The Haar: A Horror Novel

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You'll remember my recent obsession with Indie Horror and even, perhaps, my own toe-dip into the genre myself. But whereas some obsessions drift away, forgotten. The Indie Horror bug is still biting. That’s kind of literally all that happens in the book. Other than the obvious plot of being forced out of their cottage homes and such. It really is just about a woman not wanting to give up her house, still trying to process the loss of her husband, and constant repetitions about how she’s not afraid of death. Which confuses me all the more about the ending unless I’m interpreting it wrong? The story had a good premise. After all, who isn't a wee bit afraid of a fog bank and what may lurk therein...

The Haar: A Horror Novel: Sodergren, David: 9798800159837 The Haar: A Horror Novel: Sodergren, David: 9798800159837

I love battle-for-nature stories with revenge. The Haar was excellently paced, an easy read to breeze through, and stirred in me rainbow of emotion. I was angry then happy then disgusted then sad then infuriated then exuberant. Haha, really everything under the sun. ☀️ Muriel McAuley has lived in the Scottish fishing village of Witchaven all her life. She was born there, married there, and intends to die there. 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.

Do I think David’s work is grossly overlooked? Absolutely. Look at his body of work thus far; ‘The Forgotten Island,’ ‘Night Shoot,’ ‘Dead Girl Blues,’ Maggie’s Grave,’ The Perfect Victim,’ and ‘Satan’s Burnouts Must Die!’ I would call all of these Indie Horror Masterpieces. Sodergren fully embraces the DIY Self-Publishing model and the level/caliber of books he’s given us are second to none. And I’m not going to include our co-written novel ‘The Navajo Nightmare’ as I think that would be too biased, but I will say, his opening salvo that makes up the story is simply one of the best Splatter-Western stories released in that genre over the last few years. 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. Now, I haven’t forgotten about that ‘gore-soaked’ aspect either. Expect the brutality and bloodbath that David is known for. Think ‘Maggie’s Grave’ and you’ll have an idea, and while this one doesn’t have as much as most of his books, it works perfectly to highlight the horrors and events Muriel is living through. The HAAR by David Sodergren is my first read by the author. I'm glad that I choose The HAAR because it is a little on the weird side, it's quite gory in parts, it's a lot of fun, and it's a surprisingly touching story about love and loss. Watching these Video Nasties has forced me to develop my own mantra, which I repeat over and over under my breath for the first 10 minutes of every film. It goes,

The Haar by David Sodergren | Goodreads

The story is about Muriel McAuley, an old widow who wants to be left alone but a big corporation is buying up all the land of the Scottish coastal town she grew up in to build a golf course. The million-pound offers to buy her property are now turning into threats. Muriel then finds a sea creature with unique powers and it becomes a game changer.Muriel is left hopeless – until, after a particularly dense fog (called a “ haar“), she finds a mysterious blob on the beach. Little does Muriel know, saving this blob will not only spell her salvation, but a new hope for her future. Muriel really is the best character he’s created yet and the relationship and tenderness we get to see and experience was second to none. I’ll be raving about this book until his next one comes out, but this shows why Sodergren is so good and hopefully now, he’ll stop being overlooked. If there was ever a story I wish I could erase from my mind only to read over and over again…it would be this one! It is the perfect love story with a Cthulhu twist, and although I don’t foresee anything like this happening to me, it has really made me think about my own relationships in my life. It’s a wonderful piece about humanity and what we are as creatures in this vast world. I have never felt so small and meaningless in this world, and yet my heart has never been so full. This book makes you feel FEELINGS!! And I can easily say, I loved every second of it. When I started this book I did not expect to have my heart pulled in such ways, but I truly could not put this down until I was done. I was cooking dinner while reading, doing laundry and reading, I moved my schedule around so I could FINISH THIS BOOK!!

David Sodergren - Fantastic Fiction David Sodergren - Fantastic Fiction

The elderly lady is a bad asș woman. She meets 'someone' (not entirely human) who can help her fight this horrible company that keeps harassing her. I don't want to give away any spoilers. Just read the book without knowing too much about it in advance. Muriel Margaret McAuley was eighty-four years old the first time she saw a man turned inside-out by a sea monster. You might think it would bother a woman of her age, but, as Muriel was fond of saying, she had seen a lot in her eighty-four short years. 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.In the story, these young men set afire an old retired man after robbing him then laugh as he's trying to put himself out so they can collect filthy American money... David Sodergren has always had a very specific and direct prose, excelling in the descriptions of things from the most mundane to the most extremely visceral. It’s impressive to see how his writing has grown and refined over his career, though it has always felt mature and sophisticated. His writing has never been pretentious and it never insists upon itself. The same is true for The Haar, but it stays interesting and smart enough to keep an academic entertained. I think one of the most impressive aspects of this novel is the basis of Muriel. The dedication of the book is for his grandma Connie who, “would not have liked this book at all.” He goes on to state in the afterward that the character isn’t solely based on her, but there are elements of her life that he worked into the character, which really gives it a personal feel and elevates it just that much more. “File:Fingals cave Staffa Iona Scotland deepInside.jpg” by N2e is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. In The Haar, the main character is an elderly lady. She lives right next to the ocean. She has lived there many years. Her husband (passed away some years ago) built their house himself. 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.