The Bad Guys Books

Start with The Bad Guys and follow the numbered order through One Last Thing. The early books introduce the team one mission at a time, while later installments build a continuous plot with cliffhangers, changing alliances, and returning villains.

One Last Thing is officially book #20 and the conclusion of the numbered series. The movie novelization and holiday stories are based on the screen versions, so children can read them separately without interrupting the main sequence.

Cat on the Run is another series set in the same world, but it is not required to understand books #1–20.

Sources: Scholastic's official Bad Guys guide, Scholastic's Aaron Blabey page.

The books contain cartoon fights, chases, explosions, monsters, zombies, dinosaurs, aliens, imprisonment, and characters who appear to die before comic or science-fiction reversals. The danger escalates in later books, but the black-and-white artwork keeps it exaggerated rather than realistic or gory.

Expect gross-out jokes, insults, rule-breaking, and plenty of visual chaos. Underneath the comedy, the series repeatedly asks whether characters have to accept the labels others give them and whether doing good is a choice they can keep making after mistakes.