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Dog Blood (Hater #2)

by David Moody (Goodreads Author)

3.76 of 5 stars 3.76 · rating details · 1,638 ratings · 152 reviews

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. There are no other choices. Danny McCoyne has managed to break free, and after days of indiscrimina...more

Paperback, 336 pages

Published 2010 by Thomas Dunne Books

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Jun 17, 2010 karen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: creepy-children, the-end, my-brains-junk-food

seriously - a one-day-read feels so good after spending two weeks on one book; it is freeing to remember that it can be done and still have time left over to watch step up2 - the streets!! (those motherfuckers danced in the rain! talk about risking it all!)

this is the middle book in a trilogy, so don't go running out to read it based on the "strength" of this review without first going out and getting hater.it is a fun bloody romping zombie-ish book that is a page-turning good time for those of...more

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May 05, 2012 Jo Anne B rated it 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

I went onto this book right after the first book and was a little let down with it. In the very beginning I felt the author took a cop out when he said it didn't matter what caused this to happen, it did, now we just have to deal with it. I was looking for more of an explanation and this made me feel like the author couldn't explain it so he made it seem irrelevant to the characters in the book. Now, I praise Moody all the time for his books being realistic and if this were to happen I...more
3.5 stars

I went onto this book right after the first book and was a little let down with it. In the very beginning I felt the author took a cop out when he said it didn't matter what caused this to happen, it did, now we just have to deal with it. I was looking for more of an explanation and this made me feel like the author couldn't explain it so he made it seem irrelevant to the characters in the book. Now, I praise Moody all the time for his books being realistic and if this were to happen I can bet people would still wonder how it happened despite also having to struggle just to survive everyday. It is not unimportant. I just felt the author made it irrelevant so he didn't have to offer up any further explanation.

That being said, I did enjoy the book. It lagged in the beginning for a while and was kind of boring, but then it picked up about 30% in and kept my interest throughout. I was quite surprised at the turn of events. I thought the Haters and Unchanged were headed in a direction that turned out not to be the case. It was for the better.

This whole book Danny tries to find his daughter Ellis and he encounters some interesting people along the way such as Joseph and Sahota, who were pretty cool. We are also introduced to Mark, an Unchanged and follow him as he tries to survive the Haters with a pregnant girlfriend and in-laws housed up with them in some tiny apartment. Then they are forced to take in an Asian guy and are also taking care of some other woman. His part was not merely to show us the perspective from the Unchanged but to play a role with Danny later on in the book. After this encounter, the book gets really interesting and once again I didn't see that coming. This and the ordeal with Joseph and Sahota were the best parts of the book.

So this book continues the story of the Haters vs. the Unchanged and introduces a few twists that knock your socks off. Now I am so curious to see how it all ends that I will gladly go on to the third one next. (less)

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Mar 08, 2013 Joanna marked it as to-read · review of another edition

I really liked this book in the beginning. I enjoyed the way the author layed out the story on a day to day basis. Internal narrative of a person. Followed by the first person of the man character.

The work interaction was funny, bringing back fond memories of office space and TP reports.

The protagonists kids in the story were annoying and left me thinking they needed that nanny from the reality show.

Then it just got boring. I can't say exactly when it happened, but it did. At some point what I...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Evin rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Dog Blood is book #2 of the Haters series and follows the continuing exploits of Hater Danny McCoyne as he searches for his daughter with, in a reversal of the first book, short sections about a normal human and his attempts to survive.

To be quite honest I do not understand the hype surrounding this book. While it is well-written and a quick read like its predecessor, I can only attribute it's rave reviews to the fact that the general public does not read anywhere near the number of post-apocaly...more Dog Blood is book #2 of the Haters series and follows the continuing exploits of Hater Danny McCoyne as he searches for his daughter with, in a reversal of the first book, short sections about a normal human and his attempts to survive.

