Dog Blood by David Moody

by:  David Moody
published by: Thomas Dunne Books
publish date:  June 8, 2010

The world has suffered a catastrophe of unknown cause, dividing humankind into two: the Haters and the Unchanged. Each group believes the other to be the enemy; each group is fighting for survival. Only by working together can the enemy – whoever that enemy is – be defeated.

This is the second book in a trilogy.  I read the first book Hater back in December and thought it was pretty good.  Definitely more interesting than I was expecting. 

This book picks up where Hater left off.  Danny is now one of the Haters.  He's picked up some traveling companions, other Haters who want him to join their Hater Army.  They want to seek out and destroy all the Unchanged.

Since I read Hater, I've been watching The Walking Dead on AMC.  It's interesting to see the contrast between the zombies on that show who are basically mindless eating machines, and the Haters in this book.  The Haters aren't zombies, they're still basically human beings that can communicate and think rationally, they're just infected with rage and want to kill the people that aren't.

This book also introduces a new character Mark, who is an Unchanged.  I initially found his story to be rather boring.  I thought mainly he was there to give us insight into how bad the situation had become for Unchanged people.  However, that changed when it was revealed that Mark is Danny's cousin and those family ties become very important.

This book has some really exciting twists and turns.  It got me really excited to read the next book in the series, Them or Us.  Dog Blood end with quite a bang so I can't wait to see how this trilogy wraps up.

Hater by David Moody

by:  David Moody
published by:  St. Martin's Griffin
publish date:  April 13, 2010

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....

My first experience with David Moody was Autumn, the zombie book that never uses the Z word.  That book made me realize that zombie books aren't bad, they aren't all for the "Dungeons & Dragons" set.  Don't be distracted by that, Hater isn't a zombie book.  The people in Hater are infected with rage and violence.

My initial reaction to this book was that I hated Danny.   The reader sees everything through Danny's eyes and he is the most miserable human being I've ever encountered.  He hates his job, he hates his life, he hates where he lives, and at times he hates his family.  After awhile though, it works!  The whole mood of misery and unhappiness gets worse and worse until it explodes.

Hater is the first book in a Trilogy.  The second book is Dog Blood and the third is Them or Us.  I will eventually get to the other two.  I listened to this one on audiobook and it was pretty good, so I'll probably seek out the other ones on audiobook as well.

Autumn

by:  David Moody

Publisher:  St. Martin's Griffin

A bastard hybrid of War of the Worlds and Night of the Living Dead, Autumn chronicles the struggle of a small group of survivors forced to contend with a world torn apart by a deadly disease. After 99% of the population of the planet is killed in less than 24 hours, for the very few who have managed to stay alive, things are about to get much worse. Animated by "phase two" of some unknown contagion, the dead begin to rise. At first slow, blind, dumb and lumbering, quickly the bodies regain their most basic senses and abilities... sight, hearing, locomotion... As well as the instinct toward aggression and violence. Held back only by the restraints of their rapidly decomposing flesh, the dead seem to have only one single goal - to lumber forth and destroy the sole remaining attraction in the silent, lifeless world: those who have survived the plague, who now find themselves outnumbered 1,000,000 to 1...

Without ever using the 'Z' word, Autumn offers a new perspective on the traditional zombie story. There's no flesh eating, no fast-moving corpses, no gore for gore's sake. Combining the atmosphere and tone of George Romero's classic living dead films with the attitude and awareness of 28 Days (and Weeks) later, this horrifying and suspenseful novel is filled with relentless cold, dark fear.

I read a lot of bad reviews of this book and I think they didn't like it because it wasn't action packed and full of blood and guts.  It says right there on the back of the book that it doesn't have that.  This book was about the survivors and the actions they take to make it through this tragic event.  It's not about the zombies, so if you want a big gory zombie book, this one probably isn't for you.

I loved this book, and not just because my name is Autumn, and not just because David Moody arranged for me to get an ARC.  I thought it was a really good story.  It was scary and tense and I couldn't put it down!  I would suggest not reading this one late at night all by yourself.  I was getting myself really freaked out about every little sound.

The characters were interesting.  I particularly liked Michael and Emma.  I'm really hoping for some romance between those two!  Carl was ok, not my favorite because he was so moody, but I could understand where he was coming from.   As a parent, I could empathize with his situation.

I can't wait to read more of this series.  It looks like there are 4 more books on the way.  I'm going to have to check out the Hater Trilogy and see how I like it.

This book will be released on October 26th!