Never before has a simple novel had me looking over my shoulder after reading it. I’ve mentioned before that horror isn’t my cup of tea but certain exceptions must be made for David Moody’s Hater. Hater isn’t really a horror story as much as it’s a surreal reading experience.

Danny is the main character, and you follow him down such a dark and twisted path that it will engross you from page one till the end. Moody uses a very fluid style of writing that really puts you in the world of Hater, or haters as the story explains. So what is Hater about? How to tell you without ruining the story is the biggest challenge in this review.

Imagine for a moment that you’re with your best friend in the whole world, and suddenly without warning you are overwhelmed with fear of them. As far as your concerned they are seething with so much hatred that you can taste it in the air, and at that moment you know, it’s you or them.

Haters are technically the monsters in this original horror story, people who suddenly find themselves surrounded by those that would do them harm, and are overwhelmed with the desire to kill those that would threaten them above all else.

The storytelling in this book is masterful; the sequences are explained in such detail that at times you have to stop reading for a minute just to collect yourself. Words can’t describe the intensity packed into every scenario.

The book follows Danny, who leads a life that most would describe as normal. He has a lot of the same problems as most married people have and you find yourself pulling for him because his attitude about things feels so familiar. Everything in the story is experienced through Danny’s filter which makes everything that much more intense.

Like I described earlier Hater’s are fine one minute and then murderous the next, which makes for some truly horrific scenes that will scare just about anyone as their imagination wanders. The ‘what will happen next’ factor in this story makes this book a definite page turner.

The story builds momentum as it moves along at a good pace; as violence seems to spring up at random, the tone of the story changes ever so slightly until you find yourself in a different place completely. In the beginning Danny is simply fighting to keep his family safe from what the public has deemed as haters. People who attack others seemingly at random are starting to pop up more and more as the city Danny lives in begins to slowly unravel.

The main characters (Danny, his wife Lizzie, her father and their children make up the core of the cast) don’t k now what to make of this violent phenomenon which adds to the feeling of helplessness that the book conveys at just the right times. Danny is faced with his own weaknesses as he struggles to keep his family safe and together.

As the problem of the Haters continues to increase, the stress level of the book matches it, adding extra intensity to every page. How intense does the book get? By the time I got to the last few chapters I was screaming though the pages desperately trying to get to the end, to get some kind of resolution.

The smartest thing that Moody does is never let the reader in on the master plan. There is no omniscience here gentlemen, just despair and fear. Danny has no real idea what is happening and neither do you.

Throughout the book we’re given snippets of Haters undergoing the change, each tale is frightening in its own respect and adds to the growing hysteria that the book provides.

But what about the ending you ask? What happens to Danny and his family?

Suffice to say that the story itself starts off small, and continues to grow and grow. By the end of the book you are forced to realize the massive scope of the problem humanity faces. To tell you exactly what happens would do you and the writer a disservice.

You just have to take my word for it and take a chance on this harrowing yet exciting tale of a man and his family in the face of one of the most horrifying crisis’ to ever befall them.

It’s important to close by telling you that Hater is just the first of three books, and once you survive the first book you’ll be begging for the next. Hater is more than a suspense novel, it is a 281 page experience that will eventually make the transition to the big screen, but before that happens do yourself a favor and pick up the novel, you’ll be glad you did.