Haterz was quick, fun, humorous and definitely made me think. I mean... don't even attempt to tell me you don't have at least one person amongst your facebook friends, whose status updates you constantly skip to read because you just know it will be full of complaining, whining, hating, and just... urgh!
We've all heard the phrase "haterz gonna hate"... but how far would you go to play internet vigilante?
Skip.
Ignore.
Block.
Delete.
Kill?!
Kill is exactly what David, the book's protagonist, goes for.
First on his list -not that there really is one- is his best friend's ever-so-annoying girlfriend. He wasn't planning to kill her, not exactly... it's more a spur of the moment kind of thing, really... but it turns out to be easy to kill her, and even easier to make it look like an accident.
She's gone, he doesn't get caught, that's it.
Or so you might think.
As soon as David gets home, he starts receiving messages from an anonymous source, which he decides to call the Killuminati - who, as their name suggests, want more of the kill, so they actually start to support and instruct David on his future murders. What started out as a mission to make the internet a better place, soon becomes something a lot more twisted. Before he knows it, they are the ones pulling the strings, and he turns from his own personal internet vigilante into a hired killer.
What I really liked about this book a lot, is how easy it is to read. What David calls his manifesto, is written like a blog - there is no sugarcoating, it's all rather colloquial, and overall a really enjoyable read. At times, it was really hard to put Haterz down, because it's easy to get caught up in the story - you just want to know what the Killuminati have in store next, who they are, what will happen, if David's morals with kick in, or if he'll get caught. And at times, you will start to wonder what the internet has done to our society - it has made it easy for anyone and everyone to hide behind a username and a meaningless icon... but is that always bad? And just who are the people on your facebook "friends"-list? Or the people you follow on Twitter, and those who follow you?
This is a great, fun read for anyone who has a somewhat twisted sense of humor, and anyone who'd vote for a cat to be president of the world.
4/5!
Is there someone online who really grates on you? That friend who's always bragging about their awesome life and endlessly sharing tired memes, and who just doesn't get jokes? Look at your Twitter feed: don't you get cross at the endless rage, the thoughtless bigotry and the pleading for celebrity retweets? Meet Dave, a street fundraiser and fan of cat pictures. He's decided that unfollowing just isn’t enough. He's determined to make the internet a nicer place, whatever it takes. When he killed his best friend's girlfriend, he wasn't planning on changing the world. She was just really annoying on Facebook. But someone saw, and made him an offer. Someone who knows what he's capable of, and wants to use him to take control of the darkness at the heart of the internet. And now the bodies – the comment trolls, the sexual predators, the obnoxious pop stars – are starting to mount up..."
( - amazon.com)
James Goss has written two Torchwood novels and a radio play, as well as a Being Human book. His Doctor Who audiobook Dead Air won Best Audiobook 2010. James also spent seven years working on the BBC's official Doctor Who website and co-wrote the website for Torchwood Series One. In 2007, he won the Best Adaption category in the annual LA Weekly Theatre Awards for his version of Douglas Adams' novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.
( - goodreads)
