The Levels by Sean Cregan – review
The Levels is written by John Rickards open pen name Sean Cregan. It’s a really interesting and entertaining kind of gothic horror thriller mix. The sense of place is so strong in fantastical terms that it feels strongly like a crime story set in a secondary world setting. Finch by Jeff VanderMeer might be an apt comparison in some ways. The clear difference between the two is that since The Levels is more clearly located in a world we recognize (if unnamed) it doesn’t need as much fleshing out. As a resident of a dying, East Coast, rust belt type of city I recognize the setting of The Levels with ease.
Some types of novels feature such a strong location that the place itself becomes its own character. That is certainly the case here. I think one could easily place The Levels in a particular architecturally crumbling gothic literary lineage with books like Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake and the novels of Jack O’Connell. It doesn’t take much to feel as if the castle Gormenghast lies in the distant past of The Levels and Quinsigamond is the next town over.
As atmospheric and strange as The Levels is Cregan never loses his way. He exhibits just enough of a light touch to not make his presence felt as he immerses you in this filthy world.
This type of setting, one where we are some what grounded in a world we know but is also a place where anything can happen really suits Cregan well and allows his imagination to really take off.
By the end there is one thing apparent. That there is a lot more to explore in the area known as The Levels. One can only hope that it will feature in other novels soon as Cregan seems to have really found his wheelhouse.
Synopsis:
On the outskirts of Newport, on the US East Coast, lies an abandoned, feral housing project: the Levels. Inhabited by Newport’s forgotten homeless population, the Levels are run as a personal fiefdom 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, drug-addicted 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…
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