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The Strain (The Strain Trilogy #1)

3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 · rating details · 27,545 ratings · 3,416 reviews

A Boeing 777 arrives at JFK and is on its way across the tarmac, when it suddenly stops dead. All window shades are pulled down. All lights are out. All communication channels have gone quiet. Crews on the ground are lost for answers, but an alert goes out to the CDC. Dr. Ephraim "Eph" Goodweather, head of their Canary project, a rapid-response team that investigates biolo...more

Hardcover, 403 pages

Published June 2nd 2009 by William Morrow (first published 2009)

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Nov 09, 2010 Kemper rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, vampires

Imagine that you’re reading one of those Twilight books as Edward is whispering chaste sweet nothings into Bella’s ear, and it was oh-so-romantic-and-couldn’t-you-just-die-OMG-OMG-OMG. Suddenly Edward’s head flips back and his throat opens up like he just became a Pez dispenser. A six foot stinger/sucker thing flies out, and it zaps that silly girl right in a major artery and drains her dry in about twenty seconds while parasitic worms take over her corpse and turn her into a mindless bloodsucki...more Imagine that you’re reading one of those Twilight books as Edward is whispering chaste sweet nothings into Bella’s ear, and it was oh-so-romantic-and-couldn’t-you-just-die-OMG-OMG-OMG. Suddenly Edward’s head flips back and his throat opens up like he just became a Pez dispenser. A six foot stinger/sucker thing flies out, and it zaps that silly girl right in a major artery and drains her dry in about twenty seconds while parasitic worms take over her corpse and turn her into a mindless bloodsucking meatbag.

And that is why Guillermo Del Toro will never direct one of the Twilight movies. Too bad because I’d pay good money to see that.

Del Toro, who directed several horror movies as well as the critically acclaimed but extremely gruesome Pan’s Labyrinth, apparently was tired of the vampires being castrated by hordes of adoring teenage girls and set out to make them monsters again. And he does a pretty good job.

A Boeing 777 lands in New York but most of the passengers are dead. Before you can say 'Bela Lugosi', a CDC doctor is getting lessons from a Van Helsing wannabe named Setrakian on the best way to deal with the vamps, which are essentially a parasitic virus run amok with a Master bloodsucker as the main villain pulling the strings to launch a full scale vampire apocalypse.

The book had a fresh take on the vampire story and Del Toro and co-author Chuck Hogan do a good job of mixing some Old World vampire mysticism with 21st century science and tech. Especially creepy is the way that Manhattan is soon being quietly overrun during the initial outbreak. It’s got a Stephen King ‘Salem’s Lot vibe in those descriptions.

However, Del Toro borrowed liberally from some of his movies, most noticeably Mimic and Blade II. The characters are B-movie thin, especially the hero who is also saddled with a bad sub-plot of a custody fight for his son. (His ex-wife and the social service worker can’t understand why a potential viral outbreak might cause a CDC doctor to have to reschedule an appointment or two.) The opening set-up with a plane load of dead passengers has been used twice before that I know of in Nelson DeMille’s The Lion’s Game and Fringe in its pilot episode.

So the story seemed overly familiar in a lot of ways, and the writing isn’t especially great, but it’s got a lot of momentum and is loaded with enough gore and ultra-violence to make vampires nasty again. It’s the first in a trilogy, and it was enough fun that I’ll be checking out the next two.
(less)

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Oct 06, 2010 Craig rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: should-have-been-better-than-it-was, horror

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Seems these days if you want to make a buck, you gotta write a vampire story. Don't get me wrong. I've enjoyed many vampire books out there but think the sub-genre has all but been bled dry. So along comes a book co-authored by visionary Guillermo Del Toro, a favorite movie director of mine, that claims to turn the concept of the vampire story on to its head. So yeah, I had high hopes for the book. It's too bad that after the promising first few chapters it simulated the experience of watching a...more

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Jul 31, 2012 Gavin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror-thriller, sci-fi

(Music fades.)

