Hater [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

David Moody (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 17, 2009

Soon to be a major motion picture—produced by Guillermo del Toro and directed by J.A. Bayona

REMAIN CALM DO NOT PANIC TAKE SHELTER WAIT FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS THE SITUATION IS UNDER CONTROL Society is rocked by a sudden increase in the number of violent assaults on individuals. Christened 'Haters' by the media, the attackers strike without warning, killing all who cross their path. The assaults are brutal, remorseless and extreme: within seconds, normally rational, self-controlled people become frenzied, vicious killers. There are no apparent links as a hundred random attacks become a thousand, then hundreds of thousands. Everyone, irrespective of gender, age, race or any other difference, has the potential to become a victim - or a Hater. People are afraid to go to work, afraid to leave their homes and, increasingly, afraid that at any moment their friends, even their closest family, could turn on them with ultra violent intent.  Waking up each morning, no matter how well defended, everyone must now consider the fact that by the end of the day, they might be dead.  Or perhaps worse, become a killer themselves.  As the status quo shifts, ATTACK FIRST, ASK QUESTIONS LATER becomes the order of the day...  only, the answers might be much different than what you expect....

In the tradition of H. G. Wells and Richard Matheson, Hater is one man’s story of his place in a world gone mad— a world infected with fear, violence, and HATE.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Originally self-published, Moody's nail-biter of a debut plausibly creates a nightmare world. Danny McCoyne, an employee of the Parking Fine Processing office in an unnamed, possibly British city, barely manages to support his wife and children. Things get a lot worse after incidents of random violence escalate to a condition that threatens the social fabric of the country. Those afflicted with the violent impulse are dubbed Haters. The rapid onset of the disorder, exacerbated by the frighteningly inadequate government response, leaves Danny and his family virtual prisoners in their own home. While the major twist and the final payoff aren't particularly surprising, the sections building up to them perfectly evoke the quiet desperation of an ordinary life. Moody might have been better off explaining less, but this intelligent, well-written chiller heralds a significant new talent. Guillermo Del Toro has bought film rights. (Feb.)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* One day Danny McCoyne’s life tends toward the humdrum: job, family, the usual. The next day, suddenly, without warning or explanation, people are turning into killers, murdering their loved ones, attacking perfect strangers. Soon Danny is trying desperately to keep his family safe, while all around him society seems to be self-destructing, as ordinary men and women turn into animals, filled with hate and violence. This is a truly frightening book because, like Danny, we’re constantly scrambling to process what’s going on. Moody, who self-published the novel in 2006, writes as though his novel were a zombie movie, and readers familiar with the genre will have no difficulty seeing, in their mind’s eye, the rapid dissolution of society played out in front of them. (Is it purely a coincidence that the protagonist has the same first name as Danny Boyle, director of the movie 28 Days Later, whose zombielike creatures were infected with something that filled them with uncontrollable rage?) It’s a risky undertaking, giving literary form to a type of story that is traditionally told in pictures, but Moody completely pulls it off. The movie rights to the book have been sold, and it’ll be interesting to see if the film is as good as the novel. It’s hard to imagine how it could be. --David Pitt

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; First Edition edition (February 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312384831
• ASIN: B003F76IFQ
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (125 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #834,011 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Moody grew up on a diet of trashy horror and pulp science fiction. He worked as a bank manager before giving up the day job to write about the end of the world for a living. He has written a number of horror novels, including AUTUMN, which has been downloaded more than half a million times since publication in 2001 and spawned a series of sequels and a movie starring Dexter Fletcher and David Carradine. Film rights to HATER were snapped up by Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth) and Mark Johnson (producer of the Chronicles of Narnia films). Moody lives with his wife and a houseful of daughters and stepdaughters, which may explain his pre-occupation with Armageddon. His latest novel, TRUST, is currently available free online at www.trustdavidmoody.com. Visit Moody at www.davidmoody.net.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Survival for the rest of us. December 11, 2011