To be quite honest I do not understand the hype surrounding this book. While it is well-written and a quick read like its predecessor, I can only attribute it's rave reviews to the fact that the general public does not read anywhere near the number of post-apocalyptic fiction that the average horror fan does. The horror cliches are here in droves – the stereotypically uncaring and brutal military, the man desperately seeking his surviving family, the mother unable to let go of her dangerous child, and the trope of those turned into monsters somehow feeling as if they are purer and better now that they have transcended the constraints of morality of their pre-collapse lives.

As I mentioned in my previous review, the book does little to differentiate the Haters from the Unchanged leaving little for the reader to pin down as a reason for the fighting other than the idea that the enemy is somehow inexplicably different. Even the narrator thinks and talks in basically the same way as he did before he transformed. The Haters themselves have an illogical unevenness in their use of technology. In the end of the book, the Haters used guns, helicopters, and SAM's to free their brethren. In this book, they will use civilian vehicles and various electronics, but the concept of firearms suddenly seems alien to them. Conversely, the author does (an to his credit a great job) at describing the Unchanged slow slide into near-primitive living conditions as society breaks down. The problem is that at the same time they are described as organizing military convoys, sending out airstrikes and helicopter gunship attacks constantly throughout the book. How does a crumbling society unable to feed anyone or cure basic illnesses managed to keep complex machinery like this running and supplied. It just doesn't make any sense. While obviously there has to be a good deal of suspension of disbelief with a story like this, a basic level of logic needs to be maintained.

Ultimately, the real failing of the book is its failure to give the narrative a point. As explained above, there's no real end goal for either side other than killing. The author alludes to this at several points, giving the reader an intriguing look at how the book could have been turned into (albeit tired) trope on the senselessness of killing and the irrationality of it in most cases when based simply on perceived differences. Instead, the book quickly veers away from such meditations and opportunities to move the narrative into a new direction and moves on to the next contrivance to keep a hazily explained conflict hurtling down the rails of the current plot and to open the door for some more action scenes.

Frankly, I would recommend the Crossed comics or Simon Clark's Blood Crazy or even his somewhat-flawed Strangers if you are looking for a story in this line.(less)

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Jul 19, 2012 Erik rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Not sure what to think about Dog Blood by David Moody. I read Hater last year and loved it. Moody’s pacing was superb, unfolding the Hater outbreak slowly ratcheted up the tension wonderfully. Following along with the McCoyne family as they became increasingly isolated and terrified at what was unfolding before them, created a world that was palpable in its sense of terror. When Dog Blood was release I snapped it up. Half way through the book I was just as enthused as I had been with Hater. Mood...more

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Jul 10, 2012 Eliza rated it 2 of 5 stars

I have mixed feelings about this book. Early on I actually considered not finishing it because I found it extremely difficult to connect with the main character, Danny McCoyne, as I did with Hater. Other times, I couldn't put the book down.

Moody is a great writer but I found that I did not really care if the character survives or finds his daughter. I suspect that this was intentional, but I personally didn't enjoy Dog Blood as much as Hater because in this installment, Moody painted McCoyne as...more

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May 05, 2012 Thee_ron_clark rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: action, post-apocalyptic, zombies

The world has quickly turned into a post-apocalyptic night mare following a change in about a third of the population known simply as The Hate. The people infected with it are called haters. Those who have gone through the change have an overwhelming desire to kill those who have not.

The unchanged masses are pushed into secured areas patrolled by heavily-armed soldiers. Rations and living space are becoming more and more difficult to come by as any excursions out of the secure zones are general...more The world has quickly turned into a post-apocalyptic night mare following a change in about a third of the population known simply as The Hate. The people infected with it are called haters. Those who have gone through the change have an overwhelming desire to kill those who have not.

The unchanged masses are pushed into secured areas patrolled by heavily-armed soldiers. Rations and living space are becoming more and more difficult to come by as any excursions out of the secure zones are generally met with hordes of homicidal people attacking relentlessly.

The haters themselves are attempting to organize to better battle and eliminate the unchanged. For the most part, their people are simply roaming randomly from place to place to kill the unchanged as frequently as possible.

