The Haar: A Horror Novel

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Blending the fast-paced gore, casting, and structure of ’80s slasher and final girl films with the dread-inducing mystery of more gothic haunted house tales, this horror tale keeps you guessing, laughing, and peeking through your fingers when it gets gory. A cemetery. Ambitious crane shots and Steadicam work reminiscent of Halloween. A young girl in a gothic crypt. Mario Bava-esque lighting. Me neither. Something about demonic possession, my least favourite horror sub-genre. They even go for that most uncinematic and boring possession movie trope – the hypnotism scene. A group of film students manage to find the perfect, out of the way mansion to film their final movie together. There are only two conditions: They only have one day and they must be out of the house by 8PM.

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.The line between progress and demolition of the past is wonderfully explored in the way that the modern thinking is to throw money at everything, whilst the old ways, as exemplified by Muriel, is to be resilient, resourceful and do her best to survive. In classic horror trope fashion, NIGHT SHOOT has the perfect set up for everything to go horribly wrong. Some amateur film students go on location to film a movie at an abandoned mansion. I'm honestly not surprised this time. David Sodergren has done it again, another 5 star Horror book. His previous books: slasher horror ταινίες της δεκαετίας του '80; Αν δεν έχετε διαβάσει Sodergren, μάλλον όχι, γιατί αμφιβάλλω αν γράφει κανείς κάτι παρόμοιο. Ο Sodergren αποφάσισε πως αφού δεν το έχει κάνει κανείς άλλος, θα το κάνει ο ίδιος. Αγαπάει αυτό τον κινηματογράφο και, γνωρίζοντας τις αδυναμίες του, δηλαδή πόσο ταλαιπ��ρημένος είναι, τι θέση έχει στην συνείδηση του κοινού (πράγμα για το οποίο είναι σε μεγάλο μέρος υπεύθυνες οι ταινίες που αναβίωσαν το είδος στα τέλη των 90s), γράφει ιστορίες βουτηγμένες στο αίμα, με εκκωφαντικές θηλυκές τσιρίδες και νεαρούς που πάνε να φάνε το κεφάλι τους.

A blood-drenched love letter to Lovecraft, handled with impressive authority and confidence."
James Fahy, author of The Changeling series
NIGHT SHOOT I mentioned that it feels like the flattening of Witchaven feels inspired by Trump’s infamy in pissing off the Scottish residents of Aberdeenshire for that godawful golf course. While those incidents are very marked by Trump’s buffoonery and corruption, the novel plays these elements straighter with a more sinister edge. The book’s corrupt American billionaire, Mr. Grant, is just fine slipping into even more dangerous and dark deeds to get what he wants. But, if you look at that synopsis closely, you’ll see Sodergren says this is a gore-soaked folk horror fairy tale, and that’s just what we get. We get a looming fog, the haar, that sweeps in one day and brings something from the ocean. Muriel saves it, connects with it and gets to experience some of life’s moments again. Things and memories she thought long since buried, returning and reinvigorating her. I did not expect David to give me another amazing unexpected story, yet here we are. When you have been loving every book by an author, you are scared that the next one might not meet your expectations. The ending was perfect and the varying POV’s we get to see some of those last moments through was fantastic to really highlight the emotional aspect of this book.Muriel is a resilient and resourceful octogenarian deeply connected to the land. Her husband, Billy, has disappeared at sea and she misses him every day. Despite her age, she refuses to submit to the greedy and rich. Her unwavering determination is respectable and proves you can’t get everything by throwing money at it (although the cynic in me whispers that this is another fairy-tale element of the story). Bonus recommendation: I think a viewing of the film Castle Freak starring Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton would go nicely with this book! Treat yourself to both of them. I love horror films, good or bad it does not matter, almost as much as I love books and reading this novel was the very best of both worlds. The story sets up its dark and ominous atmosphere very well, creates a cast of killable characters and tosses in a huge handful of madness. It was a really fun book that moved fast and was relentless and creative and disgusting when the killing began. The characters make dumb horror mistakes and you’ll want to scream at all of them and that’s why I love things like this. They make me feel smart and smug and superior. As if I wouldn’t do the same thing in their shoes, lol. Since the publication of his first novel, The Forgotten Island, he has written and published a further eight novels, including the gore-soaked folk-horror Maggie's Grave and the romantic and disturbing The Haar.

I don’t fear death… but they do.” Muriel McAuley has lived in the Scottish fishing village of Witchaven all her life. She was born there, and she intends to die there. But when an overseas property developer threatens to evict the residents from their homes and raze Witchaven to the ground in the name of progress, all seems lost… until the day a mysterious fog bank creeps inland. THE HAAR To some it brings redemption… to others, it brings only madness and death. What macabre secrets lie within… THE HAAR Romantic and deranged, THE HAAR is a gore-soaked folk horror fairy tale from David Sodergren, author of The Forgotten Island and Maggie’s Grave The Haar by David Sodergren – eBook Details 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. The Haar starts as a story about a greedy American arsehole who is trying to destroy the small coastal fishing town of Witchhaven, Scotland, and slowly turns into a story about love, self-preservation, and the human condition. The end of the book has some words from Sodergren's own gran from a journal entry. He mentions parts of Muriel were inspired by her and it was such a treat to see her own words and thoughts on paper.From there Sodergren flexes his writing chops and begins offing his characters in the best ways possible.