Product details
- ISBN 9781917377522
- Dimensions: 127 x 203mm
- Publication Date: 11 Jun 2026
- Publisher: Chronos Publishing
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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Malik Hayter has a psychopathy diagnosis, a probation tag on his ankle and a tweed suit he's using as armour. Recently released from Doncaster prison after six and a half years, he sets up a front business as a private investigator whilst attempting to resume his life as one of Sheffield's most feared criminal enforcers. The plan is straightforward. The reality is anything but.
When a desperate mother walks into his office and his six-year-old daughter makes him promise to find her missing child, Malik finds himself going against everything he has ever known. What follows will pull him deeper into Sheffield's criminal underworld than even he has been before, and force him to confront the question of whether a man like Malik Hayter can ever truly change.
Set against the gritty, divided landscape of Sheffield, Hayter is a dark, visceral and uncompromising debut that pulls no punches. Brutal and blackly funny in equal measure, it is a story about damage and loyalty, about the families we are born into and the ones we choose, and about how far one man will go when a child's life is on the line.
For lovers of dark crime fiction. Contains strong language, graphic violence and mature themes throughout.
Joe Zalias is a writer and comedian with a vivid imagination and a dark, unflinching view of life.
Raised in Sheffield, he first made his name as a kickboxer, but his mix of affability, sharp wit, and physical presence drew attention beyond the ring. That attention led to an unexpected and dangerous opportunity - an offer to work within a powerful underground criminal organisation.
At the same time, Joe had applied to join the fire service. When one of the organisation's directors was imprisoned indefinitely, he was offered a co-director role - just as his acceptance into the fire service came through. Faced with a genuine crossroads between two radically different lives, he chose the latter.
For over a decade, Joe balanced life as a firefighter with a parallel career in professional stand-up comedy, developing a voice shaped by both frontline reality and brutal honesty. In 2020, he stepped fully into comedy, bringing with him a perspective forged in extremes.
His writing is defined by that contrast - dark, sharp, and rooted in experiences most people never get close to.
