The Haar: A Horror Novel

Product Information

The story concerns an old woman in a sleepy coastal town that is slowly fading away. Like most towns so connected to the sea, there are mythological beings and interesting happenings surrounding the waters. This book takes that to a whole level of something I’ve never experienced before. The book becomes even worse in regards to the characters, because there's barely any likable ones in this bunch. Almost every single character is so absolutely odious in one way or another that it becomes irritating to read, and I know many people say slasher genre victims are supposed to be unlikable so the viewer/reader can root for the killer, but I disagree; I don't want to root for any killer, I want to care about the people who are in danger, I want to be invested in their fates. When they're this painfully unlikable, I don't look forward to them getting killed, I just put the book down because it's so annoying to read. it's why it took me literal weeks to get through this book.

Night Shoot is wildly entertaining. If you’re not laughing, you’re scared out of David Sodergren lives in Scotland with his wife Heather and his best friend, Boris the Pug.Honestly, if you’re a fan of slasher movies from the 1980s, you NEED this one on your tbr! It’s the perfect homage. I can not recommend it enough, I loved it even more than Sodergren’s debut The Forgotten Island. I did feel the build up did take quite long, I felt I was waiting and waiting for something dramatic to happen. Eventually it did. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting. There was a small explanation as to why these circumstances had arisen, but I felt there were a few holes that definitely needed filling. For me it’s a slasher for no real reason, and I think those reasons could have gone into more detail.

Initially it seems like a piss-take of Hollywood. The guests at the party are all vacuous airheads or coked-up sleazebags, and are lit from below by torchlight like they’re kids pretending to be a monster to scare their friends. They talk of ‘All the culture you can take – The Hollywood Bowl, the Universal Tour,’ and take potshots at Brian DePalma for wasting money on Blow Out. So yeah, it’s probably Hollywood that Lommel has it in for. I absolutely loved this book a lot more than I first expected to. Upon getting it, I thought okay so it's a haunted mansion and a group of film students roaming the halls. How bad can it possibly be? The answer: very bad for the students trapped inside, but extremely entertaining for the reader!

FBC Info

Muriel’s presence makes the horrifying elements all the more terrifying, and, often, those horrifying elements come from other human beings, not the strange creature from the fog.

I'm honestly not surprised this time. David Sodergren has done it again, another 5 star Horror book. His previous books: The entire book reads as David intended – a classic 1980’s VHS slasher, kill them all tale. It keeps the standard plot points to engage; amazing setting (ancient manor), boobs (lead actress/main character), and a gaggle of odd and strange characters. Then of course there is suspense, scares, gore and death. Plenty of gore and death. Night Shoot is basically Urban Legends 2: Final Cut and Dark and Stormy Night smushed into a Scottish blender. Which sounds fun actually, but it’s told so cynically and by-the-numbers that the fun is spoiled. My biggest issue: the deaths come way too fast and there’s no mystery. Early in we see enough to predict the whole plot. My favorite part of horror books and films is the tension in the atmosphere when me and the characters both don’t know exactly what the hell is happening. Setting is everything when it comes to horror movies and of course, they wind up in a creepy old castle with only one rule: everyone and everything has to be out by 8 pm. But anything that can go wrong in a horror movie, not only goes wrong but goes from bad to worse to holy-hell-let’s-get-the-f***-out-of-here!The novel centers on the little Scottish town of Witchaven and an 80-something year old widow woman, Muriel...