends have hinted at long lived Master Builders behind humanity's greatest monuments and a vast necropolis where their knowledge was sealed away. Now that tomb's location is known. Sam Reilly must reach its heart before enemies armed with the Elixir of Life awaken an ancient army built to guard it.

6

Icarus Adrift

by Christopher Cartwright

2025

Caught in the heart of an Atlantic superstorm, the Tahila's crew picks up a radar echo of something that should not exist a house like structure drifting far from any shore. Sam Reilly dives inside to rescue a lone woman at the window and discovers a secret that rewrites his own past.

7

Caliburn's Fight

by Christopher Cartwright

2025

A viral video shows a golden retriever whose fur changes to match any rug it lies on, sparking debates about hoax or miracle. Sam Reilly recognises the trait from his own dog, Caliburn, and his search for the puppy's origin uncovers engineered chimeras, an impossible Basque astrolabe, and a secret society guarding a truth buried since the days of Lewis and Clark.

8

Abyss Codex

by Christopher Cartwright

2025

Six orcas launch a coordinated attack on a yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar, pink dolphins display bizarre new behaviour in the Amazon, and deep sea miners strip a huge swath of the Pacific seafloor. Sam Reilly has to decipher the hidden pattern linking these events before ocean life is altered beyond repair.

9

The Relic Hunter

by Christopher Cartwright

2024

When a private jet crashes in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, one of the victims is an entomologist who was supposed to be collecting beetles in Papua New Guinea. Moments before impact he sends his wife a final text that reads only "Find Sam Reilly," pulling Sam into a deadly search for relics people are prepared to kill for.

10

The Midas Vault

by Christopher Cartwright

2024

Deep inside Mexico's Chevé Cave, one of the deepest in the world, a group of cave divers sends a sealed bottle to the surface containing a single desperate word: HELP. When all contact is lost, Sam Reilly ventures into the flooded tunnels to discover what they found and why someone would rather see the cave sealed forever.

11

The Medallion of Petra

by Christopher Cartwright

2024

During Operation Desert Storm, a Special Forces unit raiding a ruthless arms dealer stumbles upon a cache of ancient artifacts, including a small bronze medallion linked to Petra. Years later, the medallion resurfaces, and Sam Reilly must uncover why it is more valuable and dangerous than any weapon on the battlefield.

12

Skeleton Crew

by Christopher Cartwright

2023

A colossal container ship inexplicably runs aground in the Suez Canal, choking one of the world's busiest trade routes. Sam Reilly is flown in to help refloat the vessel and learn what went wrong, only to find the trail leading to a spectacular archaeological discovery in Sudan and a deadly contest over the treasures hidden there.

13

The Vostok Enigma

by Christopher Cartwright

2022

A research team drilling into Antarctica's Lake Vostok pulls up more than ice, triggering a rapid response from rival military powers. Sam Reilly must uncover what lies beneath the frozen lake before a buried secret ignites a new Cold War.

14

Dragon's Breath

by Christopher Cartwright

2022

In 1974 farmers near Xi'an uncover the legendary Terracotta Army, but in Sam Reilly's world the warriors were meant to imprison something far worse. When that ancient evil stirs again, Sam races to stop it from breaking free.

15

Valhalla Found

by Christopher Cartwright

2021

In AD 980 a banished Viking fleet discovers fertile Vinland and something far stranger waiting there. Centuries later, Sam Reilly investigates the deaths of archaeologists at Chichén Itzá and uncovers a deadly link between Norse legend, Maya ruins, and the true origins of Valhalla.

16

Medusa's Curse

by Christopher Cartwright

2021

An investigation into a string of unexplained deaths draws Sam Reilly toward a relic bound to the myth of Medusa. As science and legend blur, he must learn what the so called curse really is before it claims more lives.

17

The Obsidian Chamber

by Christopher Cartwright

2020

In AD 79, Mount Vesuvius erupts and a young girl races through Pompeii to hide what she has done. In the present, Sam Reilly searches for Ernest Shackleton's lost ship while a mysterious code appears online, promising incredible power to whoever can unlock it first.

18

Shangri-La

by Christopher Cartwright

2020

Whispers of Shangri La have always sounded like fairy tales, until a clandestine meeting of the world's most powerful organisations suggests the paradise is real. Sam Reilly must separate myth from truth while ruthless enemies move to keep Shangri La's secrets buried.

19

Alexander's Treasure

by Christopher Cartwright

2020

A new discovery hinting at the missing fortune of Alexander the Great pulls Sam Reilly into a global hunt. Ancient clues lead to modern violence as rival treasure seekers race to claim a hoard whose real value lies in the secret it protects.