We also find that the haters are not all the same. There are those among them who are much more aggressive and brutal, which is saying quite a bit with this bunch.

The main character of this novel is Danny, a man who has evolved (or devolved if you want to think of it that way) into a hater. He is on a quest to locate his daughter, who he found to be like him in this series' first book; Hater. Danny is attempting to track down his former spouse in order to locate his daughter in a post-apocalyptic war torn England. Needless to say, this is no easy task and there are numerous obstacles and distractions from his own kind and the unchanged.

I have to say, this is my favorite book of Moody's thus far. It is well-written and easy to fly through. I found myself really enjoying the thoughts and actions of the main character and wanting to see what happened at the turn of each page. The violence and action are both quick and easy to picture for the most part. Moody does not seem to feel that it is necessary to share every gory detail of every drop of blood shed and I am fine with that.

It becomes dark and depressing at times. At other times you might find yourself filled with hope. Any of this can be shattered or changed in a heart beat. Expect the unexpected and don't trust anything or anyone at face value.

Although this story is filled with action, it also takes time to explore the confused thoughts of Danny. After all, he still has all of his memories from before he changed.

I would like to mention that I listed this on my Zombie shelf. The haters are not zombies per se, as they are living and breathing people. They are similar in the manner of the infected of 28 Days Later (although nothing like them beyond their aggression toward those not affected) in which I consider it close to a zombie outbreak. I'm sure that bit can be debated left and right. I just wanted to make it clear that by the book zombies do not play a part in Dog Blood.

Anyway, pick up both books in this series. I highly recommend them and will be picking up the third book in this series soon.(less)

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Apr 12, 2012 Jason rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-books, read-2012

4.5 Stars

I am such a big fan of David Moody as an author. I also love the genre that he specializes in, the post-apocalyptic. This book, Dog Blood is the second in the hater series. As I have mentioned before Moody does a superb job at making these horror stories about people. He creates characters that are true to life and three dimensional. Moody's Autumn series worked by creating a world filled with characters like you and me. There were no superheroes in that one, and many were very likable....more 4.5 Stars

I am such a big fan of David Moody as an author. I also love the genre that he specializes in, the post-apocalyptic. This book, Dog Blood is the second in the hater series. As I have mentioned before Moody does a superb job at making these horror stories about people. He creates characters that are true to life and three dimensional. Moody's Autumn series worked by creating a world filled with characters like you and me. There were no superheroes in that one, and many were very likable. In this series, The Hater series, we have a much tighter focus that centers around one man Danny McCoyne.

This series has an awesome spin on the zombie genre, in that there are no undead here. We do not yet know why, but one day an apparent gene that is present in everyone suddenly turns on. Over one third of the world become changed, they become extremely violent and quite hopped up as well. They suddenly find that they have the insatiable need to kill those whom are unchanged.

“In many ways the situation the Unchanged found themselves facing was indefensible. This conflict wasn’t faction versus faction or army against army; it was individual versus individual, more than six billion armies of one. Beyond that, the Hate didn’t care who you were, where you were, or what you were. You were simply on one side or the other, your position in this new, twisted, fucked-up world decided without your involvement by unknown variables and fate. Within weeks command structures at every level were compromised. Organizations fell apart. Families crumbled. The Haters were everywhere and everyone, the whole world beaten up from the inside out.”

This creates a very interesting end of the world scenario, one that seems to be a bit more plausible than that of the dead coming back for revenge. The incredible pain and suffering that people must endure seeing their loved ones get killed by their family and friends is unimaginable. I can see this scenario being quite similar to say, putting a parrot in a room with a cat. You will see immediate fear in the poor bird, and the instant desire to kill in the cat. Sure, this is a predator – prey scenario, but it is not far off from the things that Moody paints about the humans in this series.

This is an extremely violent novel. Not too heavy on the gore, but definitely over the top on the killings. And let me remind you, this is about people killing people… Our hero Danny is pretty much the only POV in this book. He is much less whiney now, focused on finding his daughter Ellie, and he uses his intelligence to drive himself forward. Danny becomes captured and has an interesting conversation with his captor, where he is told:

“People tell me I’m wasting my time with your type. They tell me you’re no better than animals, that you’ve got dog blood running through your veins and you should be rounded up and shot.”

