'Don't make any plans for the week after you start reading' Daily Mirror
'Has all the cinematic sweep and verve as Hayes' debut... just as enthralling' Financial Times
'Compare this with the thrillers written by Mr or Mrs Clinton, and you come away feeling that Hayes is the one who has more inside knowledge' Telegraph
'With vivid descriptions, some terrific action sequences and lashings of suspense, the book ticks all the boxes necessary for a superior geopolitical thriller' Guardian
'Move over Jason Bourne. CIA operative Kane redefines the smart but vulnerable bad ass super spy in this dazzling cat-and-mouse thriller where the entire globe is a chessboard, and everyone’s playing for keeps' Lisa Gardner

Hayes was originally a journalist who worked for a time in New York. He met director George Miller when he did the novelisation of the script to Mad Max (1979). He and Miller got on well and the director subsequently hired Hayes to help on the script for Mad Max 2 (1981). Hayes went on to become an in-house writer for Kennedy Miller, working on the scripts for all their subsequent mini-series. He also wrote the script for Dead Calm (1989).

Hayes subsequently moved to Hollywood. In 2001, he was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best Screenplay for his work on From Hell.

He wrote the unused screenplay of Planet of the Apes, titled Return of the Apes in 1994.

His debut novel, I Am Pilgrim was published by Transworld Publishers on 18 July 2013. That same month, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquired the film rights to the novel with Hayes attached to adapt it into a screenplay. He is also working on a stand-alone novel entitled The Year of the Locust.