Mark Gimenez grew up in Galveston County, Texas, and attended Texas State University and Notre Dame Law School. He practiced law and was a partner in a large Dallas firm. He is the author of eleven novels—The Color of Law, The Abduction, The Perk, The Common Lawyer, Accused, The Governor's Wife, Con Law, The Case Against William, The Absence of Guilt, End of Days (Con Law II), and Tribes—as well as a children's novel, Parts & Labor: The Adventures of Max Dugan. His books have received critical acclaim around the world. They have been bestsellers in the UK, Ireland, Australia, India, and South Africa and have been translated into fifteen foreign languages. The Perk won a spot in Books to Die For: The World's Greatest Mystery Writers on the World's Greatest Mystery Novels, edited by John Connolly and Declan Burke.