Adrian McKinty was born and grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, during the Troubles. His father was a welder in Harland and Wolff --- the shipyard where they built the Titanic; his mother was a school lunch lady and secretary. Adrian went to Oxford University on a full scholarship where he studied philosophy. Emigrating first to America and then Australia he found work as a door-to-door salesman, a driver, a bookstore clerk, a barman, a high school English teacher and a semipro rugby player.