Sean, the pen name of John Rickards, crafts distinctive urban thrillers and offbeat short fiction, often infused with a noir and cyberpunk sensibility. His unique approach blends the fantastical with gritty realism, creating narratives that are both thought-provoking and entertaining. While known for his imaginative and genre-bending tales, he also explores the depths of serious crime fiction with a poker-faced intensity. Sean's work invites readers into worlds where the boundaries of reality are delightfully blurred.
The Clocks are victims of a new serial crime, their existence kept secret by the authorities for fear of a wave of panic spreading through the US East coast city. Kidnapped by the mysterious Curator and subjected to the Curse - a medical procedure which ensures a fatal drug will be released into their nervous system one year after implantation -- they are headed for certain death. But now they are fighting back.
An explosive debut novel - THE LEVELS is a dark, urban gothic thriller guaranteed to appeal fans of Child and Kernick. On the outskirts of Newport, on the US East Coast, lies an abandoned housing project: the Levels. Inhabited by Newport's homeless population, the Levels are run by the all-powerful Sorrow. As THE LEVELS opens, ex-CIA agent Nate Turner, who is in the Levels to find out who has just tried to kill him, meets a 14-year-old girl Ghost. Ghost is a Fury, one of Sorrow's trained, teenage assassins looking for a way back to her normal life. Also in the Levels is Kate, a suspended cop, who has been told that she has only days to live after being attacked, and infected, by the Beast, a serial killer working the streets. The Beast is out for revenge on Kate's new employer, who he believes created the infection that's killing him, an infection that has also been released into the Levels. Now Ghost is trying to escape Sorrow, Kate is looking for the Beast and Turner is looking for answers. One thing's for sure, some people aren't going to survive the fallout...