David Raterman has written books for National Geographic and Knopf/Random House. He is a features correspondent for the South Florida Sun Sentinel and wrote for National Geographic Adventure and Writer's Digest magazines. He worked two years for CARE in ex-Soviet Tajikistan and seven months for a clinic that made artificial limbs for soldiers and war victims in ex-Soviet Armenia. "The River Panj" is his debut novel.

After studying at Ohio University's Scripps School of Journalism, Raterman backpacked around much of the world for seven years, working odd jobs to support himself. He speaks Russian fluently.

Raterman lived in Chicago until he was nine and then grew up in Cincinnati, where most of his family and friends remain. He married a Russian TV writer and they live in Fort Lauderdale with their twin daughters.

On Sept. 1, 2011 he became an active member of The International Thriller Writers.