Ryan David Jahn grew up in Arizona, California, and Texas. He finished school at sixteen, worked several odd jobs, from record store clerk to janitor, and spent time in the army before moving to Los Angeles, where he muddled about in television and film for several years.

He published his first novel, Acts of Violence, which went on to win the Crime Writers' Association John Creasey Dagger, in 2009, and has since published four others: Low Life (2010); The Dispatcher (2011), which was long-listed for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger; The Last Tomorrow (2012); and The Gentle Assassin (2014). Translation rights to his works have been sold in twelve languages.

He now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, with his wife Jessica Alt Jahn and two daughters, Francine and Matilda.