Me: Welcome back to the studio everyone, we have a wonderful surprise for you. Joining us for a few minutes on the airwaves today are two men that have transformed the vampire world: let’s welcome Chuck Logan and Guillermo Del Toro.

Let’s start with you Chuck. You are the recipient of a 2005 Hammett Award for your novel PRINCE OF THIEVES, and are the bestselling author of numerous others. I have to admit, I just saw Ben Affleck’s version of your novel PRINCE OF THIEVES, renamed The...more

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Oct 14, 2011 Becky rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, vampires, 2011, mystery-and-thrillers, nook, reviewed, science-fiction, ww2, challenge-1010

3.5 stars, with a slight nudge toward 4.

I have had this book on my To-Read list for a while, but never got around to reading it until now. I'm glad that I read it because it was pretty good, and parts were very creepy. I didn't find it scary and had no problem sleeping or anything reading it, but there were parts that had a higher than average creep factor, and it was nice.

I liked that this book had a realistic baseline, and felt like it could truly happen. Don't get me wrong, I like the tradit...more 3.5 stars, with a slight nudge toward 4.

I have had this book on my To-Read list for a while, but never got around to reading it until now. I'm glad that I read it because it was pretty good, and parts were very creepy. I didn't find it scary and had no problem sleeping or anything reading it, but there were parts that had a higher than average creep factor, and it was nice.

I liked that this book had a realistic baseline, and felt like it could truly happen. Don't get me wrong, I like the traditional vampire lore that is based on a curse or some evil or something, a changing of the soul that's manifested in the body, if you will... but this was different and I really liked the concept, as well as the science behind it.

There were things that I felt could have been stronger, and more fleshed out, mainly the characters. There were a few references that didn't really bear out in behavior, and some behaviors that didn't quite match the information that we had, like Setrakian's stamina, or Ephraim being a recovering alcoholic of less than a year and not craving a drink... but it was enjoyable nonetheless. I mostly didn't have any trouble liking or caring about these characters, so the little inconsistencies didn't become issues for me. Also, I feel like there were one or two unresolved issues in the story (or maybe they were resolved, but not exactly clearly?), but they didn't detract too much from the story, and could still be addressed in later books.

I also liked the writing for the most part. It had a sort of "For Everyday Use" feel, but then some parts were written in such a way as to just feel like they were more. Again though, there were sections that, for lack of a better term, tried too hard and felt a little forced or out of place. For instance, this line: "Like smoke rising up a chimney, we must force him to the roof." This, in the middle of a vampire vs human battle... I just feel like the first part of the line makes it awkward and takes me out of the story. I think of myself as if I were in the story: I'm fighting my ass off to stay alive here, I see my target, I communicate my intention in the shortest possible command to save my breath, to not waste time, to not give anything a chance to kill me while I'm waxing poetic. "Force him to the roof!" or at the most, "We must force him to the roof!". Who has time for similes in life or death situations? Sure the hell not me.

Anyway, I'm curious where this story is going to go... there was an interesting development at the end that has me intrigued...

Horror October 2011: #5(less)

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Jul 08, 2012 Lou rated it 4 of 5 stars

A thrilling story of a race against time for the human populace as a virus strain like no other before has landed in the USA and the living become turned, the scary part is they head home and come after their loved ones first. There is a master of the dark set to dominate the underworld of the vampires that leads the story on to next novel. A action packed race against the spread of vampires, forces of good and evil, survival and death, would make a good movie.
For interview and trailers click li...more

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Feb 24, 2012 Jessi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: it-scared-me

This was good, really good I have the sequel waiting at home for me and can't wait to start.
There are a lot of characters so it did take time for me get everyone straight.For whatever reason everytime Gus come around I was like "who the Hell is Gus" and had to sort of go back and get reaquainted with him. I appreciated that this was shorter then The Passage(what isn't? am I right?). It seemed like Hogan and Del Toro got everything right for me, the length, not too much gore, lots of eerie creepy...more

