127 ratings | 1 review | avg rating:3.91

Matt Scott’s Followers (29)

Matt’s Bookshelves

to-read (1)
currently-reading (0)
read (133)
did-not-finish (0)

Matt’s Friends (6)

Dan Lawton

526 books | 533 friends

Julie Pint

9,862 books | 71 friends

Steve Thomas

626 books | 38 friends

James Winchell

401 books | 10 friends

Manfred

1,177 books | 59 friends

Hamish

177 books | 81 friends

Matt Scott

Goodreads Author

Born

in Norfolk, VA, The United States

Website

https://mattscottbooks.com

Twitter

mattscottbooks

Genre

Thriller

Influences

Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, Dan Brown, David Baldacci

Member Since

June 2017

edit data

Matt Scott is the author of the SURVIVING THE LION’S DEN thriller trilogy which debuted in 2021. Once believed himself to be too late in the game to be a thriller writer, an encounter with David Baldacci at a book-signing back in 2018 changed all that.

At the time, Matt would be turning forty-years-old later that year and asked David Baldacci if that age was too old to write his first novel. David stopped mid-signature, looked up at Matt and said, “Oh, hell no. The industry could use some good young writers.” Upon hearing those words, Matt started the first draft of SURVIVING THE LION’S DEN later that same day.

Matt earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and history from Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, where he had the honor of Matt Scott is the author of the SURVIVING THE LION’S DEN thriller trilogy which debuted in 2021. Once believed himself to be too late in the game to be a thriller writer, an encounter with David Baldacci at a book-signing back in 2018 changed all that.

At the time, Matt would be turning forty-years-old later that year and asked David Baldacci if that age was too old to write his first novel. David stopped mid-signature, looked up at Matt and said, “Oh, hell no. The industry could use some good young writers.” Upon hearing those words, Matt started the first draft of SURVIVING THE LION’S DEN later that same day.

Matt earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and history from Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, where he had the honor of studying under former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), General Sam Wilson, who was the college's president and initially introduced Matt to the world of espionage. During his subsequent studies, Matt became fascinated by the CIA and read dozens of non-fiction books related to Middle East politics, spy craft, the CIA’s war against terrorism, tales of clandestine spies and double agents, and memoirs of former agency directors.

Matt’s latest action-packed political thriller is the forthcoming THE AYATOLLAH TAKEDOWN (pub. 3/21/23 Speaking Volumes). His two previous novels in the series include SURVIVING THE LION’S DEN (2021) and THE IRANIAN DECEPTION (2022).

“Vince Flynn and Brad Thor kept me interested in the political spy genre, but I always wanted to do a story about Iran because so few westerners know what it looks like on the inside. When I saw the way THE DA VINCI CODE took readers across a tour of Europe where they learned about the locations as they were involved in the storyline, I knew that I wanted to do something similar with Iran.”

Matt grew up in Portsmouth, Virginia, and currently resides in Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife Amanda. When he’s not writing, Matt works as a professional financial analyst and amateur golden retriever wrangler. ...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Matt Scott questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Matt Scott’s books

Average rating: 4.52 · 46 ratings · 21 reviews · 3 distinct works • Similar authors

	Surviving the Lion's Den (Surviving the Lion's Den #1) 4.42 avg rating — 36 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Iranian Deception 4.69 avg rating — 13 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Ayatollah Takedown 4.60 avg rating — 10 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

recent posts
Matt’s Groups

Action/Adventure Aficionados — 1900 members — last activity 3 hours, 10 min ago
If you enjoy reading pulse-pounding, high octane action and adventure novels, this is the group for you. We discuss books from authors such as Lee Chi ...more

SSG: Spy/Spec-Ops Group — 1354 members — last activity Apr 13, 2026 02:36AM
Dedicated to those who love spy, spec-ops, and clandestine books from Tom Clancy, Vince Flynn, David Morrell, Barry Eisler, Brad Thor...Ludlum, S ...more

Espionage Aficionados — 997 members — last activity May 14, 2026 10:19AM
Pssst--buddy. Dig spy stories? Foreign intrigue? Conspiracies? Join up with.. We got LeCarre, Deighton; Follett; Littell; Ambler; Furst; Silva a ...more

Spy Thrillers — 158 members — last activity Mar 12, 2023 09:24AM
Come join us as we discuss the upcoming season of AMC's TURN, as well as classic Spy Thriller novels. Based on Alexander Rose’s book Washington’s Sp ...more

WW II Spy Novels — 249 members — last activity May 17, 2026 11:48PM
Dedicated to World War II espionage novels: Ken Follett, Jack Higgins, W.E.B. Griffin, Alan Furst, etc. Find a book or series here; browse author ...more

The Orion Team. — 904 members — last activity Nov 16, 2025 04:03AM
For fans of books by Vince Flynn, Brad Taylor, Brad Thor, Tom Clancy, Fredrick Forsyth and other thrillers involving technology, spies, assassins, geo ...more

Around the World in 80 Books — 31292 members — last activity 18 hours, 36 min ago
Reading takes you places. Where in the world will your next book take you? If you love world literature, translated works, travel writing, or explorin ...more

Underground Knowledge — A discussion group — 25438 members — last activity 7 hours, 13 min ago
This global discussion group has been designed to encourage debates about important and underreported issues of our era. All you need is an enquiring ...more

More of Matt’s groups…