I will not give away any spoilers, so I will say that this is a very fast and violent book. The plot is simple, our hero Danny trying to find and reunite himself with his 5 year old daughter. The world is continuing to spiral downward as the “Haters” fight with the “Unchanged”. I highly recommend David Moody as a whole to all those that love zombie novels, and I am sure that the thriller readers would like him too.
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Dec 09, 2011 David Bradley rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a weak follow-up to Moody's Hater, the first book in this series. What I loved about the first book was the main character's development arc -- how Danny reacted to a world going to hell, mostly by not reacting (until the end of that book). In this second book, the world is already hell, and remains hell. In the first book, the world changed, but Danny didn't, and it worked. In the second book, the world stays the same, but Danny's changes, and it flops. Problem is, the changes Danny und...more

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Jun 26, 2011 Schnaucl rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, horror, june, library, series, read_2011

Two and a half stars. (Some spoilers for Hater)

I realized about halfway through that I was forcing myself to get through the book. Never a good sign.

Part of what made Hater so good was how chilling Danny's behavior was after his change. He was 100% certain that he had to kill the Unchanged or they would kill him and during the kills he experience euphoria.

In this book there was a bit of the euphoria but I never found his behavior chilling. While in Hater he acted on instinct in this book Danny s...more Two and a half stars. (Some spoilers for Hater)

I realized about halfway through that I was forcing myself to get through the book. Never a good sign.

Part of what made Hater so good was how chilling Danny's behavior was after his change. He was 100% certain that he had to kill the Unchanged or they would kill him and during the kills he experience euphoria.

In this book there was a bit of the euphoria but I never found his behavior chilling. While in Hater he acted on instinct in this book Danny spends lots of time whining about maybe not being "good enough" for the rest of the Haters. He feels like he should kill people but in a pretty half-hearted way unless there's actually an Unchanged person near him. It actually feels very like the daily grind of going to his old job except, you know, it's killing people so you can't really identify with him.

It's hard to identify with anyone in this book (besides, maybe, his cousin who we only see for a short time. Maybe we're supposed to identify with Danny's drive to find his daughter, Ellis, except the reason he wants to find her is to care for her and so they can kill people together. So I wasn't rooting for that reunion.

I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a commentary on terrorists or unending war. There are some explicit references to terrorism so it might be that. Whatever the intention was, what's missing is passion. People may continue to fight a war long past the point where the original insult is forgotten. But they do it so that one day the war will be over and future generations can have a better life. People become terrorists because they believe in an ideology, because they think someone is occupying their land, because they think someone is keeping them from living their lives the way they want to, or teaching their kids the way they want to, or even because they don't believe in ideology but know if they become a terrorist, their family will be looked after financially.

The Haters don't fight for anything. There's a line or two about after the Unchanged are dead but there's no passion for it. They fight against the Unchanged because they believe the Unchanged will kill them as soon as they realize what they are (of course, they wouldn't kill the Haters if the Haters weren't killing them). The problem is there's the occasional moment of fear but mostly the Haters are portrayed as feeling vastly superior (physically) to the Unchanged. So instead of a threat the Unchanged feel more like an annoyance.

The Haters don't care about the future, or individuals. They only care about the fight. They only care about children insofar as Hater children make excellent fighters. I had the distinct impression that if the Haters managed to eradicate all of the Unchanged they wouldn't know what to do with themselves. Maybe sit around all day and talk about how great it was when there were Unchanged to kill.

I realized by the end of the book that I couldn't imagine an ending to this trilogy that would leave me feeling satisfied. The Haters win and then sit around or they get wiped out and the Unchanged try to rebuild. Maybe there's a cure and I guess the Unchanged feel horror at what they've done. But none of that would satisfy me which is why I'm not going to bother with the third book.

