Mike Omer
Michael "Mike" Omer is an author of crime, thriller, horror and fantasy who lives in Cork, Ireland. Born in Israel, his books have been translated into more than 20 languages and have sold over 2.5 million copies.
He is a New York Times bestseller,
a Washington Post bestseller, and authored the second most-read Kindle book of 2018.
Omer has received the LiveLib Readers' Choice Award for Detective Fiction, the Russian Detective Prize, and the Thomas & Mercer Silver Raven Award.
Early life
Omer was born in Jerusalem in 1979. Both parents are psychologists, and one brother is the artist Noam Omer. At age six the family relocated to Boston for a year for his father's post-doctorate, where Omer acquired fluent English. From a young age he was a voracious reader of science fiction and fantasy.Career
Early works
At 16, inspired by Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, Omer wrote his first novel, The Geography of the End of the World, published by Israeli publisher Opus in 1995; he was the imprint’s youngest author.His second novel, The Duck Attack, was nominated for the Gefen Award. In the late 2000s he wrote social satire and launched the platform Loof Columns.
In 2011 Omer co-created the RPG Misfortune with Shahar Kober and Ziv Botzer, writing the main plot and worldbuilding over two years; Gamasutra praised its multi-thread storytelling.
The Narrowdale series
Omer next wrote an interactive YA project, Nedudey Shena, with supplemental short videos, in a collaboration between Kinneret Zmora-Bitan and Keter Publishing House. A companion website hosted the protagonist’s vlog, noted by Haaretz. The English edition, Sleepless, appeared in 2015. Sequels included Moth to a Flame and The Buzzing.Glenmore Park
After six fantasy books, Omer shifted to contemporary realism/crime, adopting the pen name “Mike Omer”. He created the Massachusetts-set city of Glenmore Park for a trilogy beginning with Spider’s Web, followed by Deadly Web and Web of Fear.Zoe Bentley trilogy
A side character from Spider’s Web, FBI profiler Zoe Bentley, headlined Omer’s Thomas & Mercer–published thrillers: A Killer's Mind, In the Darkness, and Thicker Than Blood. A Killer’s Mind reached major bestseller lists.Abby Mullen trilogy
In March 2021 Omer published A Deadly Influence, praised by Kirkus as “an expert ticking-clock suspenser”. Publishers Weekly called the debut “smart”. Sequels followed: Damaged Intentions and A Burning Obsession.Awards
- LiveLib Readers' Choice Award for Detective Fiction, 2020, 2023
- The Russian Detective Prize, 2020