Michael J. Byrnes is a co-owner of a highly successful insurance brokerage firm, X-Ell Employee Benefits, LLC. He attended Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey, for his undergraduate degree in marketing, and later earned his graduate degree in business administration at Rutgers. He has always been intrigued by theology, science, and the human condition. He is the author of the international bestseller The Sacred Bones (2008) (Святая тайна) . The Sacred Blood (2009) is his second novel. Byrnes lives in New Jersey, with his wife and two daughters.