The real shame is that I think there was a genuinely moving and meaningful story to tell here. One of the characters says that the Unchanged are the true Haters because they promised "never again" after World War II but the moment they felt threatened they built slaughterhouses to kill the Haters in gas chambers. The problem is, you can't tell that story from the point of view of the Haters because they lack the emotional capacity for it. (less)

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May 11, 2011 Shawn Riddle rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. "Dog Blood" is the second installment in the "Hater" trilogy by acclaimed author David Moody. It takes place in England in an apocalyptic timeline.

The world has been consumed with "The Hate". Battles rage in every conceivable landscape and way between those who are "Unchanged" and the people now referred to as "Haters".

Danny McCoyne was your ordinary and below average nobody. He is stuck in a dead end job and an apartment too small for him, his three children and partner. His life would forever...more

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May 12, 2010 Robert Beveridge rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: amazon-vine, finished, owned-and-still-own

David Moody, Dog Blood (Thomas Dunne Books, 2010)

Unlike (I assume) most prospective readers of Moody's latest, Dog Blood, I have not read its prequel, Hater. (And judging by Dog Blood's end, I'm going to posit that this is the middle book in a pending trilogy.) I am familiar with moody through the Autumn quartet, which I read four or five years ago and which have become something of a self-publishing success story, not only launching what has since become one of the most popular small horror pre...more David Moody, Dog Blood (Thomas Dunne Books, 2010)

Unlike (I assume) most prospective readers of Moody's latest, Dog Blood, I have not read its prequel, Hater. (And judging by Dog Blood's end, I'm going to posit that this is the middle book in a pending trilogy.) I am familiar with moody through the Autumn quartet, which I read four or five years ago and which have become something of a self-publishing success story, not only launching what has since become one of the most popular small horror presses in existence but also gaining Moody a contract with a major house. Which brings us to Dog Blood, the first book Moody has produced for Thomas Dunne (which previously re-released Hater).

Dog Blood focuses on Danny McCoyne, one of the Haters, humans infected with a virus that drives them to kill anyone uninfected (the Haters call them the Unchanged). There are varying levels of Hate infection; Danny, for example, is still reasonable and intelligent, while others are what the Hater community calls Brutes, who have lost all reason and exist only to kill. (Hate infection is paralleled with addiction a number of times in the book, and Moody does an interesting job of drawing the distinction between maintenance addicts and junkies, if only anyone would listen.) The driving force in Danny's life is to find his daughter Ellis, also a Hater, and who has been missing since the initial outbreak of Hate four months previous. Meanwhile, a large number of the Unchanged have barricaded themselves inside the confines of a small city, and we get various updates on the state of life among the humans as we go on. You know these two storylines are going to collide eventually, and while it's kind of predictable, I love the connection Moody makes between them. Also, as in the Autumn novels, the guy really, really knows how to write a satisfying-yet-ambiguous-and-really-downbeat ending.

A lot of the same problems I had with the Autumn quartet I had with Dog Blood. The writing is decent, if nothing spectacular; when you look at Moody's self-published work, it stands head and shoulders above much of the vanity/self-published stuff simply because Moody can actually write. Put him up against the bigs, however, and the shortcomings become clear pretty quick. Moody's writing is readable enough and well-paced, but it's often emotionless and always far more concerned with advancing the plot than with characterization. I rush to add this is not always a bad thing in genre fiction, and it's a lot less crucial here (where plot is king) than it was in the Autumn novels (which are much slower and focus more on character). Readable it is; I blew through it in an afternoon after finishing another short book. I wonder if I'd have gotten more out of it had I previously read Hater, but can't really answer that question for obvious reasons. To be on the safe side, I'll tell you that if this one interests you, go ahead and grab Hater first. ***
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Jul 13, 2011 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: splatterpunk

