The Supernatural Book Series in Order
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“Saving People, Hunting Things. The Family Business.”
During the impressive 15-year run of Supernatural, several official tie-in novels were published.
Originally published March 2020. Updated June 2023.
The CW television series Supernatural (2005-2020) followed brothers Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) as they hunted lots of supernatural beings—including monsters, ghosts, demons, and more. Years ago, Sam and Dean lost their mother to a mysterious force. In the years since, their father taught them about the paranormal evil that lives on the back roads of America—and how to kill it.
The long-running show spawned a number of tie-in books, including a series of novels that expanded on the stories in the Supernatural universe. Find a complete list of the official Supernatural novels below—plus a list of even more books related to the show!
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The Supernatural Book Series in Order
Sam and Dean have hit New York City to check out a local rocker’s haunted house. But before they can figure out why a lovesick banshee in an ‘80s heavy-metal T-shirt is wailing in the bedroom, a far more macabre crime catches their attention.
Not far from the house, two university students were beaten to death by a strange assailant. A murder that’s bizarre even by New York City standards, it’s the latest in a line of killings that the brothers soon suspect are based on the creepy stories of legendary writer Edgar Allan Poe.
Their investigation leads them to the center of one of Poe’s horror classics, face-to-face with their most terrifying foe yet. And if Sam and Dean don’t rewrite the ending of this chilling tale, a grisly serial killer will end their lives forevermore.
Find Nevermore on Amazon (affiliate link)
Q: You posted an LJ entry which alludes to the fandom’s response to Nevermore. Has the reaction been that strong?
Oh, it was specifically to a complaint made by some fans when I had Dean picking a lock in Nevermore. Several people excoriated me for that, because Sam’s the one who picks the locks. Leaving aside the fact that I can’t imagine Dean not knowing how to pick a lock (what, while Sam was at Stanford Dean was just stymied by locked doors?), in “The Magnificent Seven,” Dean knelt down and picked a lock while Sam was standing right there.
SOURCE: WinchesterBros.com Exclusive – Q&A with Keith R.A. DeCandido, author of Supernatural: Nevermore
Sam and Dean have set out on a road trip to the Grand Canyon, but this is no vacation for the brothers. On a stretch of deserted ranch land just beyond the canyon’s stunning vistas, mysterious murder sprees have occurred every forty years. The area’s inhabitants have been few and far between in years past, but a nearby mega-mall is about to celebrate its grand opening—and attract thousands of fresh victims.
The Winchester boys are determined to protect locals and shoppers alike, but they never anticipated they’d be fighting a group of killers this vicious, this vindictive, this—dead. A deadly horde of animal spirits and human ghosts has arisen to terrorize this tiny corner of the Arizona desert. If Sam and Dean can’t figure out why, the wide-open spaces of the West will once again become a desolate frontier—and the witch’s canyon will be the brothers’ final resting place.
Find Witch’s Canyon on Amazon (affiliate link)
Sam and Dean are headed for Key West, Florida, home to Hemingway, hurricanes, and a whole lot of demons. The tropical town has so many ghouls on the loose that one of its main moneymakers has long been a series of ghost tours. But the tours are no more, not since one of the guides was found dead of an apparent heart attack—his face frozen in mid-scream.
No one knows what horrors he saw, but the Winchester brothers are about to find out. Soon they’ll be face-to-face with the ghosts of the island’s most infamous residents, demons with a hidden agenda, and a mysterious ancient power looking for revenge. It’s up to Sam and Dean to save the citizens of Key West—before the beautiful island is reduced to nothing more than a pile of bones.
Find Bone Key on Amazon (affiliate link)
When renegade angel Castiel alerts Sam and Dean to a series of particularly brutal killings in San Francisco’s Chinatown, they realize an ancient evil of unspeakable power—the Heart of the Dragon—is back!
John Winchester faced the terrifying spirit 20 years ago, and the Campbell family fought it 20 years before that. Can the boys succeed where their parents and grandparents failed?
Find Heart of the Dragon on Amazon (affiliate link)
Way back in April 1862, Confederate Captain Jubal Beauchamp leads a charge across a Georgia battleground—fast forward to 2009, and a civil war re-enactment becomes all too real.
When Sam and Dean head down south to investigate they find that history has got somewhat out of hand…
Find The Unholy Cause on Amazon (affiliate link)
On the hunt for Lucifer, the boys find themselves in a small town in South Dakota where they meet an angel with a proposition. He sends them a very long way from home, on a mission to uncover the secret Satan never wanted them to find out.
Find War of the Sons on Amazon (affiliate link)
Rebecca Dessertine talked about writing original fiction set in a world created by someone else:
“You just have to respect everything. You don’t want to change anything. That’s the show’s job. What you want to do with the novel is just add a little bit for the fans.”—Author of ‘Supernatural’ tie-in novel speaks about writing process in new interview (Hypable)
Dean believes that Sam is in Hell so he is trying to keep his promise to his brother and live a normal live with Lisa and Ben. When he realizes that a spell in the Necronomicon could raise Lucifer and therefore Sam, he convinces his new family to travel with him on vacation to Salem.
