Chris Hauty Books in Order

Chris Hauty was born in San Antonio, Texas, in 1956 and grew up in Delaware. As a kid, he was drawn to Greek mythology, an early interest in big stories, danger, and people facing impossible choices.

He went on to Reed College in Portland, Oregon. After graduating, Hauty moved to New York, where he wrote plays while supporting himself as a bike messenger and graphic artist.

The New York years gave him a practical education in making a creative life work. Several of his plays, including South of American Business, Shut Eye, and Big Mouth, were produced Off-Off-Broadway. He was writing for the stage, doing day jobs, and learning how much a story has to accomplish when an audience is sitting right in front of it.

Then a screenplay changed the map.

Hauty sold his first screenplay, Don Coyote, to 20th Century Fox, which led him to Los Angeles. He spent more than three decades as a screenwriter, working across genres and with major studios. His film work includes projects such as Never Back Down and Sniper: Ghost Shooter, and he has worked with performers including Mel Gibson and Jessica Alba.

That screenwriting background shows up in his fiction, though the novels have room for more interior detail and longer-running mysteries. Hauty made his fiction debut in 2020 with Deep State, introducing Hayley Chill, a former Army soldier beginning a White House internship just as a suspicious death pulls her into a dangerous political conspiracy. The book was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and a Barry Award nominee.

Hayley remains the center of his main series. In Savage Road, she faces cyberwarfare and questions surrounding her father's death. Insurrection Day puts her inside a violent Capitol uprising, while Storm Rising follows her into an investigation involving extremist activity and a threat to the country’s stability. The Devil You Know moves the action to Hawaii after the murder of a Supreme Court justice and a hostage crisis.

The stakes are national, but the problems often hit close to home.

Hauty writes political thrillers built around covert networks, institutional pressure, and one capable person trying to sort truth from manipulation. Hayley is driven by loyalty to the country rather than a political party, and her military training, stubbornness, and unresolved family history keep the action personal even when the plot reaches the White House, the Pentagon, or the Supreme Court.

His standalone novel Dead Ringer turns to another American mystery, pairing a disgraced former Secret Service officer with a Jesuit professor investigating the lasting secrets around John F. Kennedy’s assassination. It carries forward Hauty’s interest in conspiracy, history, and the people who risk too much by asking questions others would rather leave alone.

Hauty lives in Glendale, California. After a long career writing scripts, he has brought his love of structure and momentum to novels that move quickly but leave room for the personal cost behind the action.