McKinty has written nine books, six of which form two trilogies. He is primarily known as a writer of genre fiction: crime and mystery novels and young adult fiction. McKinty writes in a stylized prose manner with echoes of James Ellroy, and Elmore Leonard. Publishers Weekly has called him "one of his generation's leading talents" and Patrick Anderson of the Washington Post has praised McKinty as a leading light in the new wave of Irish crime novelists whose most celebrated members are Ken Bruen, Declan Hughes and John Connolly. McKinty has been criticised for the explicit use of violence in his novels, however John O'Connor reviewing McKinty's "Fifty Grand" in The Guardian called him a "master of modern noir, up there with the likes of Dennis Lehane." McKinty uses the classic noir tropes of revenge and betrayal to explore his characters' existential quest for meaning in an often bleak but lyrically intense universe.

McKinty has written articles and book reviews for The Washington Post, The Times, The Australian, The Melbourne Age and Harpers Magazine.

After graduating from Oxford University in 1993 McKinty moved to New York City and found work as a security guard, barman, bookstore clerk, rugby coach, door to door salesman and librarian. In 2000 he relocated to Denver, Colorado to become a high school English teacher. In 2008 he and his family moved to St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia.