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Book Review: Hater – David Moody
Warning: Possible Spoilers
David Moody’s Hater hits you with a chilling premise and with to-the-point, punchy prose keeps you reading up until the last page but fails to wrap it up in the way the story deserves.
It’s quickly becoming apparent that any novel I finish, considering I’m so prone to not finishing novels, means that the book is worth reading. Hater is fairly short at 240 pages and the style of the prose makes it easy enough to keep reading. Despite elitists cringing at ‘easy-to-read’ prose I consider this a good thing.
Moody manages to set up a great premise and throws the main character, Danny McGoyne in an interesting world, where suddenly violent episodes where people just seem to ‘crack’ becomes almost like an epidemic. There is no explanation for how this happens and was a major part of what kept me turning the pages.
The novel almost takes on the feel of a zombie novel with the seemingly random attacks when individuals turn into ‘Haters,’ the people who just turn and become violent toward anyone near them. And Danny’s fear of being at risk of attack by virtually anyone, including his family, comes across strongly.
The novel ends at a breakneck pace, throwing Danny in a seemingly irreversible set of circumstances that gives the novel and what happens to the character chilling gravity, but the explanation for the source of the violence, the cause for people becoming ‘Haters’ proves to be unsatisfying, inadequate and even slightly simplistic and cliché which unfortunately doesn’t do the novel and its premise justice.
I’d still recommend it as it’s a good original novel in the horror genre but it would need a sequel (which is possible) that explains the premise further to satisfy the gripping situation it set up.
Rating: 
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[...] coincidence that my writing output and my reading input have increased at the same time. Finishing Hater helped a lot I think. I mean, it’s the first horror novel I’ve finished reading since [...]
This sounds like a good book. I’m going to look for it. Is it a recent publication?
Yeah, it’s a new release. Saw a review of it in mX so you should be able to get it from most bookstores.
Thanks. I’ll be looking for it on my day off (Saturday – I don’t get RDO’s
).
Awesome, outstanding, very well written book!
“Hater” is the 1st book in what will be a trilogy. The next book, “Dog Blood” will be out soon according to back page’s author’s notes. Don’t let the obscure title fool you, “Hater” is the real deal!
A word of advice, read “Hater” now, don’t wait until the movie comes out or until all three books are out and everyone is talking about it and your three books behind. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!
A few random people are brutally attacked by strangers. The next day, several more attacks. All random, all appear to be for no certain reason. The media declares the attacks are being committed by haters! But who is a hater, what is a hater, how can we tell them apart?
The government puts the following message on every television, every station-
REMAIN CALM
DO NOT PANIC
TAKE SHELTER
WAIT FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS
THE SITUATION IS UNDER CONTROL
The haters can tell us apart, they already know, “it’s kill or be killed, hate or be hated!”
Haters are not zombies, their not vampires, read it and find out for yourself!
The book gets better & better all the way through. It’s fast paced and the ending is phenomenal!
Guillermo del Toro, director of “Pan’s Labyrinth”, “Hellboy 1 & 2″ has already purchased the rights to this novel for production of the major motion picture “Hater”!
I will definitely watch the movie and definitely read the next two novels when they come out.
Read it!