Matt O'Connor

Matt O’Connor was born in 1969 in Worcester, Massachusetts, a child of the 70s, of terrestrial radio, of three TV networks and phones that were only good for making phone calls. “I can’t imagine growing up in an age of smartphones with 24/7 access to entertainment,” Matt says. “There’s no way I could have graduated college with all that opportunity for distraction. I probably would have starved to death in my bedroom playing Fortnite or binge-watching Breaking Bad.”

A firm believer in the power of birth order, Matt was the youngest child and only boy in a family of four children. “My mom and sisters all had big personalities. Any one of them could have been the lead character in a story about our family. I was more of a background extra. My sisters were all smart and beautiful. They were born into a club I was never invited to join. I spent a lot of time playing alone, in my own head, telling myself stories. I think it made it inevitable that I would become a writer ... eventually.

“Most novelists don’t make a living as novelists, and for a long time, that scared me off. I tried living a button-down life, writing radio ads and infomercials and web content. But, after a certain point, it becomes impossible to go through the motions. You have voices in your head ― characters who want to be given life. If you don’t create a world for them to exist in, they won’t give you a minute’s peace. So, you sit at the keyboard and play God.

“I write the types of books I want to read ― fast-paced, action-packed, funny, sexy, smart ― entertaining books that also have something to say about our warped culture, the power of ego, the nature of good and evil, and the universal desire to be loved. I’m fascinated by the idea of the novelist as historian, chronicler and critic of the popular culture and mood of the times. That’s what I love about writers like Tom Robbins, Don Delillo, Stephen King, Tom Wolfe, Ed McBain, and Carl Hiaasen.”

Matt lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Tracy, and their daughter.