Meanwhile, Sam is not as far away as Dean thinks—and is determined to protect his brother from the Salem witches...
Find One Year Gone on Amazon (affiliate link)
A truck full of illegal Mexican immigrants slaughtered with supernatural force is found by the side of a road. Trying to find answers, Sam and Dean are plunged into the dangerous world that exists along the Mexican border. They encounter a tattooed, pistol-packing bandita on a motorcycle who seems be everywhere they go before they get there. Xochi Cazadora draws them into a whole new world of monsters...
Find Coyote’s Kiss on Amazon (affiliate link)
Christa Faust explained to We Minored in Film the differences between writing stories set in her own world and writing tie-in books based on series created by others:
“I guess it’s kind of like cooking.… You’d be miserable if you were never allowed to cook a creative, original meal once in while and you’d be broke if you weren’t able to get paid for catering weddings, but in the end it’s all about finding that balance. It helps that I love my job. I can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing than making up stories.”
Alerted to strange happenings in Clayton Falls, Colorado, Bobby sends the boys to check it out. A speeding car with no driver, a homeless man pursued by a massive Gila monster, a little boy chased by uprooted trees—it all sounds like the stuff of nightmares.
The boys fight to survive a series of terrifying night times, realizing that sometimes the nightmares don’t go away—even when you’re awake...
Find Night Terror on Amazon (affiliate link)
Laurel Hill, New Jersey is beginning to look like one of the unluckiest places on Earth when a series of mishaps hit the town. But Sam and Dean suspect it’s more than just bad luck. Along with Bobby Singer, the brothers soon realize that a powerful Japanese demon is encouraging the chaos. But the demon has bigger plans and they are going to need to make their own luck to stop it.
Find Rite of Passage on Amazon (affiliate link)
John Passarella, who writes lots of supernatural thrillers, talked to Dread Central about whether his readers can understand the novel even if they didn’t watch the show:
“Supernatural: Rite of Passage is set in the seventh season of the show, before the events of ‘How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters.’ During the pitching and outlining process, I try to keep the storyline as current as possible with the airing shows.
“In this case I was told to set it before that episode so in my mind it takes place between Episodes Nine and Ten. I had to finish the novel long before Season Seven ended, but fans reading the book will have the benefit of knowing how the season-long story arcs played out.
“At its heart, the show and the books are about two brothers fighting supernatural evil. That’s what I tell fans of my other books who may not watch the show. The Supernatural universe fits in so well with my other books, all supernatural thrillers, that I believe they would enjoy the tie-ins as well.”
A rash of strange deaths in the Tahoe National Forest bring Sam, Dean and Bobby to the Sierra Nevada mountains to hunt a monster with a taste for human flesh.
Soon walking corpses, bodies with missing organs, and attacks by a mysterious flying creature lead the trio to a cunning and deadly foe which can assume a human form and will do anything to survive.
When a blizzard strikes the area, and not knowing who they can trust, they must battle not only the monster, but also the elements to survive.
Find Fresh Meat on Amazon (affiliate link)
Alice Henderson talked to Fresh From The...
“I enjoy writing both original and tie-in novels. The process is quite different for each, however. With a tie-in, of course, I’m creating an adventure in a known universe, and I strive to make it sound authentic to the characters and that world. A tie-in is such a joy to write, because I get to write new situations for beloved characters and go on a journey with them. With my original fiction, the world is something I create from scratch, so that has a very different feel to it. With original work, I deal with an editor, and with tie-in work, I deal with getting approval not just from an editor, but from the licensor, as well. In the case of Supernatural, this was Warner Bros., and they were an absolute pleasure to work with.”
Reported sightings of a hellish hound and the discovery of newly dead desiccated corpses bring Sam and Dean Winchester to Brennan, Ohio.
But when they catch the monster canine it turns out to be a reanimated patchwork of pieces from separate dogs. Soon, the brothers are on a trail that leads from mad scientists and biotechnology to centuries-old alchemists, walking corpses, and an ancient and malevolent power.
Find Carved in Flesh on Amazon (affiliate link)
Related link: Q&A with Tim Waggoner: “Horror stimulates my imagination like nothing else.”
When a gruesome murder takes place in Braden Heights, Indiana, the local authorities suspect the disemboweled and eyeless corpse is the result of an animal attack.
But when another body is discovered, the eyes gouged out, Sam, Dean, and Castiel start looking for connections between the victims—and discover both men were soon-to-be fathers.
As the boys hunt the killer, they unearth the town’s troubled past, and secrets some would prefer stay buried forever.
Find Cold Fire on Amazon (affiliate link)
Teenager Renee Mendez is a talented artist living in a small Illinois town. She loves drawing the strange beings that feature in her dreams, without realizing that when she depicts them on paper, they come to life in the real world.
