He applied the Page 69 Test to Dog Blood, the sequel to Hater, and reported the following:Although there’s not a lot of action on page 69 of Dog Blood, it’s actually a pivotal point in the story. During the course of the previous book, Danny McCoyne’s life is turned inside-out and upside-down by ‘the Hate’, an unexplained phenomenon which turns people against each other with no apparent reason or justification. The world has descended into a bloody, relentless war and for several months Danny has been fighting – working his way across the country from battle to battle, determined to keep fighting until the war has been won. By chance he’s now found himself back where he started, close to home and, on page 69, his old world and his new world begin to collide.Learn more about the author and his work at David Moody's website.
Danny is unnerved by the sudden familiarity of everything around him. It’s all just as he remembered, but at the same time everything has been indelibly changed too. Well known landmarks and locations have been scarred by the war and nothing has been left untouched.
In the centre of town, the enemy have withdrawn into a massive, sprawling refugee camp. This is Danny’s first sight of the camp, and the sheer scale of it surprises him.For the first time I can clearly see the enemy-occupied heart of the city. Silhouetted against the last golden yellow light of the rapidly fading sun, the tall buildings in the centre of town stand proud and defiant. Even from here, still several miles away, I can see that the refugee camp is filled with movement. Planes and helicopters flitter through the darkening sky like flies around an animal’s carcass.This is a war like no other. There can be no surrender, no ceasefire or truce.... Danny knows that this war won’t end until one side has completely exterminated the other, and on page 69 of Dog Blood he begins to appreciate the enormity of the fight which lies ahead of him.
Check out the complete list of books in the Page 69 Test Series.
--Marshal Zeringue
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