Horror Book Review: One of Us Will Be Dead by Morning (David Moody)

David Moody is a British born author who rose to prominence with his Autumn zombie apocalypse series. A great story teller with a descriptive style that focused on the rotting of the dead & the problems that came with that. The Autumn series is a fantastic set of stories & you can read reviews for them all here.

Alongside the Autumn series, Moody started a series in 2006 called Hater. Similar in tone to Autumn in that it focused on an event that effectively brought about the end of the world. This time it wasn’t zombies though. Instead a huge number of the population just changed in an instant. Overcome with a desire and need to kill others, those who were Unchanged. There was no rhyme or reason, people simply changed in Haters and killed anyone who wasn’t…even loved ones. Not because they were evil or soulless but because they had too. That statement is very important to understand just why the trilogy was so gripping.

It focused on one character, Danny McCoyne who became a Hater. We followed his exceptional journey across three books. We saw the hate and what it did to the world. Hater, Dog Blood and Them or Us are must reads.

You can read our reviews of the trilogy below.

Hater
Dog Blood
Them or Us

Also while you’re at it, clicking links and so on, you can read an interview we did with the author here!

When word came my way that David Moody was looking to go back to the hate, I didn’t initially think it was a good idea. Silly really, as I consider him one of the finest authors of the modern era. I just worried that the trilogy had said enough and that anything else might detract from that experience.

I was wrong and I’m very glad I was.

One of Us Will Be Dead by Morning is a brilliant story. It has all the hallmarks of Moody’s writing style; the descriptive violence and believable characters/locations. For Hater fans of old it’s like slipping on a pair of old, comfy underpants but newbies will be able to connect too.

What makes One of Us Will Be Dead by Morning so different from the original trilogy is that it’s not from the point of view of Haters this time. Yes, this time round we’re riding along with the Unchanged. Such a brilliant idea and one that adds a fresh and terrifying layer to the series.

Most of the story takes place on an isolated island where a group work colleagues have gone for a team-building exercise. A range of characters, they bicker and moan about the whole experience much to the annoyance of the islanders who run the events. No matter though, as it’s almost over and they can get back to their lives soon, right?

Well, no because it’s during this trip away that the Hater events take hold. In fact the first chapter of the story has a Hater running rampage on a boat killing everyone in their path. The very same boat that is to come to the island and pick up our group.

Panic doesn’t set in at first when the boat doesn’t show. No, panic sets in when someone is killed and the other person insists that she went for him and he defended himself. It’s really tense to read about this incident and more later, clear in the knowledge of what is happening but our characters to be completely unaware.

The hate is spreading and they have no clue about it. Then they find the boat washed up on the shore with many dead inside. It’s here that they begin to realise things aren’t right back home and soon they make the horrible discovery that the perpetrator of the mass murder is still alive.

With supplies running out, tensions running high and a killer on the loose will anyone be left alive by morning?

Read this book. Read it and enjoy every grim, horrible and gory detail. Lose yourself in the terrifying events and non-stop gut-churning tension. I couldn’t be happier to be back in the world of hate and that we get to see it from a new perspective is even better. Roll on Feb 2019 when All Roads End Here is released, the next book in the series.

Embrace the hate.

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