Ed Grace Books in Order

Ed Grace is the thriller name used by Rick Wood, a writer from Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, England. He started writing young and kept at it because storytelling gave him a private place to think, experiment, and disappear into for a while.

As he grew up, writing became more than a hobby. Wood has said he dealt with OCD, bipolar disorder, and Tourette's syndrome, and storytelling became one of the ways he coped. He later studied Scriptwriting at Staffordshire University, graduating in 2011, and went on to complete a master's degree in Creative Writing.

Before books became the day job, he tried a few others. He performed stand-up comedy and took shows to the Edinburgh Fringe, then worked as an English and drama teacher in different parts of England. You can feel both of those backgrounds in his fiction, the timing of comedy, and the close attention to people under pressure.

He did not arrive at novel writing by a neat, straight path.

As Rick Wood, he first built his readership in horror. Books such as The Sensitives and I Have the Sight show his taste for fear, damaged characters, and big emotional hooks. He has also spoken about loving Goosebumps as a child and watching old horror films on VHS, which helps explain why that darker streak runs so naturally through his work.

In 2018, he was able to leave teaching and write full time. As Ed Grace, he turned to leaner action thrillers and launched the Jay Sullivan books, beginning with Assassin Down. That series continued with Kill Them Quickly, The Bars That Hold Me, A Deadly Weapon, and Target Acquired, all following a former assassin who is dangerous, exhausted, and carrying far more grief than most action heroes are allowed to show.

That roughness is a big part of the appeal.

Readers who connect with these books usually like the mix of pace and pain. Assassin Down opens with Sullivan broken by the loss of his daughter, Kill Them Quickly turns a chance act of kindness into a brutal protection story, and The Bars That Hold Me traps him inside a race to stop more mass violence. Later books like A Deadly Weapon and Target Acquired keep pushing on the same fault lines, loyalty, trauma, guilt, and the question of whether a badly damaged person can still choose to do the right thing.

He has lived in several parts of England, and later biographies place him back in Cheltenham, where he writes full time. Whether he is publishing horror as Rick Wood or thrillers as Ed Grace, his stories tend to move fast, stay close to battered characters, and keep one foot in fear even when the shelf says thriller.