Colin Kersey
Advertising Exec Who Once Climbed Mt. Rainier Pens Critically-Acclaimed Suspense Thrillers
Colin Kersey recently released his newest suspense thriller, Swimming With The Angels, after taking 26 years off from penning his debut novel, Soul Catcher, which was originally published by St. Martin’s Press and re-released this year. His first book, also a suspense thriller, earned rave reviews from The Washington Post, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus Reviews. But his writing career was on hold while he worked hard at his day job in marketing and advertising. His career in that industry now spans 45 years. He knows how to package up a story and then tell it like a pro.
“My fiction writing has been compared to that of Dean Koontz,” says Kersey. “I have been told by editors, reviewers, and writing instructors that my writing style touches all of the senses. Reading my books is like watching 4-D theater.”
Kersey, who grew up in a small town in Washington, some 20 miles from Seattle, where his dad was a three-term mayor, has lived with a bit of the adventure his novels take readers on. He has traveled all across the United State and around the globe to places like Japan, Europe, and the United Kingdom. Earlier in his life, he climbed Mt. Rainier, an experience that he says tore off some of the skin on his face due to the harsh conditions.
As an advertising executive, he enjoyed working with some big-name celebrities and iconic brands, including McDonald’s and IBM. For one of his clients, a real estate development firm, he created a campaign to launch a new town in southern California, replete with its own zip code!
For several years he was mentored by The New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth George. Kersey, an interesting guy who earned three different college degrees, majored in English and creative writing – in addition to advertising and education.
His books explore complex situations involving handicapped characters – one is blind, another is deaf – and the supernatural. They capture readers emotionally. One reviewer, at Publishers Weekly BookLife, compares his writings to those of Nora Roberts’ The Witness and Michael Koryta’s Those Who Wish Me Dead.