Mo Hayder (born 1962) is a British author of crime and thriller fiction. She is the author of eight novels. Her debut, Birdman, was published in January 2000 and was an international bestseller. Her second novel, The Treatment, was a Sunday Times bestseller and won the 2002 WH Smith Thumping Good Read award. Her third novel, Tokyo, was published in May 2004 and was another Sunday Times bestseller. Tokyo was published as The Devil of Nanking in the United States in March 2005. Pig Island was her fourth best seller and was published in April 2006. Pig Island was nominated for both a Barry Award for Best British crime novel, and a CWA dagger. Her fifth book, Ritual was the first in The Walking Man series, and was nominated for CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award. Skin is the second book in The Walking Man series, and was released in early 2009. Gone, the third book in The Walking Man series, was released in February 2011; it won the Edgar Award for Best Novel. Her novel Hanging Hill was published 2011, and Wolf in 2015.
Hayder left school at fifteen, and has worked as a barmaid, security guard, film-maker, hostess in a Tokyo club, educational administrator and a teacher of English as a foreign language. Hayder has an MA in film from The American University in Washington DC, and an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University.
Her debut novel, Birdman, was published in 2000 to wide acclaim. Although some reviewers found the novel (which concerns a serial killer with a particularly vicious modus-operandi) too violent and disturbing, the book became an international bestseller. Birdman introduced readers to DI Jack Caffery, a character who also featured in Hayder’s second novel, The Treatment. The Treatment tackled themes of paedophilia. DI Caffery returned in Hayder’s recent novels Ritual, Skin, Gone, and Wolf, which she calls the Walking Man series.
Mo Hayder lives just outside Bath, England with her partner, Bob Randell (retired police sgt of Avon & Somerset Police Underwater Search Unit), and her daughter.