Can you maintain a narrative while depicting the most savage war ever imagined? Seemingly so, but just barely. Stepping back into the shoes of the main character, Danny, from the first book now turned hater. We fallow him as he makes his way back home in search of his daughter, who he had recognised as turned in the last moments that he saw her.
When not caught up with the act of killing, we get glimpses into the mind of the haters as Danny contemplates the war that has swept the world. Knowing f...more Can you maintain a narrative while depicting the most savage war ever imagined? Seemingly so, but just barely. Stepping back into the shoes of the main character, Danny, from the first book now turned hater. We fallow him as he makes his way back home in search of his daughter, who he had recognised as turned in the last moments that he saw her.
When not caught up with the act of killing, we get glimpses into the mind of the haters as Danny contemplates the war that has swept the world. Knowing full well that it will not end, he pushes his way forward relentlessly in pursuit of his goal. His point of view is clearly depicted, it may not be right, but it is presented in a way that makes it seem justified.
The lines are clearly drawn, and both side are getting organised. Unfortunately it is the 'Unchanged', or normal people, that have really gotten the short end of the stick on this one. This war is bloody, very very bloody. This time around the author is able to capture the intent of someone that is willing to fight without any restrictions what-so-ever. And, the fighting in this is constant, with only slight pauses to move the story forward. The savagery moves quickly as well, with the victims falling at the hands of the haters in manners unfit to describe to most people you meet. Sometimes shocking, but usually so glee-fully over the top it is bound to make you smile.
I will say that this book really captures what I am looking for in the second book of a trilogy. It is full on unrelenting war from beginning to end. Not too heavy on the story, it was really about setting the stage of a war, and the effects that it is having on each side. In a way it felt like fan service, but in a good way. Having the balls to go all out, and really push it too see how far it can go is admirable. It builds very well to the climax, which did not disappoint one bit. It goes so far over the top, but it is perfectly suited to this world that is created. The ending was fantastic, giving a moment of closure, but still making me want to dive right into the next book. (less)

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Jun 12, 2012 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, kindle-baby, own

Suffering slightly in the first half from middle book syndrome, nonetheless as the story went on the fantastic pace and tension that I so loved in the first one came back with a vengeance. I've had to take a breather in between this and the last entry in the series to both prolong my enjoyment, and to stop me from having a stress induced coronary soon.

With the world irrevocably changed since the Change, it's now sharply divided between the Unchanged, living desperate lives crammed into city's th...more

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Jun 23, 2011 Matt Nord rated it 5 of 5 stars

There are several things about zombie novels and movies that are disturbing. The thought of the dead rising and feasting on the flesh of the living. The idea of something that used to be a friend our loved one becoming and mindless, undead, killing cannibal. I purposely used the word “killing” and not “murdering.”

There are several things that are disturbing about the 28 … Later movies, as well. People you knew and loved becoming infected with a virus that causes uncontrollable rage and insanity....more

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Nov 09, 2011 Josephine rated it 3 of 5 stars

I hate the whole vampire craze — and yet, I’m weirdly fascinated with zombies.

I just finished David Moody’s “Dog Blood” — which is sort of zombie-esque and the second book of the “Hater” trilogy — and I’m already on to “World War Z.”

And you know what my conclusion is?

Zombies fare better on the screen than on the page.

Take AMC’s “The Walking Dead” for example — I’m the worst person to watch that kind of stuff with because I will literally scream out loud and frantically kick my feet up as though...more

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May 05, 2012 Freckleface79 rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, 2012

At the end of 'Hater' the world was dividing between the regular humans (the unchanged) and the haters. In 'Dog blood' the haters have started to organize in order to wipe out the unchanged. Danny joins a rag-tag militant group, at the same time as he is trying to find his daughter, who is also a hater and still in her unchanged mother's care.

My biggest problem with this book, was that I had so few characters that I had any hope of relating to. The haters don't care about anything other than ki...more

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Mar 14, 2011 Lisa Wolf rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, horror, end-of-the-world-and-other-disaster

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 25, 2010 Shea rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I didn't find this as enjoyable as the first one. I remember really getting into the first one and loving it, but this one was only "okay" for me. There's a third in the series, so hopefully that one we'll get better.

