CRAZED killers roam the streets of Lowestoft.

But those who avoid them should not relax for a moment – they could also be affected by nuclear fall-out or fall victim to the brutal dictator who is now running the town.

To locals, it may not sound like the everyday Lowestoft that they call home or visit, but this nightmare scenario will make total sense to the fans of acclaimed horror writer Dave Moody.

On Thursday, Mr Moody will be releasing the final part in his acclaimed Hater trilogy – Them Or Us – at a special event in Lowestoft.

However, his visit will have a special relevance for his fans because he has set the book here. The town provides the backdrop to the story as one of the last remaining outposts of humankind following a nuclear war and a deadly virus that have turned a third of the world's population into savage killers, known as Haters.

Mr Moody, 41, a former bank worker who lives in Halesowen, near Birmingham, chose to set the book in Lowestoft as he knows it well from when he and his wife Lisa visit his mother-in-law, Becky Tipper, who lives in Carlton Colville.

In Them or Us, a brutal dictator Hinchcliff has set up base at the town's magistrates' court and survivors visit the town's library to find books that will help them learn how re-build their shattered society, while the wind turbine Gulliver is portrayed as a symbol of hope for the survivors. The book also mentions the Birds Eye factory, Southwold, and, thanks to his visits to his mother-in-law, the story's hero Danny McCoyne make his home in Carlton Colville.

By setting his book in the Lowestoft area, Mr Moody has broken his usual rule of having fictitious locations for his stories, which also include the highly-successful Autumn zombie trilogy.

Thanks to Them Or Us, Lowestoft may even hit the big screen as the rights to the first Hater book has been bought up by Hollywood producers and, if it proves successful, other books could also be turned into films.

To mark the book's launch in Lowestoft on Thursday, Mr Moody will be signing copies in Waterstones in London Road North between 5pm and 6.30pm. He will then be giving a free talk about the Hater trilogy at the town's library.

Mr Moody told The Journal he was excited about the launch of the book in Lowestoft and joked that he hoped his mother-in-law would not mind being the inspiration for his book's apocalyptic backdrop.

He said: 'This is unique for me because all my books have always been in fictitious places, although I am influenced by places I know and have visited. I thought that as Lowestoft is the most easterly point of the country it would be the perfect place for any survivors to go to after a disaster wipes out most of mankind.'

Mr Moody released his first Hater novel in 2006. It proved a big hit with horror fans in America, where the rights for his books were snapped up by acclaimed film-makers Guillermo Del Toro, of Pan's Labyrinth and Hell Boy fame, and Mark Johnson, the man behind the Chronicles of Narnia series.

Places are still available for Mr Moody's free talk in Lowestoft Central Library on Thursday evening. To book a place, e-mail jane.rothon@suffolk.gov.uk