Book Series · 3 Books

Greystone Secrets Books

In order from The Strangers to The Messengers.

Margaret Peterson Haddix's puzzle-filled trilogy sends three siblings and their friend through coded clues into an authoritarian alternate world to rescue their families.

Reviewed by the Bookroo Editors Updated August 13, 2026

Reading order

How to Read the Greystone Secrets

Read The Strangers, The Deceivers, and The Messengers in numbered order. Each book advances the same parallel-world mystery, and the first two end with important questions that the next installment takes up directly.

Sources: Margaret Peterson Haddix's official series page.

For parents

What Parents Should Know

The mysteries begin with reports of kidnapped children and the sudden disappearance of the Greystones' mother. The alternate world includes surveillance, propaganda, mind control, imprisonment, threatening adults, and children in sustained danger.

There is action and some injury, but the tension is more psychological than graphic. Codes, math, questions about identity, sibling teamwork, empathy, and resistance to authoritarian control make the trilogy especially discussion-friendly.

Where the story begins

First Book in the Series

Sale price

$1697

Book #1 · Chapter Book · Ages 8–12 · 2019

The Strangers

By Margaret Peterson Haddix, Anne Lambelet (Illustrator)

Three siblings discover kidnapped children with identical names and birthdays. Who are these strangers?

416 pages· 75,016 words· Est. 10.5 hour read

5.0/7 Bookroo

$17.99Save 6%

Hardcover

Summary: Chess, Emma, and Finn Greystone's lives are upended when they learn of three kidnapped children who share their names, ages, and birthdays. As their mother vanishes on a mysterious trip, the siblings are left with cryptic clues, leading them to hidden rooms and a perilous secret. Can they unravel the mystery before it's too late? What connects them to these strangers?

In reading order