David Moody brings his HATER series into a spectacular landing with CHOKEHOLD, coming out from St. Martin’s Griffin November 19, 2019.
I first read HATER back when David was self-publishing his zombie fiction in PDFs, and fell in love with it. In this apocalyptic novel, a dormant genetic switch flips in a third of humanity, making them terrified and hateful of the other two-thirds, resulting in a string of homicides that snowballs into an all-out war. The novel has a twist in the last act as powerful as the end of WOOL. After HATER was optioned by Guillermo del Toro, St. Martin’s brought the book to print along with a series that ended up spanning six books.
In the first trilogy, we follow a Hater, while in the second, we follow Matt, one of the Unchanged. CHOKEHOLD follows the fall of nuclear bombs that have turned the UK into a wasteland. In the ruins, the last Unchanged survive in a fortress, while rival armies of Haters head toward them for a final showdown. Matt must navigate all this hate and try to survive on his own until finally making a choice to try to help them all survive.
David gave CHOKEHOLD his best writing in the series, tying all the characters and plots from the previous books together into a satisfying conclusion. Throughout the series, the main characters had their choices made for them by rapidly changing circumstances. In this last episode, they make the own choices, right or wrong, for hate or redemption, and even those who don’t make it expire knowing their death meant something. And for all its bleakness and violence, the series finishes on a small note of hope.
I can’t recommend David’s work enough, whether it’s his groundbreaking HATER series of his powerful AUTUMN series. I’ve stuck with both over a decade, and now I can’t wait to see what David comes up with next.
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