20

The Tomb of El Dorado

by Christopher Cartwright

2019

A legendary city hidden in the jungle, a tribe sworn to protect their gods, and a shipwreck scattered with gold and carvings of a mythical beast. Sam Reilly's search for El Dorado's truth turns into a race to keep its power from falling into the wrong hands.

21

The Labyrinth Key

by Christopher Cartwright

2019

As a boy, Ethan Jones watched a stranger bury something in Nevada's Rhyolite Desert and never forgot it. Years later, a Navy SEAL discovers a strange stone artifact beneath the streets of Syria, and Sam Reilly is forced back into the secretive world of the Master Builders to finish a mission he once walked away from.

22

The Hunt for Excalibur

by Christopher Cartwright

2019

When the Japanese trawler Hoshi Maru hauls something lethal into its hold and then vanishes in the 2011 tsunami, the tragedy seems complete. Years later the wreck washes up on the Oregon coast and people begin dying in bizarre ways, forcing Sam Reilly to uncover what really came aboard and why all signs point to King Arthur's sword.

23

Ghost Ship

by Christopher Cartwright

2019

A decaying yacht drifts into the Italian harbor of Vernazza, while nearby a man wakes in a small rowboat, covered in blood beside a woman shot execution style. With a gun in his pocket and no memory of who he is, he becomes central to Sam Reilly's latest investigation.

24

The Phoenix Sanction

by Christopher Cartwright

2018

On Phoenix Airlines Flight 318, Andrew Goddard wakes to find the cockpit empty and every passenger unconscious. High in Colorado's mountains, a miner uncovers a sinister stone mask sealed in an obsidian chamber. Sam Reilly has three weeks to link these events and confront a secret that could change everything humans believe about themselves.

25

The Ironclad Covenant

by Christopher Cartwright

2018

During the siege of Vicksburg in 1863, an ironclad carrying a secret war chest and a powerful covenant slipped down the Mississippi and vanished. In the present, a US senator's son disappears while searching for a fabled gold spring in Lake Superior, and Sam Reilly uncovers how both mysteries are tied together.

26

The Holy Grail

by Christopher Cartwright

2018

Fresh from the Omega Deep mission, Sam Reilly is looking forward to rest when a terrified man with unnaturally purple eyes takes him hostage at gunpoint. To survive, Sam must uncover what his captor is running from and how it connects to a modern quest for the Holy Grail.

27

The Heisenberg Legacy

by Christopher Cartwright

2018

In January 1945 a plane left southwest Germany carrying an experimental weapon of unimaginable power and was never seen again. When its wreck is discovered in modern Washington, DC without the cargo, Sam Reilly is drawn into a dangerous hunt to find who recovered it and what they plan to do.

28

Omega Deep

by Christopher Cartwright

2018

The experimental nuclear submarine USS Omega Deep disappears, followed in quick succession by a Russian spy ship and a Chinese aircraft carrier. At the request of the US president, Sam Reilly and his team must find out what is sinking the world's most powerful warships before it triggers open war.

29

Habitat Zero

by Christopher Cartwright

2018

A Silicon Valley magnate sailing his yacht Carpe Diem discovers a vast floating island of pumice in the Pacific. Two weeks later the yacht returns to port on autopilot with nobody on board. Called in to investigate, Sam Reilly uncovers a deadly plot that could push the United States and Russia into direct conflict.

30

The Third Temple

by Christopher Cartwright

2017

In 1655 the crew of the Emerald Star entered the Namibian Desert seeking a relic hidden in a secret temple and never returned. Centuries later, a strange wooden placard surfaces in the underground city of Derinkuyu, suggesting an ancient race is building a new temple, and Sam Reilly must reach it before its guardians unleash what waits inside.

31

The Nostradamus Equation

by Christopher Cartwright

2017

In 1562 Nostradamus led a small party deep into the Sahara in search of a miracle and vanished from the chronicles. In the present day, Dr Zara Delacroix enlists Sam Reilly to help find a manuscript she believes was buried there to shield humanity from a coming catastrophe, a book known as The Book of Nostradamus.

32

The Aleutian Portal

by Christopher Cartwright

2017

A Russian cargo vessel sinks in the shallow Bering Strait and somehow vanishes. A cowboy in the American desert follows a river of sand into an undiscovered ruin, while a massive tunnel boring machine drilling between Alaska and Siberia disappears into an abyss. Sam Reilly's search and rescue mission reveals that all three mysteries are part of the same terrifying problem.

