David Moody (1) (1970–)

It all happened in an instant. First, a pain in the mouth. Then the throat would swell and and bleed, and death followed within seconds. And it spread from person to person almost too quickly to be believed, leaving a handful of survivors surrounded by hundreds, perhaps thousands or millions, of the dead.

For the few survivors holding up inside the flimsy walls of the Whitchurch Community Center, the worst is far from over. After a few days, some of the dead begin to rise, ambling about, show more bumping into walls and other objects like flies against a window. Carl, Michael and Emma decide that the group would be better off away from the Center, away from such a large amount of dead and the recently re-awakened. Unable to convince others to join them, they set off in search of a more secure location, but slowly realize that no place may be safe as the re-awakened begin to show a violent awareness of those still living.

In the blink of an eye, "Autumn" turns the world as we know it inside out, creating a very dark and bleak story of survival, with a subtle twist to the zombie tale. Rather than passing the infection with slow-moving bites, allowing characters to prepare and to fight, this one spreads like wildfire doused with gallons of jet fuel. Everyone is caught unaware and unprepared. The too-quick devastation takes a mental toll on the characters which adds a new psychological twist to the survival story.

I like that each of the main characters is forced to deal with the sudden loss: Carl refuses to let go of the memories of his wife and young daughter; Michael realizes that he'll never again see his friends and co-workers; and Emma, tries not to deal with events by locking herself in her room and pulling the covers over her head, hoping it will all go away. They show human frailties and struggle to find the strength to continue, which for me made them more believable and realistic.

What also adds to "Autumn"'s creep factor are the re-awakened. At first, they act like newborns, blind and not completely aware of their surroundings, but as the story moves along, they begin to learn, to be attracted to sound and to motion. It's that seeming ability to learn that makes these particular re-awakened more dangerous than other versions of the undead.

"Autumn" is the perfect book to get your adrenaline pumping, forcing you to stay up late and read page after page because you need to see what happens. Highly recommended!! show less

Danny McCoyne watched as the world changed around him. Everyday people suddenly turned on one another, fighting and killing without any rhyme or reason. The ones who turned violent were called Haters, filled with an insatiable desire to destroy the unchanged. And Danny found himself among the changed.

But that was months ago. Since then, the government has evacuated the unchanged into large hubs, cramming them into any open spaces like cattle, rationing food, and doing what they can to show more protect them. The Haters roam freely about the countryside, searching out the unchanged who were left behind to destroy them. And Danny fights right alongside them, but he also has other plans. He needs to find his daughter Ellis who's like him now, and he will stop at nothing to being her to safety.

The story unfolds from Danny's point of view, from the mindset of a Hater, and only briefly diverts to the crowded compound of the unchanged. Not a very unusual approach to storytelling, but as the reader -- and someone who is technically unchanged by the story's standards -- I found myself cheering Danny on. Even though he's changed, the events of the past few months still managed to surprise him, how much the fighting has devastated not only their regular lives, but changed the face of towns and cities: empty buildings, smoldering cars, bodies in every state of decomposition imaginable scattered everywhere. I empathized with him at the struggle of finding his child and doing whatever it took to save her, even though that meant battling against people like me, but that didn't matter. I still wanted him to succeed.

The characters are as compelling as the story: Danny as a Hater who still finds some bit of humanity in the hope that his daughter is alive; the Brutes, as they're know -- almost SuperHaters, they will kill anything, no matter who or what it is; Sahota and Julia, Haters who have found a way to control their urge to kill the unchanged; Lizzie, Danny's wife who smuggled their daughter Ellis into an unchanged compound; and many others. The Brutes were a surprise to me, something that even the Haters feared. A nice, unexpected touch.

"Dog Blood" is a gritty and violent sequel to last year's "Hater". One thing I love about this book is that reading "Hater" isn't necessary to follow the action. Author David Moody provides enough backstory without rehashing or summarizing to get Danny and the reader into the thick of things. But the backstory also makes you want to read the first novel, just to gain a better understanding of what the heck happened to the world.

"Dog Blood" spins an engrossing tale of family and survival in a world gone mad. A wonderful read and highly recommended. show less

In less than a day, 99% of the population died because of an unknown virus. The few survivors are shocked and gather together for safety in a community. Then some of the many corpses start to walk around. Most of the survivors start to panic and turn on each other, so Michael, Carl, and Emma decide to go off by themselves and find a safer place to stay. They find a secluded farm house in a rural area and opt to settle there for the time being. Then the walking corpses seem to be more aware show more and gather around people or things that make noise. The survivors don't know what to make of this new development, so they try to avoid the dead and make a new life for themselves. Then, they start to attack the survivors. Michael, Carl, and Emma realize the danger they are in. The walking dead keep coming in huge numbers and are attracted to the light from the house and every sound they make. Can they figure out a way to survive in this world full of corpses dead set on destroying them?

Autumn is a good, solid zombie book. The writing style and plot really drew me in from the very first pages. Others have complained that the pacing is too slow, but I disagree. The focus of the book isn't on the zombies, but the emotions and conflict between the human characters. It takes time to illustrate detailed characters, their different lives, and their connections with each other. This situation seemed much more plausible and realistic to me. The survivors are upset because practically everyone they know is dead and of course their minds aren't instantly going to go to zombie apocalypse. They are confused and don't really know what to do or why everything is happening. Emotions are running high, causing them to make unwise decisions and lash out at each other out of fear or anger. This is how people act in extreme situations. Michael, Carl, and Emma all have their own unique things to deal with and aren't perfect characters. They doubt themselves and agonize over what would be best to do. No one is confident in their course of action in this post-apocalyptic world. The survivors' actions made sense to me and illustrated what real people would do in a horrible situation.

This isn't your typical zombie book. There aren't gobs of blood and gore drenching every page, but there is definitely potential for more in the next book. I really enjoyed the quiet, slow burn of the book. It is reminiscent of John Ajvide Lindqvist's Handling the Undead. I would recommend this to zombie fans that don't mind a more casual pace and a more cerebral approach to the zombie genre. I can't wait until the next book comes out. show less

Haters by David Moody is a dark and violent story about society suddenly becoming divided into two types of people. Each type hates the other and simply wants to destroy them before they get a chance to do the same. The division doesn’t go by family ties, friendship, or ethnic background. Some become what is called “Haters” and some do not. Murder and mayhem become the norm. People are advised to stay home and wait for the situation to be controlled.

When people suddenly start attacking show more others with the intention of killing them, Danny McCoyne has no idea of what is going on. He witnesses several attacks but it takes him, and the rest of the world some time to grasp what is happening. By then he, his wife, Lizzie, their three children and father-in-law are sheltering together but who is a Hater and who is not?

David Moody is the author of one of my favorite zombie series and I have had Haters and it’s sequels sitting on my shelf for some time. This is the first of a trilogy and I fully expected to be enthralled by this horror story but instead I was left feeling a little queasy and disappointed. Other than repetitive violence, there didn’t seem to be much story here. We are told over and over how Danny is stuck in a dead end job, doesn’t earn much money, he lives in a sub-par apartment, with his family that he does love, but finds annoying. Personally I found Danny annoying. I hate the fact that I have the next two book of the trilogy but highly doubt that I will ever get the urge to read on. Haters just didn’t work for me. show less