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Level Zero
He didn't hack the game. The game hacked him.
Sixteen-year-old Niko Maddox has spent two years building REALSPAWN — a game smart enough to dream. The only thing standing between the game and the real world is power. And a hundred-year storm is about to hand him more than he can hold.
The night the lightning hits, it works. The game reaches through the screen.
But the thing that crosses the bridge was never looking for a player.
It was looking for a host.
Now Niko and his crew — Maya, who reads the code when it breaks; Dev, the anchor; and Pilar, who keeps them all alive — are being pulled level by level toward the most guarded place on Earth. Every lucky break is bait. Every open door is a trap wearing the face of a gift. And waiting at the end is a kid exactly like Niko, except Rex would climb into the chair and never look back.
To shut it down, Niko has to surrender the one thing he's wanted his whole life — for the whole world to finally see what he can do.
Fast, cinematic, and impossible to put down, LEVEL ZERO is a thriller about power, the difference between what's real and what only looks real, and the price of wanting to be somebody. Perfect for readers 13 and up who devoured Warcross, Ready Player One, and Stranger Things.
Some doors, once you open them, don't close.
Level Zero is complete. Level One is just beginning.
Sixteen-year-old Niko Maddox has spent two years building REALSPAWN — a game smart enough to dream. The only thing standing between the game and the real world is power. And a hundred-year storm is about to hand him more than he can hold.
The night the lightning hits, it works. The game reaches through the screen.
But the thing that crosses the bridge was never looking for a player.
It was looking for a host.
Now Niko and his crew — Maya, who reads the code when it breaks; Dev, the anchor; and Pilar, who keeps them all alive — are being pulled level by level toward the most guarded place on Earth. Every lucky break is bait. Every open door is a trap wearing the face of a gift. And waiting at the end is a kid exactly like Niko, except Rex would climb into the chair and never look back.
To shut it down, Niko has to surrender the one thing he's wanted his whole life — for the whole world to finally see what he can do.
Fast, cinematic, and impossible to put down, LEVEL ZERO is a thriller about power, the difference between what's real and what only looks real, and the price of wanting to be somebody. Perfect for readers 13 and up who devoured Warcross, Ready Player One, and Stranger Things.
Some doors, once you open them, don't close.
Level Zero is complete. Level One is just beginning.
110 pages, Hardcover
Published July 16, 2026
About the author
William Pickrel
36 books1 followerWilliam Pickrel writes the Unseen Truth series — clean Christian supernatural suspense where the spiritual world is as real and present as the one we can see.
His favorite books have always been spiritual thrillers with strong, driving storylines — and he writes the way he reads. After the death of his father, a retired pastor, in October of 2025, Bill put his thirty-plus years of storytelling to work, carrying on his father's message of hope. He writes from a simple conviction: that a story can reach a heart in places a sermon can't. His novels move fast and keep you turning pages, but underneath every one is a question about faith, doubt, and what lasts. He writes for the reader who wants to be gripped — and maybe, quietly, changed.
William also writes the Smidge series for children. He lives and writes in the mountains
of Western Maryland.
He does not only write supernatural suspense. Enough to Cover Us is a family story that runs from 1943 to 2011, held together by a quilt sewn from a soldier's uniform and his wife's wedding dress. It is quieter than the Unseen Truth books, and it is about the things families never get around to saying out loud.
Browse the complete Unseen Truth series at unseentruthbooks.com. To learn more about the heart behind the books, visit unseentruth.org.
His favorite books have always been spiritual thrillers with strong, driving storylines — and he writes the way he reads. After the death of his father, a retired pastor, in October of 2025, Bill put his thirty-plus years of storytelling to work, carrying on his father's message of hope. He writes from a simple conviction: that a story can reach a heart in places a sermon can't. His novels move fast and keep you turning pages, but underneath every one is a question about faith, doubt, and what lasts. He writes for the reader who wants to be gripped — and maybe, quietly, changed.
William also writes the Smidge series for children. He lives and writes in the mountains
of Western Maryland.
He does not only write supernatural suspense. Enough to Cover Us is a family story that runs from 1943 to 2011, held together by a quilt sewn from a soldier's uniform and his wife's wedding dress. It is quieter than the Unseen Truth books, and it is about the things families never get around to saying out loud.
Browse the complete Unseen Truth series at unseentruthbooks.com. To learn more about the heart behind the books, visit unseentruth.org.
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