33

Code to Extinction

by Christopher Cartwright

2017

As the most powerful hurricane in history bears down on New York, atmospheric rivers flood deserts, wildfires rage in Canada, and earthquakes tear through Europe. A growing black mass spreads across the sky, and a lone astronomer studies clues carved into an ancient stone. Sam Reilly must help decipher the code behind the chaos before it wipes out life on Earth.

34

The Mahogany Ship

by Christopher Cartwright

2016

More than 200 years ago, the ship Emily Rose wrecked on Australia's rugged southern coast, forcing survivors to walk nearly a thousand miles toward Sydney Cove. Along the way they found something in the dunes that should not exist. In the present, as sea life dies mysteriously in the Gulf of Mexico, Sam Reilly's team uncovers how that ancient discovery and the modern disaster are entangled.

35

The Cassidy Project

by Christopher Cartwright

2016

At the height of the Cold War, a secret program used high altitude nuclear tests to study massive electromagnetic pulses, with a secondary objective so dangerous it was buried. Decades later, a woman wakes alone on a cruise ship drifting in the Weddell Sea, and Sam Reilly becomes the only person standing between the rebirth of that project and global catastrophe.

36

Rogue Wave

by Christopher Cartwright

2016

Four top alternative energy scientists are offered twenty billion dollars to sell and bury their work on a revolutionary power source. As they resist and a devastating new weapon surfaces at sea, Sam Reilly finds himself navigating a web of corporate greed, political espionage, and rogue ocean forces.

37

Atlantis Stolen

by Christopher Cartwright

2016

Only a handful of people know what really destroyed the ancient Atlanteans, and they are willing to kill to keep it secret. When a billionaire's obsession with unlocking the lost civilization's power collides with a looming repeat of the same catastrophe, Sam Reilly races to uncover the truth in time.

38

The Last Airship

by Christopher Cartwright

2015

In 1939 a secret airship left Nazi Germany under cover of darkness, packed with influential passengers and priceless cargo, including one item as dangerous as it was valuable. The airship never arrived. When Sam Reilly uncovers a fresh clue decades later, it sparks a violent treasure hunt against some of the most ruthless men alive.

Series background & context

The Sam Reilly novels follow a marine scientist and former military troubleshooter who is happiest on the deck of a ship with a problem to solve. Sam is the son of a shipping magnate, but he prefers working on the front line with a small team rather than behind a boardroom table.

Most stories begin with something strange happening on or under the water. A lost airship resurfaces in modern records. An ancient shipwreck hides a pyramid below the sea. A cutting edge submarine disappears without a trace. When governments, explorers, or old friends run out of options, they call Sam and the crew of the research vessel Maria Helena.

Cartwright builds each book around the collision of deep history and modern technology. The series draws on legends like Atlantis, El Dorado, Nostradamus, Excalibur, Valhalla, and Shangri La, then asks what might happen if the myths were based on real places, devices, or people. That mix is clear in early entries such as The Last Airship, The Mahogany Ship, and Atlantis Stolen, and it keeps expanding through later books about master builders, ancient necropolises, and forgotten covenants.

The stakes range from contained salvage jobs to full blown existential threats. In one book Sam is trying to refloat a grounded super-container ship that should never have failed. In another he is racing to find a missing nuclear submarine before world powers start shooting. Elsewhere he is tracking codes hidden for centuries, mysterious energy sources, or biological oddities that could remake the planet if they fall into the wrong hands.

Despite the big ideas, the tone stays grounded. Sam relies on divers, engineers, scientists, and a tight circle of friends rather than on superhero gadgets. Long dives, storms, cramped engine rooms, and tense negotiations with officials feel tactile and specific. The books move quickly but make space for quiet moments on deck or inside ancient structures where characters can react like real people.

You can pick up most of the novels as standalones, since each mystery is wrapped up by the end. Long time readers, though, will spot continuing threads, recurring allies and enemies, and a slow unfurling of larger storylines about lost civilizations and secretive organisations.

If you like treasure hunt thrillers, maritime mysteries, and adventure stories that swing from sunken ruins to cutting edge science, the Sam Reilly series is built to feel like one long, globe spanning expedition.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

Comments

Did we miss something? Have feedback?

Help us improve this page by sharing your thoughts

We only use your email to notify you about replies.

All comments are moderated.

Discover and track your reading on the go

Track your reading, manage wishlists, and get notified when new books are added.

All 38 Sam Reilly Books in Order (Complete List 2026)