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Jan 24, 2012 Heather rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010

Hmmmmm. My thoughts on this one are a bit flustered, so I’m afraid that my review is going to take the form of a pro/con list.
Pro:
It reads like a movie, which is a refreshing treat as I detest slogging through useless detail, description, etc. that is so prevalent among adult fiction. I like to bottom line it, which is why I love most young adult fiction. However, when stories read like a movie, the characters tend to suffer, and as I can read a completely crap book and love it if I can fall in...more

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Jan 20, 2012 Elisa rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

First off, I have to say that I am not the kind of person that enjoys writing bad reviews. I love books, all books pretty much, and I’m really easy to please. Yet this book was a letdown of utter proportions and I can’t contain my frustration with it. I had been eagerly awaiting The Strain for months, I had heard nothing but good things from all the book related cites I visit and all of the catalogues I receive, not to mention the raving reviews it got everywhere else. The one question I have fo...more First off, I have to say that I am not the kind of person that enjoys writing bad reviews. I love books, all books pretty much, and I’m really easy to please. Yet this book was a letdown of utter proportions and I can’t contain my frustration with it. I had been eagerly awaiting The Strain for months, I had heard nothing but good things from all the book related cites I visit and all of the catalogues I receive, not to mention the raving reviews it got everywhere else. The one question I have for all of the people who said how amazing it was is: Did you and I read the same book? My second question: Do Richard Matheson and Stephen King know that their work is being compared to this?

I think I need to explain step by step why I really disliked this book and why I think it’s so misleading. Here I’ve copied the synopsis, it’s nearly identical to what is on the back of the paperback edition:

They have always been here. Vampires. In secret and in darkness. Waiting. Now their time has come. In one week, Manhattan will be gone. In one month, the country. In two months—the world.

A Boeing 777 arrives at JFK and is on its way across the tarmac, when it suddenly stops dead. All window shades are pulled down. All lights are out. All communication channels have gone quiet. Crews on the ground are lost for answers, but an alert goes out to the CDC. Dr. Eph Goodweather, head of their Canary project, a rapid-response team that investigates biological threats, gets the call and boards the plane. What he finds makes his blood run cold.

In a pawnshop in Spanish Harlem, a former professor and survivor of the Holocaust named Abraham Setrakian knows something is happening. And he knows the time has come, that a war is brewing...

Sounds pretty freaking amazing, eh? Then, inside the cover of the paperback edition, are five –yes, five– pages of reviews going on, and on, and ON, about how fantastic The Strain is, how it’s a masterpiece that has redefined the vampire myth, how it’s “an unholy spawn of I Am Legend out of Salem’s Lot” –at this point, I started to gag a little bit.

Can you say ‘misleading’?

(view spoiler)[The only saving grace of this book is the characters Eph, Setrakian, Zach, and Fet (the Exterminator). They were honestly the only real reason I kept reading. Eph is a newly single dad who was married more to his career than to his wife, so she left him. She wants full custody of their child Zach because she 1) wants to ruin Eph’s world, and 2) she’s jealous and kind of petty. Setrakian is a holocaust survivor with more bad memories and nightmares than anyone should carry around. None of which is surprising given the snippets, or “Interludes” as they’re called in the book, of his time in a death camp as a Jewish Pole. He’s got the longest history with the monster, and he’s the acting team leader for the most part. Zach is an incredibly smart and caring young boy who is much too aware of the world around him and a kid that just wants to be with his dad –the only person who gets him. And Fet, oh Fet, the Russian rat exterminator. I think he’s my favourite character, he’s tough, mean, and knows how to kill vermin. What else could you want in a guy? But I digress.

I think by far the most annoying things about this book are that it is 200 pages too long in the beginning, the structure of the prose, and the fact that it was utterly predictable. I want to know what horror formula the writers followed.

