Born in Seattle, raised in numerous locales during his youth; including many years in the Panama Canal Zone, and on his grandfather's ranch in eastern Oregon, Hatting was worldly and rural, bilingual, and developed the ability to observe and record at an early age. He also developed a strong work ethic and bravery beyond his years. He was a gifted athlete and an above average student. Moving often because of his father's profession, he had to adapt quickly and positively. Plus he was often called upon to defend himself, so his martial arts skills were honed in reality - not in some gym (Being a new kid in school was a constant and often bloody challenge).

Rob Hatting's novels have been read by thousands around the world. Rob writes from experience - his locales are actual places - described true-to-form; his characters are depictions or amalgamations of real people and his stories are grounded in reality. The underpinning of each novel is the base character of the writer. An adventurer by nature, his experiences range from that of a cowboy, rancher, deep-water sailor, professional diver, rodeo performer, businessman, auctioneer, pilot, trucker, knife maker, horse-trader, commercial fisherman, beach bum, and inventor. Each craft and adventure has given him a myriad of experience from which to write. He can pilot a plane, drive most anything with wheels, and captain/pilot a ship. He boxed, rodeoed, and competed in numerous team and individual sports.

Hatting spent two tours in Vietnam as a brown shoe, (civilian contractor) ten years as a computer salesman with NCR, and has bought and sold over forty businesses throughout the world (eight were weekly newspapers, four were knife manufacturers,...). Rob attended Western College of auctioneers in 1977 to augment his business and journalism degrees from OSU; using his creativity as a 'turn-around' specialist. His personal adventures morphed into novel writing while working on the Alaska Pipeline in 1975. His first novel was published in 1978; his second in 1981. He wrote and published several each decade and currently has twenty-one fiction, three non-fiction, and six screenplays available to his credit.

Rob became a full-time expatriate in 2003; Mexico, Costa Rica, and finally Panama for over a decade. He moved to the Philippines in 2015 where he currently resides.