Mark T. Sullivan
Biography
Mark T. Sullivan
Mark T. Sullivan
BIO
Mark T. Sullivan has written seven mystery and suspense novels that
have thrilled readers around the world, but he took a circuitous
route to becoming a best-selling author.
Mark grew up outside of Boston and says the best job he's ever had
was selling souvenirs at Fenway Park during his high school
summers. He attended Hamilton College, graduating in 1980 with a BA
in English. Two weeks later, he boarded a plane bound for Niger,
West Africa, where he worked as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Agades,
an oasis and trading center on the ancient caravan route between
Tripoli and Timbuctu. Mark rode with Tuareg nomads deep into the
Sahara, immersed himself in their culture and taught their children
English in a regional high school.
Upon Mark’s return to the United States in 1982, he attended
the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. He
worked at Reuters, Ltd., as a financial correspondent covering the
Chicago Commodities Markets from 1983-1984. He left to become a
political reporter in Washington D.C., at a small wire service
called States News Service where his role was backup reporter to
the D.C. bureaus of the New York Times, Newsday
and the New York Daily News. He also began to make a name
for himself in the tough world of investigative reporting, breaking
a series of stories about a financial scandal that almost toppled
the nation's mortgage brokerage business.
In 1986, Mark joined the San Diego Tribune as a full-time
investigative reporter. Still profoundly influenced by the
experience of total cultural immersion he had experienced in West
Africa, he began to develop a journalistic style that focused on
the cultures of the things he was investigating. His award-winning
work included a series that examined the culture of children living
with addicts, and another that drew back the curtain on the culture
of corporate funeral home conglomerates.
As a young boy, Mark had been an avid reader who’d dreamed of
becoming a novelist. At the age of 30, he panicked at the thought
that he might not follow through on his childhood dream. So he
began writing fiction in his little spare time and soon had short
stories published in various literary journals.
In the winter of 1990, he took a leave from his investigative
duties at the newspaper and moved to Utah and Wyoming to live among
extreme skiers. That experience yielded his first novel, THE FALL
LINE (1994), which was named a New York Times Notable Book
of the year, a rare honor for a debut author.
The following year, he published HARD NEWS (1995), a mystery that
exposed the underbelly of modern newspapers. The book garnered
widespread critical acclaim and has become something of a cult
classic among journalists.
But it was not until 1996, with publication of THE PURIFICATION
CEREMONY, that Mark’s career broke out. The novel, told in
the voice of a woman who is an expert tracker, has been published
and on best-seller’s lists all over the world. It was a
finalist for the Edgar Allen Poe award for best novel, won the W.H.
Smith Award for best “new talent” author, and was named
one of the best books of the year by the Los Angeles Times. THE
PURIFICATION CEREMONY has been translated into fourteen languages
and optioned numerous times for film, though sadly it has not yet
been made.
Mark published GHOST DANCE in 1999 again to widespread praise and
commercial success, especially in Europe, where many of his fans
live.
LABYRINTH (2001) marked another turning point for Mark’s
career. A thriller set in the world of endurance cavers, LABYRINTH
was bought for film by Scott Rudin and Paramount Pictures even
before the literary rights sold. The book was an international hit
and expanded the number of countries and languages where
Mark’s novels have been published.
In 2003, Mark published THE SERPENT'S KISS, a mystery novel set in
the world of Appalachian snake handlers. BookSense 76 named the
book one of the best mysteries of the year, and it became a
run-away hit in German-language countries, where it sat on
best-seller’s lists for almost twelve months.
TRIPLE CROSS, Mark’s newest, about an attack on a ski resort
for the super-rich and powerful, has already been published in
Germany where it is a best-seller under the title LIMIT. St.
Martin’s Press will launch the U.S. edition of the novel in
April.
Mark lives in southwest Montana with his wife, Betsy, and two
teenage sons, Connor and Bridger. An avid skier, sportsman, martial
artist and devotee of CrossFit training, Mark is also an
entrepreneur with a start-up company that builds green eco-roads as
an alternative to asphalt.
First and foremost, however, he remains a writer. He’s hard
at work on a new novel set in the world of professional thieves,
the CIA and international crime lords. It is tentatively entitled
THE EIGHTEENTH RULE.
Mark T. Sullivan