By M.C. O'Neill

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Many survival/post-apocalypse works focus on a person or group who is "fully-prepped" and ready to rock against (insert world-killer here). Not the main character of "Hater." Danny is a regular schmuck who pushes files all day that go off somewhere to be filed - again. The only military training he possesses is the ability to fling paperclips dead-center into your eyeball. He probably listened to The Cure in high school. Hell, he probably still does. Unlike novels such as "Patriots" where the characters have been preparing for (insert world-killer here) since Reagan was president, Danny can barely make it to payday. He's like so many of us and I enjoy that aspect about him. David Moody really illustrates this well and it brings humanity to a hero that so many of these kinds of novels render as a cartoon (think Duke Nuke'em). Read this and you will most likely identify with the guy on some level. Not to spoil, but later on, fate tips the tables in Danny's favor which color him blood red. At that point, the novel becomes a frightening commentary on the service-sector, post-industrial lemminghood that has been forced upon so many of us. Wonderful read!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Not exactly classic literature June 10, 2011

By Artemisfair

Format:Hardcover

I liked this book enough to want to read the sequel, but not enough to want to add it to my personal library. It is a nice piece of escapism, but I think it probably would have been better suited to a film than a novel.

Here are my main issues: The main character is the narrator, and I guess we are literally supposed to be inside his head, because the writing is incredibly redundant. Often times you will be reading something that was just said almost word for word 2 or 3 pages before. This is tiresome. The chapters aren't long enough that we can forget what the character's objective is. I almost didn't finish the book at all because of it. Some writers can make repetitive writing work, Chuck Palahniuk for example, but I kept thinking to myself "yeah, yeah we know that already!" several times while reading this.

Another thing is that the characters aren't even particularly likable or compelling. Danny McCoyne, The main character is not that bright and spends way too much time griping about not getting laid, hating his job and having too many kids. Yes that is an important aspect of his character, but I feel like it could have been summarized. The other characters are basically vehicles for Danny's character development, which I didn't particularly care about. This is a real problem, because the book is essentially about what makes us human. But this being the case, you are forced to rely on the actual story line for entertainment rather than character development. The plot is fun, but slow. You do not figure out exactly what's going on until the last 10 pages of the book and much of the book is filled with long, seemingly irrelevant rants by the main character that could have easily been left out.

Things that worked for me:
I'm the kind of person who believes that if you are going to write a piece that is only meant to be escapism, then don't bother with any kind of pretense, and it didn't have any of that. Lots of blood and guts! The chapters were short and you could tell that it wasn't meant to be cerebral or thought-provoking. It's a very quick read and once it started to peak it was very suspenseful and fun. If you can make it past the first 100 pages then you may find yourself pleasantly surprised, but I would come with low expectations.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Instant Classic. January 6, 2012

By Mr Dave Lightfoot

Format:Hardcover

WOW. The first thing I will say is, you don't need to read a review of this book. You just need to read it for yourself. This story is fantastic. David Moody has created a story that could possibly be one of the best modern "situation horror" stories ever written. I was hooked from the first chapter. This book starts at a fast pace and just continues to gain momentum right until the end.
This isn't your run of the mill "horror" story. There isn't a monster, no vampires or werewolves. The fear comes from our own humanity, or what will happen if we lose our humanity. The author has created a world were a proportion of the population becomes affected by a "new" kind of disorder. Once affected they lose all humanity towards those not affected. They fear those who haven't changed and they HATE those who haven't changed. They find only one way of fixing this situation. Kill the unchanged.
The horror in this book comes at the reader from three different angles. Firstly, we have the violence that is carried out throughout the whole story. It is relentless, in your face and most of all, it is believable. Every attack resembles something we could possibly read or see in the news on a daily basis. Secondly, we have the simple horror of normal people being trapped and confused in this situation. The author really creates a spine chilling experience by making us feel empathy with those not affected and from this we get a feeling of the fear that they must be feeling. Thirdly, the horror, at its best, comes from the very realistic way that David Moody has shown us how humanity, love and empathy can easily be destroyed once fear is added into the world. How friends can turn on friends once they are shown the difference. How we fear those who are different from ourselves and the lengths we are willing to go to get rid them.
The story is easy to read, captivating, brilliant, scary and worryingly mirrors the world we live in. Expect a few shivers down your back and after reading, try not to judge those you walk past in the street. After all, it is only a story........ but it will make you think!!!