These gods begin to seek worshipers and battle for supremacy, killing humans and each other until only the two strongest remain.
Sam and Dean come to town to investigate the murders and “miracles” these new gods perform, slaying some of them in the process. The last two gods standing prepare for their final conflict, which only one will survive. The brothers must find a way to stop the gods’ war before the entire town is destroyed.
Find Mythmaker on Amazon (affiliate link)
Related link: Q&A with Tim Waggoner: “Horror stimulates my imagination like nothing else.”
Visitors passing through Brownsdale, Kentucky are often never seen again. The locals claim that it’s easy to fall victim to the vast local caves if explored unaided, but when two young girls go missing Sam and Dean set out to investigate.
As the brothers start to suspect something far more sinister in the town, and possibly lurking in Mammoth Cave, they realize that someone is determined to protect the town secret—even if it means killing Sam and Dean himself.
Find The Usual Sacrifices on Amazon (affiliate link)
Sam and Dean Winchester have spent their lives on the road, battling every kind of supernatural threat. Over the years, after dozens of bloody adventures, they have faced everything from the yellow-eyed demon that killed their mother to vampires, ghosts, shapeshifters, angels and fallen gods.
With the help of allies—both human and supernatural—they’ve discovered that every threat they vanquish opens a new door for evil to enter in.
Find Joyride on Amazon (affiliate link)
Sam and Dean travel to Indiana to investigate a murder that could be the work of a werewolf. But they soon discover that werewolves aren't the only things going bump in the night. The town is also home to a pack of jakkals who worship the god Anubis: carrion-eating scavengers who hate werewolves.
With the help of Garth, the Winchester brothers must stop the werewolf-jakkal turf war before it engulfs the town—and before the god Anubis is awakened…
Find Children of Anubis on Amazon (affiliate link)
Related link: Q&A: Tim Waggoner on Writing in the Dark: The Workbook: “Horror stimulates my imagination like nothing else.”
In an interview with FanFiAddict, Tim Waggoner offered advice for writers interested in getting involved with tie-ins:
“The most important thing is to write your own original material first and publish it with a traditional publisher. Tie-in editors need to know that you can write a professional-level novel from start to finish, and they need to know that you can work well in a highly collaborative situation. Publishing traditionally demonstrates that you can work with editors, take feedback, make revisions, etc. Editors don’t care if you know anything about the property you’ll be writing for. They only care that you’re a skilled, experienced novelist with at least some kind of track record, and that you can work and play well with others.”
More Supernatural articles from Monster Complex:
Related Supernatural Books
Bobby Singer's Guide to Hunting by David Reed—Prequel book tells about Bobby's adventures and his relationships with other Supernatural characters.
Supernatural: John Winchester's Journal by Alex Irvine—Supernatural: John Winchester's Journal is a prequel and resource guide detailing the Winchester's past as well as their hunts.
Supernatural: The Men of Letters Bestiary: Winchester Family Edition by Tim Waggoner and Kyle Hotz—Supernatural: The Men of Letters Bestiary: Winchester Family Edition details many of the creatures Sam and Dean have faced, their backgrounds, and how to defeat them.
The Mythology of Supernatural: The Signs and Symbols Behind the Popular TV Show by Nathan Robert Brown—Guidebook to the world of Supernatural, including info on angels and demons, plus exorcisms and the apocalypse.
The Supernatural Book of Monsters, Spirits, Demons, and Ghouls by Alex Irvine—Resource guide featuring several of the creatures Sam and Dean has fought as well as parts of John Winchester's Journal.
Supernatural, the Television Series: The Roads Not Taken (Interactive) by Tim Waggoner (Author), Zachary Baldus (Illustrator)—Supernatural, the Television Series: The Roads Not Taken allows readers control their action as they follow Sam and Dean Winchester on adventures of hunting demons and other things that go bump in the night.
Related links
The Winchesters: cancelled Supernatural prequel fails to find a new home (JoBlo)
Jensen Ackles Confirms ‘Supernatural’ Spinoff Over After Cancellation: ‘Timing Is Everything’ (Us Weekly)
Supernatural stars react as Winchesters spin-off axe is confirmed (Radio Times)
‘Perfect Ending’, Supernatural Show Manifest Season 4 Part 2 Leaves Fans With Satisfactory Goodbye (Indiatimes.com)
The Winchesters: Season Two Efforts Failed Due to Bad Timing, According to Jensen Ackles (TV Series Finale)
The Winchesters: Misha Collins Responds to Supernatural Series Ending (Bleeding Cool)
One Of Television's Longest-Running Franchises Is Dead (Giant Freakin Robot)
10 Supernatural TV Shows That Deserve Their Own Movie (Collider)
9 Shows to Watch for ‘Supernatural’ Fans (CordCutting.com)
10 Most Memorable Quotes That Only 'Supernatural' Fans Understand (Collider)
100 Funniest 'Supernatural' Quotes!! (Fanpop)
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