I’ll start with the prose. It seems to me that the authors tried their hardest to find the most convoluted vocabulary they could and put it together in such a way that it’s just stilted and difficult to understand. The Thesaurus can be your friend, but it can also be your enemy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an easy read, but I had to read half of it twice because I had no idea what they were trying to say or describe. Also, the way that they integrated facts (to make their vocabulary make sense) was idiotic. It would have been smoother if they had added a glossary at the end and bolded all the key terms. My primary example: the Occultation. From page 107 to 112 they proceed to tell me ALL about how a “solar eclipse” is really a misnomer, it should in fact be called an occultation because the moon passes between the sun and the earth, it doesn’t pass into the sun’s shadow, etc, etc. At first it’s a neat fact, by page 112 you just want to know what their bloody point is. And this is only one example. It happens a lot.

Second, the predictability. There was absolutely not one single surprising thing in this novel. There were parts that freaked me out because the vampires are honestly creepy –I’ll give them points on the biology of the creatures– but aside from that, it was kind of a yawn fest.

My final complaint: the ending. Needless to say, the big bad evil gets away at the end. I expected that, however, how he gets away is so utterly stupid I was swearing at the book. The old guy has a heart attack in the middle of the big fight (we learn in the last 50 pages he has a bad heart). Dr. Eph is the main contender in this fight since he has decided he’s the one who gets to kill the monster (you know, because he’s been personally affected so he has the right to the evil’s head, as opposed to the guy who has been hunting this thing for three quarters of his life). Being the doctor that he is, he runs to the old guy’s assistance IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MAJOR FIGHT SCENE. Hmm, jee, what’s more important: slaying the thing that wants to destroy mankind or running to the aid of the 80 year old? Did it occur to him he could play doctor AFTER killing the thing since he already had his sword at its neck? Nope, of course not. How else would the monster escape? This is pretty much how book one of the trilogy ends.

At this point I was completely fed up. I couldn’t stand the sentences, I couldn’t stand the predictability, I couldn’t stand the whiny victims who wouldn’t stay in the hospital and then bitched about how bad they felt after surviving a mass freak phenomenon, I couldn’t stand the word for word definitions the writers tried to pass off as their writing on the science and language crap they were trying to explain, I couldn’t stand how the new guy waltzes in and starts playing leader while fighting his internal struggle of going from healer to slayer –cry me a freaking river. And I don’t even get a good ending to redeem all of my struggling! (hide spoiler)]

Needless to say I’m bummed out. I’m going to read the second one because I want to see what happens and I’m hoping they’ve fixed a few things. It’s smaller than The Strain, so that’s already a positive for it.

End of whine-off.(less)

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JS Found Elisa wrote: "I don't mind but I should warn you a lot cross over into para-rom versus pure horror/fiction, and I haven't had a great deal of free rea...more
updated May 05, 2013 01:28pm

Elisa Not a problem, if you love all genres I must steer you in the direction of JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood, she started my obsession. I figured you...more
May 06, 2013 06:41pm

Oct 07, 2011 Trudi rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, apocalyptic-types, science-fiction, vampires, series, 2011-reads, october-country, infection, on-my-kobo, survive-this

I liked this book a lot. There is a nice slow build while the tension and suspense are allowed to simmer and tightly coil, ready for the great “unspringing” if you will. That nice slow build is balanced by some manic action sequences, which are in turn balanced by some beautifully rendered scenes of epic creep. (view spoiler)...more

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Apr 29, 2010 Rusty rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: vampires, 2000, horror, read-in-2010, recommendations, east-coast, series

This is probably a great book, if you’re in the mood for it. I was not. I was not in the mood for a “whole new re-imagining” of the vampire mythos. I’ve seen plenty of “re-imaginings” lately, and that’s not what I was looking for. Nor was I in the mood to wait until the second half of the book to see some action. I understand setting the stage, building tension and whatnot, but this was a little much. So if you’re going to read this book, do yourself a favor; keep in mind that something mysterio...more

