I don't know what I was expecting when I started this book, I knew it was going to be another apocalypse book and that it was going to involve some violence based on its name. Man, was I ever in for a surprise when I started reading it. The violence Mr. Moody put into this book is on par with what you'll find in the Crossed comic series. The thought he's put into creating this world, this "disease" is incredible. What would you do if suddenly you woke up and hated everything? The hatred running through your body was enough to lash out at anything that happened to be in your vicinity. That's the kind of world that he's created, can't wait to see what he's added into the other books in the series. This book will likely bring up some fairly mixed emotions in its readers. It's not really the type of book you enjoy per se, as I spent most of my time reading this with a sense of repugnance entwined with a very real morbid fascination. Part of what makes this book so effective is that Danny (our main character) is every bit the schmuck. He's not terribly likable, but he is someone that most of us can relate to- either by being in his shoes ourselves at one point in time or because we know someone like him. Him being believable means that we don't really empathize with him, which comes in handy later on in the book where the big twist comes in. Most readers will probably be able to predict the book's later events for the most part, but that's OK. Moody is pretty much banking on your predictions. This is pretty much driven by the character interactions more so than the actual scenes of violence and gore. Most of the terror here comes in the form of Danny and his family holing up in their apartment, watching the world go to utter shit around them. We don't have any scenes of Danny as a Tom Cruise-esque figure trying to fight his way through crowds and get his children to safety. No, he and his wife are very much the type of people who are pretty much the equivalent of a frog in a pot of boiling water. Things go steadily wrong and most of us will inwardly scream for them to get out of their large city, but they stick in their home hoping for things to eventually improve and get better. Even though we all know that they likely won't. It's an interesting concept, but I have to admit that while I read this pretty quickly I never really got that into it. Maybe it's because almost all of the characters were unlikable in some way, but I think it's mostly because I'm not really overly into this type of work. I can take it in small doses and I'm slightly interested in seeing how the trilogy progresses and if there's ever an answer to why everyone went rage crazy. However it's just not my type of read when it comes down to it. Although on a side note, I kind of almost don't want an explanation for this. If the human race is being deliberately eradicated for some reason, why would we be able to find out the reasons behind it? It's not like we go around telling various species and diseases why we're getting rid of them.I'd probably recommend this to fans of Garth Ennis's Crossed series and to anyone who liked stories in the vein of The Screwfly Solution. This is kind of what you'd get if you threw the back of them into a seedy van and told them to make a baby... or else. If you're into that sort of thing, you'll absolutely adore this book and I'd recommend getting all three at once because you'll likely want to finish them all. Otherwise, this will be something that you'll read through because the writing is quite good, but it just won't trip your trigger.
What do You think about Hater (2010)?
That was great! "We are at war!" Who are the Haters really? So glad I was recommended this book!
—LaurenHealey
The best non zombie book that is a zombie story!!
—SSnow98
