Zach's Lie Books in Order

The Zach’s Lie books focus on what happens after a family makes one catastrophic mistake and tries to put itself back together. Jack Osborne is an ordinary middle-schooler until masked men tear apart his house and his father is arrested for flying drugs for a cartel.

When Jack’s dad agrees to cooperate with federal agents, the family is offered a place in the Witness Security Program. Overnight, their names, looks, and hometown vanish. Jack becomes Zach Granger and moves with his mother and sister to a dusty Nevada town, where they’re told never to share a single true detail about their past.

Zach’s Lie follows him through that first year of reinvention. He navigates a new school, a fragile crush, and a lingering mix of anger and loyalty toward his father. The journals he keeps—meant to help him vent—become a dangerous liability when the cartel’s men begin closing in on their new life.

In Jack’s Run, the danger escalates. After the family narrowly escapes one attack, they’re relocated again, this time under even tighter restrictions. A brush with fame blows their cover when Jack’s sister appears on a televised talent show and unknowingly hints at their hidden location. Kidnapping, remote hideouts, and a lawless faux–Old West town raise the stakes as Jack tries to protect his family and decide who he can trust.

Together, the two novels explore identity, honesty, and the weight of secrets. They don’t glorify crime or violence; instead they sit with the fear and confusion of being forced to lie about everything, even to people who might become your friends. Readers who like thrillers grounded in believable characters will find this series hits that balance.