Author

Brad Meltzer

Q: What should I read first by Brad Meltzer?

Start with the Zig & Nola series, since it is the first on file, then read it in publication order.

Brad Meltzer has 14 known credited books (14 published) across 1 series. Start with Zig & Nola.

Brad Meltzer is a #1 New York Times bestselling American thriller writer, born in Brooklyn in 1970 and raised largely in Miami, Florida. He graduated from the University of Michigan and Columbia Law School, where he earned course credit for the manuscript that became his 1997 debut novel, The Tenth Justice -- a Supreme Court thriller that established the template he has returned to across his career: an ordinary insider inside a major American institution who stumbles into a conspiracy reaching the top of government.

Across eleven further standalone thrillers, Meltzer has moved that premise through the White House counsel's office, the National Archives, and repeated returns to Founding Father secrets and Freemasonry, most recently launching the ongoing Zig & Nola series (also marketed as "Escape Artist"), following a Dover Air Force Base mortician and the Army's reclusive artist-in-residence. Beyond thrillers, Meltzer is an Eisner Award-winning comic book writer with runs on Justice League of America and Green Arrow, and a substantial nonfiction author across history, biography, and children's publishing -- including the long-running "Ordinary People Change the World" illustrated biography series for young readers and adult history titles on the assassinations of Lincoln, Kennedy, and George Washington's would-be assassination plot.

He lives in Florida with his wife and three children.

Series: 1
Credited books: 14
Published: 14
Latest published book: The Viper 6 January 2026
Active: 1997–present
Best known for: Zig & Nola

Key facts about Brad Meltzer

Brad Meltzer has 14 books on our list. 3 of them belong to a series, while 11 stand alone. Since all 14 are out now, every book here is ready to read. Their series sits on our thriller shelf.

Brad Meltzer has 1 series on file. Zig & Nola has 3 books, starting in 2018.

Since Zig & Nola is the first series on file, it is the place to start. Their first published book on file came out in 1997. Meanwhile, The Viper is the latest published book, out on 6 January 2026.

There are also 11 standalone books. You can read them in any order, since each one stands alone. The newest one that is out is The House of Secrets, from 2016. The oldest on file is The Tenth Justice, from 1997.