The Haar: A Horror Novel

Product Information

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. 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.

Oh dear! There may be spoilers. 2 stars. I'm sorry, but I didn't find this story the least bit plausible or entertaining...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. The characters are 3-dimensional people-the dialog is authentic and compelling-serving to develop their personas but also give life to the scene. I found myself laughing out loud a few times reading, NIGHT SHOOT and I remember having a similar experience with his previous novel. Revenge Of The Boogeyman might not be the worst Nasty, or even the most boring, but it’s without a shadow of a doubt the laziest. Barely running 75 minutes including the slowest moving end credits on record, approximately half of the running time is footage from the original Boogeyman. The idea is a good one – Lacey, played by a returning Suzanna Love, goes to Hollywood where she is courted by producers who want to make a movie out of her life. A supernatural slasher running amok in early 80s Tinseltown? Sounds good!

Sodergren has a gift for storytelling, for pacing, character development and for not filling space with useless words. He puts down what is needed and does it effortlessly. Throw in the amazing artwork that keeps the stylistic aesthetic of his debut and Night Shoot fires on all cylinders. 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). The tone was more serious that I would usually expect from a slasher. However, the horror movie setting was fun and helped to add a some entertainment to the narrative. Anyone who knows me could easily point out that when I find something I thoroughly enjoy be it books, movies, podcasts, songs, food, you name it, I become hyperfixated on it. This usually results in me eating poke bowls for three months straight and then not being able to look at fish and rice for a whole five months after, just to name a very topical example. A similar, but also kind of not similar, thing happened when I discovered horror author David Sodergren. In a collaboration article titled Spooky Book Recommendations for Halloween, I stated that David Sodergren is a horror fanatic’s author, and that will never not be true. When I found The Forgotten Island it opened my eyes to what horror fiction novels could be, and because of David, I went from owning four books to a collection that is now at least 200 horror novels strong. When I read The Forgotten Island I became hyperfixated with horror novels, and, unlike poke bowls, I did not tire of them for one second.Would you fall in love with a murderous sea creature that only has your best intentions at heart? Honestly… I might. This story for all its gore and injustice was surprisingly… adorable. 😆 I absolutely love Muriel as a character. She is so righteous with a hard edge and very relatable. A well-rounded character who I wanted nothing but the best for. And I think Avalon gave that to her in the most romantically disturbing way. 🥹🖤 🌊 A blood-drenched love letter to Lovecraft, handled with impressive authority and confidence."
James Fahy, author of The Changeling series
NIGHT SHOOT David can write characters of any age and in any situation and manages to bring us different types of horror with every single one of his novels.

Last year, the horror world was introduced to David Sodergren’s debut Novel ‘The Forgotten Island.’ It was a marvellous achievement for a debut novel and the characters and story were stunning. It easily made my top 10 year-end list and made a number of other year-end best-of lists as well. It was even awarded a stunning 5 skull review in Scream Magazine. This was first-rate story telling by a first-rate gentleman. 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. Perhaps the most surprising element of this novel, however, is its monster. Usually, in Sodergren novels, the monster feels entirely like a force of nature, inhuman in its rage and desire to desolate our protagonists. The one exception is Maggie’s Grave, which gets a mention in this novel.He realised how trivial onscreen deaths were. They never got it right, couldn’t replicate the true gut-churning horror of real life.” 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! The ending left me stunned, saddened and infuriated, which is to say – he ended it exactly as it should’ve. I finished reading it about four days ago as of the writing of this, and I’m still wishing it would’ve ended differently, but glad it played out like it did. 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. There are only 47 residents in the small Scottish town of Auchenmullan, where there is nothing to do, nothing to see, but a solitary grave near the top of a mountain. The faded inscription reads “Maggie Wall buried here as a witch”, but sometimes, the dead don’t stay buried...

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. Reader, I wasn’t prepared. The Haar contains everything we love from Sodergren’s body of work with a beautifully portrayed main character, an unexpected romance, and a fun little plot somewhat inspired by Donald Trump’s attempts at building a golf course in Scotland. Which brings me to the gnarly gore. This is a very bloody book. Things get very twisted in the final act, so stay with it! It’s worth the ride after a relatively slow start. And the setting really adds to the sense of dread and the effectiveness of the story. It’s basically the mansion in Resident Evil crossed with the house in The People Under The Stairs. Lots of creepy rooms, hidden passages, and nasty surprises. Night Shoot is wildly entertaining. If you’re not laughing, you’re scared out of your mind. A final girl story people will be talking about for a long time.”One night, the mist comes to the village and brings something with it that will change everything. Especially for our main character Muriel, a lonely elderly woman that will not give up her home, her memories and her identity.