****SPOILER ALERT****

A lot of the intrigue and suspense from the first one were lacking in this second installment. The main character, Danny, is now a Hater and is doing what the Haters do best to the Unchanged: tracking them down and killing them. The Haters experience an uncontro...more I didn't find this as enjoyable as the first one. I remember really getting into the first one and loving it, but this one was only "okay" for me. There's a third in the series, so hopefully that one we'll get better.

****SPOILER ALERT****

A lot of the intrigue and suspense from the first one were lacking in this second installment. The main character, Danny, is now a Hater and is doing what the Haters do best to the Unchanged: tracking them down and killing them. The Haters experience an uncontrollable urge to kill anyone who is not like them (the "Unchanged") and use whatever means necessary to kill.

Danny, unlike other Haters, seems to have a slight purpose though, and that is to find his daughter who is also a Hater. The rest of his family (who you'll remember from the first book before Danny became a Hater) have escaped, but they have taken his daughter with them. Danny spends most of the book tracking the family down, and we learn the squalor that the human race finds itself in as a result of the war between the Haters and the Unchanged. There's a bit of social commentary on the nature of a militarized government in a time of war, but much of that is also missing from this second installment (and it was a major reason why I liked the first one).

When Danny finally does track down his daughter, he has learned to "control the Hate" thanks to an incarceration and learning of a Hater's plan to cause chaos within the Unchanged city centers and watch those centers tear themselves apart. The explanation of how the Unchanged trust no one, and would rather kill each other than risk having a Hater in their midst was one of the few parts of the book that really piqued my interest. I did not start to get into the book like I had in the first until roughly the last 100 pages. When Danny finds his daughter, Ellis, trapped with her mother and some other refugees, Danny manages to convince them to let him take her away.

Ellis, a Hater child, is ferocious and kind of reminded me of a "Brute" (as explained earlier in the book, a Hater that is unable to control his/her desire to kill even if it means jumping into a suicidal fight or situation). She eventually ends up tearing her mother apart, and the mother struck me as just kind of stupid and not the same character from the first book. Danny attempts to evacuate the city right before the military nuke the place, but ends up losing Ellis again during that evacuation. If his continued search for her becomes the focal point of the third book, then that third installment may never reach the level of the first book and I'll be disappointed.

All in all, it was easy to read, and it obviously advanced the story for the last book in the trilogy, but I was just not as impressed with Dog Blood as I was with Hater. Unlike the first installment, the term "dog blood" makes only one appearance during the story and its applicability is hastily defined and explained.(less)

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Jun 27, 2010 Greg rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, fiction

Karen's review says just about sums up the book.

I read books like this for cool shit to happen. For instance, to read about a child killing an adult by eating through the persons chest. Maybe this isn't too realistic but it's cool shit. I want my horror novels to read like they were written by a sociopath. I want blood and gore, and fuck redeeming social value. More blood, more gore! Kill! Kill! Kill!

This book delivers on the good stuff at the start and end of the book, but then gets mired dow...more

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Feb 21, 2012 Jennifer Lee rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: zombie-ish, not-sure-how-to-categorize, brutal

I'm really surprised at how much I'm enjoying this trilogy. I'm more then half way done Them or Us, and this whole trilogy has been awesome so far. I mean, it's a scrary ass concept. One day 30% of the population just ticks and they want to kill the 70% of the population that remained unchanged. Not only that, but their fast and stronger and way more aggressive then them.

In the second novel, Danny is trying to find his daughter or is also a hater. Danny's actually quite a bit different in this...more

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Jun 10, 2012 Sara rated it 3 of 5 stars

David Moody's follow-up to "Hater" shows us a world that has been divided. Half of the population has now changed into Haters, driven by bloodlust with an overpowering desire to kill. Meanwhile, the Unchanged are gathering inside the centers of large cities, hoping that their collapsing government can still provide them with some protection. The story follows Danny McGoyne, who is now a Hater but still longs to be reunited with his 5-year-old daughter Ellis because he knows that she has changed...more

