Private Investigator Declan Fraser is dying of cancer, a fate he has come to accept. But before his time runs out, he takes on one final job as a consultant in Blackwell, a coastal town where a dozen women have vanished over the past five years. If he can uncover the truth, Declan may leave behind more than a name on a headstone.
Blackwell is a town steeped in sin, its history stained by violence and tragedy. The police chief is openly hostile to Declan’s presence. Some locals keep secrets. Others whisper of curses and restless phantoms lingering between life and death—superstitions Declan is quick to dismiss.
Until he witnesses the supernatural firsthand.
As his health deteriorates and his reality begins to unravel, Declan must uncover the truth behind the force driving the disappearances, whether human or something darker. With time running out and more people vanishing, what Declan finds may force him to face the one thing he has always feared:
that death is not the end.
I’m Jason Belmont, a fiction writer inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, J.R.R. Tolkien, Alan Moore, and George Lucas. Rapture is my debut novel.
I started writing when I was very young. Every year during back-to-school sales, my parents would take me to Staples where I would buy as many notebooks as I could, not for school work, but to fill with, let's be honest, really bad stories (none of which I ever finished). My love for creative writing largely stems from my middle school English teacher, who is mentioned on the dedication page in Rapture.
When I was in my teens, I wanted to be a filmmaker (something that I still hope to do some day), but I instead chose to go to school for psychology. I spent two semesters at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA before dropping out and moving back home. I started writing Rapture a few years later.
But enough of the technicalities, here are some random fun facts about me:
I used to be terrified of dogs after some rough childhood encounters. I worked through it over the years, and now I have a English cream golden retriever named Indiana.
In high school my friends and I technically committed grand theft auto when a teacher trusted us with his car keys. We moved his car to the other end of the parking lot as a joke. Later we learned that moving a vehicle any distance without consent can count as theft if charges are pressed. He, luckily, thought the prank was hilarious.
I am a lifelong retro gaming nerd with a soft spot for the NES and SNES era; Castlevania, Metroid, Mega Man 2, Sonic 3, and Legend of Zelda being among my favorites. I am also one of the few people who unironically loves Zelda II.
I was an extra in off-Broadway productions of Peter Pan and The Wizard of Oz, which is funny because I absolutely cannot sing.
My all-time favorite movies include 12 Angry Men, The Iron Giant, Batman Returns, The Crow, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Django Unchained, and Watchmen.
Despite being an author, I'm not actually much of a reader (I'm more of an audiobook guy).