1. Adrian McKinty is a Northern Irish writer of crime and mystery novels and young adult fiction, best known for his 2020 award-winning thriller, The Chain, and the Sean Duffy novels set in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.
15 Facts About Adrian McKinty
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Adrian McKinty is a winner of the Edgar Award, the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, the Macavity Award, the Ned Kelly Award, the Barry Award, the Audie Award, the Anthony Award and the International Thriller Writers Award.
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Adrian McKinty has been shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger and the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere.
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Adrian McKinty's father was a welder and boilermaker at the Harland and Wolff shipyard before becoming a merchant seaman.
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Adrian McKinty grew up reading science fiction and crime novels by the likes of Ursula Le Guin, J G Ballard and Jim Thompson.
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Adrian McKinty studied law at the University of Warwick and politics and philosophy at the University of Oxford.
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In 1999, while his wife studied for a Fulbright in Israel, Adrian McKinty played loose head prop forward for the Jerusalem Lions Rugby Club.
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Alongside these, Adrian McKinty wrote the three books in his Lighthouse Trilogy, a series of science fiction young adult novels set in New York City, his native Ireland, and the fictional planet Altair.
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In 2008 Adrian McKinty moved with his family to Melbourne, Australia, to become a full-time writer.
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Adrian McKinty found his greatest success and critical acclaim with the Sean Duffy series, following the eponymous Royal Ulster Constabulary Sergeant during The Troubles, beginning with 2012's The Cold Cold Ground.
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Adrian McKinty has been an especially astute observer of class in fiction.
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Adrian McKinty began working as a writer and reviewer for a number of publications including The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Washington Post, The Independent, The Australian, The Irish Times and Harpers.
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Adrian McKinty quit writing in 2017 after being evicted from his rented house, citing a lack of income from his novels, and instead took work as an Uber driver and a bartender.
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Adrian McKinty returned to writing after the book landed him a six-figure English-language book deal, and was optioned for a film adaptation by Paramount Pictures.
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Adrian McKinty often uses the classic noir tropes of revenge and betrayal to explore his characters' existential quest for meaning in a bleak but lyrically intense universe.