Vince Flynn was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1966. He graduated from the University of St. Thomas and went to work as an account and sales marketing specialist for Kraft Foods. In 1990, he accepted an aviation candidate slot with the United States Marine Corps, but was medically disqualified before starting the program. He worked as a bartender while writing his first book, Term Limits, which after receiving numerous rejections he self-published. It hit the New York Times bestseller list in paperback. He went on to write the Mitch Rapp series. He was a story consultant for the television series 24. He died after a long battle with prostate cancer on June 19, 2013 at the age of 47. Published posthumously, his books continue to make the bestseller list. The Survivor, co-written with Kyle Mills, made The New York bestseller list in 2015.

Kyle Mills was born in 1966. He moved around a lot as a child because his father was an FBI agent. He graduated college with a degree in finance and worked in a bank before becoming a writer. His first book, Rising Phoenix, took eight months to write and was published in 1997. His other works include Storming Heaven, Sphere of Influence, Fade, The Second Horseman, Lords of Corruption, Robert Ludlum's The Ares Decision, and The Immortalists. His title Robert Ludlum's the Utopia Experiment made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2013. His book, The Survivor, co-written with Vince Flynn, made The New York Times bestseller list in 2015.