This is the concluding part of the Hater trilogy and it does not fail in its ability to construct a world unlike any we could imagine.  Some novels try to tell you how a dystopian world would look, many fail, too much of that utopian idealism and happy endings. This does not happen in Them or Us; the world as told by Danny McCoyne is depressing, cold and barren.  McCoyne has been with us through the whole journey, we first encountered his bleak outlook on life in Hater, and he hasn’t got a whole lot happier.  This is what makes Mr Moody’s works so plausible; his characters have depth, so much so that I actively disliked Danny McCoyne all the way through the books.  How can you be behind for someone you don’t like? He’s not even a hero/anti-hero, he is a miserable bloke who somehow is placed in the middle of the Apocalypse and the story is told through his eyes. 

In Them or Us he has also found a town that is McCoyne’s ‘twin’, if he was a town he would be Lowestoft.  Even though the bombs have dropped all over the UK and the end is nigh, somehow this most easterly point is where the Haters have flocked to – and boy what a place to set it!  Moody manages to describe the town in all its quaint Englishness coupled with a mad despotic tyrant called Hinchcliffe, who is setting up shop all over town, whose hate for everything and anybody takes the Hater/Unchanged theme a step further.  This man makes no distinction between them, he seems to be not only ruthless in his ambition to survive and rule but will kill anyone in the process.

This is one of these rare books that has its share of gore and violence and end of the world moments but makes you think about where we as a society are going and the fine line we tread between being a ‘Them or Us’.  Mr Moody has reinforced my view that he is a mighty fine writer not just of horror fiction but of situational social commentary.  There are not many writers around today who can balance action and pace with good characterisations, or should I say believable, his works don’t have superhero’s or scientists or someone who rushes in with the miracle cure/explanation; and frankly this is what we don’t need in the genre anymore.

How rare it is to find a series of novels that feature a character you don’t like, that you end up cheering for and understanding by stories end, this is storytelling, this is the power of the written word and I thank you Mr Moody for doing this to my brain !
_
 


Comments




Leave a Reply