Before fiction, James O'Neill spent close to two decades in UK Special Forces and high-risk security work - operating across Europe, the United States and the Middle East in environments where the official version rarely matched what actually happened on the ground. Those years fixed his interest on how surveillance works in practice, how operations fail in silence, and how decisions made in closed rooms alter lives far from any camera. His debut novel, The Lost Key, opens a series of British espionage thrillers built on real tradecraft, modern geopolitics, and the blurred edge where cyber and human intelligence meet. Book two, The Grey Wind, continues the story of ex-SAS operator James O'Neill and MI5 officer Sarah Sterling as quiet pressure builds across the UK and Europe. Away from the keyboard he continues to work internationally in security, risk and critical infrastructure. He divides his time between the United Kingdom and airport departure lounges - usually with a notebook in hand and the next operation already forming in his head.