Other reviews refer to this as a zombie novel of sorts - maybe along the lines of "Monster Island." It maintains much of the social commentary of a zombie novel, but the message is somewhat different. It's more of a civil rights metaphor, the totally oppressed minority being pursued by a murderous society.

The government and all of society is trying to kill you, but only if you realize they are trying to kill you. The ultimate paranoid fantasy come true. It's not clear why or how the "Haters" are different, but its an interesting idea.

Most annoying thing about the book: It's part of a trilogy, which it nicely reveals on the last page. Can't tie up your book in 300 pages? Make it a trilogy.( ( )

Moody lays out the basis of his story will spartan precision, documenting the quick fall of ‘civilized’ society with clarity and, yes, dollops of dread. His characters are flawed, relatable beings, reminding us that true terror only arises when you care about the personalities involved. There is an aura of uneasiness to the early scenes that grab you, an uneasiness that only increases as the paranoia and confusion sets in. Moody taps into the random, unfocused fear that appears to have infected western society, with its overarching fear of the ‘other’. Who is this other? What do they want? Yesterday’s fear of the communist agenda was been replaced with terrorism, but the effect is the same; we are all deathly afraid of each other, because we simply do not know each other’s thoughts or motives. Much as in the great zombie films of Romero and Fulci, Moody uses the infected in Hater as a metaphor for everything out there on the streets that we fear, including the worst fear of all, that we will somehow become that which we fear. In many ways, Hater is a superior example of the zombie novel, even more effective than Max Brooks’ scattershot yet undeniably effective World War Z.

Read the entire review here. ( )

Hater opens with a seemingly inexplicable event: an average man, a regional manager for a chain of main street discount stores, sees a woman who makes him feel uneasy for reasons he cannot explain. She disappears into the crowd of commuters for a moment, but the man picks her out again – an 80-year-old woman, small, with glasses; why, he wonders, does she seem so threatening to him? But he knows he must act quickly, and he does, pushing his way through the crowd, grabbing her and throwing her against a building. Despite the efforts of others in the crowd to stop him, he uses his umbrella like a bayonet and stabs the woman to death. As the crowd surrounds him, he realizes that almost everyone there is a threat to him, and begins to fight until the police appear and wrestle him to the ground.

As an isolated occurrence, this opening prepares the experienced horror or mystery reader for almost anything. Was the man drugged? Is he under the mind control of another person? Was the woman an alien and he somehow knew it? What’s going on here?

David Moody takes his time letting us in on what’s going on, and he does it well, building suspense steadily as he tells the story through the eyes of Danny McCoyne, a self-described “lazy bastard” stuck in a dead-end job in the Parking Fine Processing office of his unnamed English city. Danny has a family – a wife and three kids, and a father-in-law who helps out now and then with minding the children – and they live in a small (too small) council flat. They’re barely getting by on what he and his wife, Lizzie, earn, which is putting a lot of pressure on their marriage. So are the children, who fight constantly and seem to do nothing but watch television. Too many people in too little space with too few outlets for their energy and ambitions seems to have brought this family of five to the brink of its endurance. But endure they do.

But can the family survive what is happening to society? It soon becomes apparent that the manager’s assault on the old lady was simply the first in a series of brutal murders by seemingly normal, gentle, ordinary people. A school girl kills her best friend by pounding her with a stone. At a concert, one of the performers begins swinging his guitar at his bandmates. The oddest thing of all is that the murderers are the ones who appear to be terrified, to be killing out of fear of the people they are killing. Before long, the whole world seems to be careening out of control, with police forces operating at full strength and hospitals struggling to cope. No one knows what is causing people to suddenly become violent.

The situation worsens daily. Within a week, schools and businesses are all closed and the news is running on a loop. People are told to remain in their homes and stay safe. Food is becoming scarce. Danny is barricaded into his living room with his children, his wife and his father-in-law and no one seems to be able to trust anyone else. It seems that anyone can suddenly become violent against anyone else, even against family members. How can they even trust one another?

It soon becomes apparent that they can’t, and then the story really takes off. Now we start to understand; now we start to really fear, as if what has gone before is only prologue.

Moody self-published Hater online in 2006, but it only appeared in this country in book form in 2009. Moody is an unusual success story, having sold the film rights to Hater to director Guillermo del Toro (director of the Hellboy movies and Pan’s Labyrinth) on his own, without an agent. Hater is the first of a trilogy, and we’re promised the second book, Dog Blood, “soon,” according to Hater’s last page. Moody’s website promises the book will be released in 2010.

Hater is a fast and furious read, with bloody action piled upon horrific incident piled upon gruesome violence. The human race is at war with itself, with everything you can imagine that would entail. The writing is clean and sharply focused, the plotting strong and the everyday details believably described.

Even so, this is not a book that one can love, or even dislike. It is horror as product. That is, it offers thrills and chills, makes one tear through it quickly, and is as quickly forgotten. There is nothing new or exciting here. Although the book seems to be meant as a fable for our overcrowded, violent world, it fails to work well from that perspective. Undoubtedly, you will enjoy this book for the time it takes you to read it, but it will not stay with you long. ( )

I don't want to be a hater, but I really didn't care for this book. It was definitely the beginning of a trilogy and was most interesting when focused on the main characters unfulfilling life and the emotions and reactions to a world falling apart. Once the action starts, I found I didn't really care so much what happened. The problem is the author was unable to bring any real connection to the main character. I actually didn't like him at all and don't care if he lives or dies. I'll have to see how the second book in the series is received to see if I continue. ( )

Set in near-future England. A rash of killings break out, committed by "Haters" who suddenly and inexplicably get the urge to kill and kill and kill. Not bad. First in a trilogy. Peters out at the end a bit.

Terrible author photo. ( )