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Book Review: The Strain
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T. Walters   |  

The Strain, by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck HoganThe Strain
Book One of The Strain Trilogy
By Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan
William Morrow
Release date: June 2, 2009

Every so often, the world of fantasy literature will be rocked with a series of books that will forever change the way people read. Lord of the Rings did it. Harry Potter did it. Twilight (unfortunately) did it. Since all of those series are over now, many readers have been looking for a new book to devote their lives to.

Cue famed director Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, the Hellboy films) and Chuck Hogan‘s first effort together, The Strain. This 400-page tome begins what is to be a trilogy, with The Strain being followed by The Fall (in 2010) and The Night Eternal (in 2011).

In the opening of the novel, a Boeing 777 (one of the biggest passenger planes in the world) lands at JFK airport in New York City and shuts down completely not five minutes after landing. No radio transmissions are received from the crew. No calls are received from the passengers. No movement is detected inside. The police decide to open the doors of the plane, and find everyone on board dead. Of course, a post-9/11 media circus ensues, and Dr. Ephraim Goodweather of the CDC (Center for Disease Control) is called on to investigate what is assumed to be a viral attack of some sort.

This is where it gets interesting. Ephraim is suddenly sucked into a world he thought only existed in the movies. A world of beings that were once humans that survive off of the blood of others. A world of vampires.

As it turns out, the plane was a form of transportation for the ancient vampire named Josef Sardu (known as one of the three vampiric “Masters”). Aging pawn shop owner and Sardu survivor/hunter Abraham Setrakian joins Goodweather as they try to stop the Master from creating endless hordes of bloodsucking fiends.

But these are not your traditional, fang-bearing beasties. No, the vampires in Hogan and del Toro’s book are savage, uncaring monsters with low IQs that just happen to survive off of blood; not unlike the “zoombies” portrayed in the 2006 remake of Dawn of the Dead. And like I said above, these vampires don’t have fangs. Instead, a sort of stinger is formed from the flesh underneath their tongues that can extend and suck blood like a silly straw. They are unfeeling and terrifying, and amongst some of the greatest writer-created creatures (or spin-offs of such) that I have ever seen. The creativity involved in creating such an original strain (no pun intended) of such a well-known creature is a daunting task. But they manage to pull it off, and pull it off well.

But my personal favorite part of the book was Hogan and del Toro’s attention to detail in the development of their characters. None of the main players seem two-dimensional, aside from a few b-list ones you rarely hear about. Towards the latter half of the novel, you as the reader start to deeply care about the well-being and future of everyone they cover.

Hogan and del Toro’s book is so good that I read it twice. Then I read it again. Out of the three times total that I read it, it seemingly got better and better with each time. This is rare in the world of literature. Rarely do I come across a book that I would pick up and read again, and I’ve already done it twice with this one.

To say that I am excited for the next book in the series is putting it lightly; I have wasted no time trying to determine the exact date that the next book will be released, to no avail (yet). But rest assured, I’ll be waiting with baited breath.

3 Comments »

  1. with any luck hollywood will make this a film.

    Comment by korollocke — August 16, 2009 @ 11:03 am

  2. Just started reading this last week… Great so far. Seems like an episode of Fringe crossed with the book Skarlet (to a degree)…

    Comment by Brian Fitzpatrick — August 17, 2009 @ 10:21 am

  3. I loved this book!

    Comment by Jocelyn — August 17, 2009 @ 6:47 pm

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