Swimmer Jason making waves as book author

Jason Mann’s novel Hidden Depths focuses on the themes of lost love, the murky world of fraud and climaxes with an extraordinary 28-mile swim between the Isles of Scilly and Cornwall. In the story, a Cornishwoman facing the bleak prospect of years in prison devises a desperate plan to use her skills as a former competitive swimmer to disappear.
Jason, of Wellswood, who publishes under the name J.H.Mann, said: “Hidden Depths was inspired by a number of famous real-life disappearance cases, such as the Canoe Man John Darwin and Australian businesswoman Melissa Caddick. The story examines the desperation and determination of mother and wife Catherine Carlyon who secretly decides the only way out is to leave her family and everything she holds dear.”
Hidden Depths is available on Amazon in ebook and paperback formats. Two experienced marathon swimmers who have attempted the swim between Scilly and Land’s End provided advice on the swim scenes.
Mark Richards, from Perranporth, Cornwall, became the first man and only the third person to complete the distance in 2019 after battling winds and tides for 19 hours and 50 minutes. Vicky Middlemast, from Sale, Greater Manchester, attempted the swim in 2016 but was forced to give up in darkness less than two miles from the Cornish coast after 17-and-a-half hours. They followed in the swim strokes of Alison Streeter and Beth French, who successfully tackled the swim in 1998 and 2014 respectively.
Jason, himself a keen open water swimmer, said: “I am hugely grateful to Vicky and Mark. Their swimming achievements are amazing. They helped me bring an authenticity to a key part of my story. Hidden Depths is, of course, fictional but many of Vicky and Mark’s experiences during their swims are included.
He says: "I have lived in Devon most of my life but have strong family connections with Cornwall. My father was one of the county’s early lifeguards at Bude. My parents’ stories of Cornwall and my own swimming experiences are often the inspiration for my novels.”
The book cover was produced by MiblArt, a Ukrainian company based in Lvov. Jason, himself a keen open-water swimmer, is now working on another Cornish thriller The Echoing Shore which is due to be published later this year.
Jason says: "It is still early days for my current novel Hidden Depths though it has received some very pleasing reviews and, interestingly, a substantial number of readers are coming from America."
His next novel, The Echoing Shore, has just been short-listed for the international Yeovil Literary Prize, which is one of the longest established novel prizes in the UK and attracts entries from all over the world, and publication might now be held until next year.
He is quite well known for running and swimming exploits, including swimming across Torbay (Fishcombe Cove to Meadfoot).