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Oct 15, 2012 Sonia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Dog Blood wasn't quite as exciting as it's prequel Hater, but it was still riveting. Past the initial scare as husbands, wives, sisters, and brothers suddenly turn on each other with ferocious hate and violence, the population has been divided into two distinct groups engaged in a monumental civil war. While initially the Unchanged have the advantage in numbers and access to weapons, the Haters have their unmitigated hate and rage to fuel their commitment to battle and they systematically begin...more

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Oct 22, 2011 Ken rated it 3 of 5 stars

An innovative twist on the Zombie Genre. Set in the UK in the near future, it tells the story of how, in one instant, the world's population is randomly divided between 'The Haters', and 'The Unchanged'. 'Haters' are filled with an all consuming rage, and must kill any of 'The Unchanged' within reach. What makes this tale different is that the story is told primarily from the point of view of a 'Hater'. Dan McCoyne is desperately trying to locate his five year old daughter who became a 'Hater' l...more

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Apr 22, 2012 Kristal rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012, horror, post-apocalyptic, zombies

Second in the 'Hater' series.

In this book Moody gives us a horrifying glimpse into the mind of the Haters. And it's not a pretty site. While not zombies in the traditional sense, they do refer to themselves with the stereotype. Their goal in life is to destroy any Unchanged person they can sniff out and hunt down.

The main character, Danny, is on a quest to find his daughter that he knows is also a Hater. While the others seem to have the demise of the Unchanged as their only objective, Danny is...more

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Aug 01, 2010 Colleen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, zombies

Mildly disappointed based on how much I liked the first one--but it's a compliment. From the first one, I expected more of a grand epic with this (and there's going to be a third one coming soon). The 1st person/3rd person switch got a little old and disjarring. Also, certain themes could have been way more fleshed out.

I liked how the first one skipped around with different vignettes, and book would have probably been given a four star review if it had kept that structure, or at least used more...more

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Jul 03, 2010 Molly rated it 2 of 5 stars

I liked the first one, but Dog Blood lacked any movement. I felt the story just carried on and on about things that didn’t really seems to matter. I am not sure if the author is trying to lead up to something bigger in the next book by laying the ground work in this one, but whatever the case I felt bored for most of the book.
The main character seemed to repeat his thoughts time and time again. He would experience something and then the author felt the need to reenacted it though the character’s...more

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Mar 29, 2013 Paulina rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ughh... Mal escrito, no hay nada qué hacer al respecto. Estuve muchas veces a punto de dejar de leerlo, pero ya leí el primero y quería saber qué pasaba con el protagonista y la historia. Los últimos capitulos fueron más fáciles de leer porque estaban cargados de acción, que es algo que el escritor saber hacer... no tan mal. Son los capitulos donde intenta centrarse en lo que piensan los personajes los que muestran cuán mal escritor es David Moody.

Ahora ya no es tanto la curiosidad por la histor...more

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May 04, 2012 Holden Attradies rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, horror

Even better than the first one!

The main character was much more of a character that the reader could sympathies with in this volume, even with him being a Hater. After seeing the world through their eyes in the end of the first book help set that up but the biggest thing was his drive to find and save his daughter. It ended up driving the plot for the entire book, and Moody through some really good twists at use connecting the main character to the narration of the non-hater character that peppe...more

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Jul 27, 2011 Eve rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is #2 in the Hater trilogy. The continuing saga of everyman Danny McCoyne's life as a Hater. I refrain from considering this a "zombie" novel because I don't believe the Haters are zombies. Or at least not in the traditional sense of the living dead. Haters are not dead, they simply became violent with a deadly lust to kill those who are not "unchanged." They eat and sleep like everyone else. And as the protagonist has shown, they also have very human emotions of love and loyalty. Dog Blood ...more

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About David Moody

David Moody was born in 1970 and grew up in Birmingham on a diet of trashy horror and pulp science fiction books and movies. He worked as a bank manager and as operations manager for a number of financial institutions before giving up the day job to write about the end of the world for a living. He has written a number of horror novels, including AUTUMN, which has been downloaded more than half a...more

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Dog Blood (Hater #2)

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