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  • Published: 9 November 2023
  • ISBN: 9780593064979
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 672
  • RRP: $38.00

The Year of the Locust




The long awaited follow-up to global bestseller I AM PILGRIM - and a massive event publication from Transworld

If, like Kane, you're a Denied Access Area spy for the CIA, then boundaries have no meaning. Your function is to go in, do whatever is required, and get out again - by whatever means necessary. You know when to run, when to hide - and when to shoot.

But some places don't play by the rules. Some places are too dangerous, even for a man of Kane's experience. The badlands where the borders of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan meet are such a place - a place where violence is the only way to survive.

Kane travels there to exfiltrate a man with vital information for the safety of the West - but instead he meets an adversary who will take the world to the brink of extinction. A frightening, clever, vicious man with blood on his hands and vengeance in his heart...

  • Published: 9 November 2023
  • ISBN: 9780593064979
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 672
  • RRP: $38.00

About the author

Terry Hayes

Terry Hayes is a former journalist and screen-writer. Born in Sussex, England, he migrated to Australia as a child and trained as a journalist at the country’s leading broadsheet. At twenty-one he was appointed North American correspondent, based in New York, and after two years returned to Sydney to become an investigative reporter, political correspondent and columnist.

He resigned to produce a prominent current affairs radio program and a short time later, with George Miller, wrote the screenplay for Road Warrior/Mad Max 2. He also co-produced and wrote Dead Calm, the film which launched Nicole Kidman’s international movie career, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and a large number of TV movies and mini-series – including Bodyline and Bangkok Hilton – two of which received international Emmy nominations. In all, he has won over twenty film or television awards.

After moving to Los Angeles he worked as a screen-writer on major studio productions. His credits include Payback with Mel Gibson, From Hell, starring Johnny Depp, and Vertical Limit with Chris O’Donnell. He has also done un-credited writing on a host of other movies including Reign of Fire, Cliffhanger and Flightplan, starring Jodie Foster.

The Year of the Locust is Terry Hayes' second novel. His first, I Am Pilgrim was an international bestseller. He and his American wife – Kristen – have four children and live in Switzerland.

Also by Terry Hayes

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Praise for The Year of the Locust

Worth the wait... an often captivating, mass-market adventure story that's mostly more treat than trick

James Owen, The 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

Jake Kerridge, Telegraph

'[Hayes] is brilliant at action and military technology'

John Dugdale, Sunday Times

Epic and immersive, new and unexpected, and his research into spycraft is deep and compelling

Mail on Sunday

Brilliant on the way agents operate and how the US spies on the world

Sun

Compelling, nerve-jangling and breathlessly exciting... Totally immersive

Irish Independent

An absolutely nail biter of a thriller

Glamour

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

Has all the cinematic sweep and verve as Hayes' debut... just as enthralling

Financial Times

With vivid descriptions, some terrific action sequences and lashings of suspense, the book ticks all the boxes necessary for a superior geopolitical thriller

Guardian

Emerging dazed and somewhat brutalised after two intense days reading this utterly gripping, elegantly written 650-page plus thriller, I can say that it was most definitely worth the wait…Kane is a fantastic character: preternaturally brilliant and brave humble and insightful

Alison Flood, Observer

Discover more

Article
21 Questions with Terry Hayes

The author of I Am Pilgrim shares his thoughts on finding inspiration, the books that shaped his youth, and what to expect from The Year of the Locust, his long-awaited second novel.

Video
The Year of the Locust by Terry Hayes is Out Now

The ground-breaking second novel from the internationally bestselling author of I AM PILGRIM, Terry Hayes. If, like Kane, you're a Denied Access Area spy for the CIA, then boundaries have no meaning. Your function is to go in, do whatever is required, and get out again - by whatever means necessary. You know when to run, when to hide - and when to shoot. But some places don't play by the rules. Some places are too dangerous, even for a man of Kane's experience. The badlands where the borders of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan meet are such a place - a place where violence is the only way to survive. Kane travels there to exfiltrate a man with vital information for the safety of the West - but instead he meets an adversary who will take the world to the brink of extinction. A frightening, clever, vicious man with blood on his hands and vengeance in his heart... https://www.penguin.co.nz/books/the-year-of-the-locust-9780593064979