Reading order
The Secret Series reading order
- The Name of this Book is Secret2007
- If You're Reading This, It's Too Late2008
- This Book Is Not Good for You2009
- This Isn't What It Looks Like2010
- You Have To Stop This2011
1- 7.87.8 / 1091 ratings
- Score
- 5 volumes
- Volumes
- 2007–2011
- Published
- about 35 h
- Reading time
- Completed
- Status
- Fantasy
- Genre
Quick answer
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Publication order
5 volumes2007–2011Completed
- Pseudonymous Bosch’s middle-grade mysteries, narrated by an anonymous author who keeps warning readers to stop, hiding names and interrupting with jokes, footnotes and appendices.
- Cass, a survivalist who always carries a backpack of supplies, and Max-Ernest, who never stops talking, stumble on a secret society seeking immortality.
- Playful and clever for young readers who like puzzles.
- Only the first book has enough ratings.
- Five books; read in order.
A plan for the whole series
5 volumes, 1,942 pages, about 35 hours. At 45 min a day that is about 7 weeks.
Stages
3 stages, with 2 short books from outside the series between them. You finish around December 24, 2026, 8 days later than in one go.
- Stage 114 h19 daysby November 17, 2026
- Short breakThe Fire Next Time · James Baldwin · 120 pp. · score 8.8
- Stage 215 h20 daysby December 10, 2026
- Short breakOn Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century · Timothy Snyder · 128 pp. · score 8.4
- Stage 37 h9 daysby December 24, 2026
- The end of the series
We count 1.1 min per page, the pace of an average novel reader. Faster? Move the slider.
How this plan is calculated
The plan comes from the pages and ratings of each volume: we split the series into stages of about three weeks’ reading, size each break to the stage before it, and read the chance of finishing from how many readers rate the last volume compared with the first. How we work out the plan →
Every volume in order
Order checked by hand · Order and years: Wikidata (CC0). Spotted an error? Tell us. · Data updated October 29, 2026
Frequently asked questions
Which The Secret Series book is the longest?
“This Isn't What It Looks Like” is the longest at 423 pages; the shortest is “You Have To Stop This” with 368 pages.