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Oct 21, 2010 Kelly Leigh rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: grrr-vamps-nary-a-sparkle, horror

First of all, I love me some vampires. I love the sultry bedroom eyes, lustful, sex-crazed vampires. The Angels and the Spikes (with or without a soul). And this should go without saying, but I prefer my vamps not to be Bedazzled. I'm crazy like that. So the fact that I was thoroughly enthralled with The Strain struck me as a bit odd. The vampires within this novel are not what I described above. Nope. A big fat negative with the sultriness and the lust. Not in the least. You get the hint. The v...more

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Sep 03, 2009 Dorsi rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: owned-by-me, horror-mayhem, paranormal-witchy

I read somewhere that this book was not your typical vampire book, and it was not. I also read that it was scary as hell, I didn't agree. It didn't have the "raise the hair on your arms" factor. The vampire/zombies were just a touch boring. Once turned, the vamps lost all personality. That would have been okay if they had been more scary. They just seemed kind of blah. The premise behind the story was good. The characters were likable & well developed. I was just so looking forward to readin...more

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Feb 27, 2013 Chibineko rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It took me a while to eventually get around to reading/listening to this book, partially because it's Guillermo del Toro. You're either in the mood to experience one of his creations or you're not. For the most part, I haven't been. This wasn't helped by the knowledge that this is a rather bleak book for the most part and I've been more in the mood lately for lighter hearted fare.

The first thing I have to say is that this is very nicely narrated by Ron Perlman. This guy is somewhat of a chamele...more It took me a while to eventually get around to reading/listening to this book, partially because it's Guillermo del Toro. You're either in the mood to experience one of his creations or you're not. For the most part, I haven't been. This wasn't helped by the knowledge that this is a rather bleak book for the most part and I've been more in the mood lately for lighter hearted fare.

The first thing I have to say is that this is very nicely narrated by Ron Perlman. This guy is somewhat of a chameleon when it comes to acting and is willing to perform just about every type of character he can. He brings this into the book and uses his acting background to the best of his ability. The only drawback to this is that despite his obvious talent here, he might not be able to keep up as well with the seasoned audiobook narrators out there. Perlman is better than many, but I wouldn't crown him king of all that has come before him. Even so, you won't get bored listening to him.

Story-wise, this is good. People who are tired of books where the vampires are more interested in moaning over their extended lifespans while staring googly eyed at their winsome love interest will especially like this book. Hogan and del Toro's vampires are vicious, heartless creatures that will rip off your face before you realize exactly how wrong everything is. The characters here are well done and I'm particularly a fan of ratcatcher Vasiliy Fet. If Eph is the brains, then Fet's the brawn and the everyman that many readers will probably be more likely to identify with.

My only gripe is that the many side stories were a little much to keep up with. The action would jump around from survivor to survivor and while I know that this was done to show how the virus was spreading, it did get irritating every once in a while. It didn't deter me overly much, but I did kind of glance longingly at the speed button to see if I could rush along to the next part.

Overall this is a good book and I'm interested in the potential television series. I can see where this would be very easily adapted for the small screen. (less)

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Sep 11, 2009 Ben rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-with-my-wife, horror, fiction, read-2009

This just isn't very good. After a promising and creepy opening, it devolves into repetitive ridiculousness. The writing is also just not good and sometimes laughable, providing such gems as this:

"Eph too had been turned. Not from human to vampire, but from healer to slayer."

I did somehow finish it. My wife did not. I'm sure del Toro will eventually make a movie out of this and it will be one of the rare occasions that the movie is better than the book.

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Apr 03, 2013 Apatt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A nice and breezy read though nice isn't quite the right word and the breeze is a bit fetid! The Strain is an increasingly rare (ahem) strain of badass vampire novels. There are no well coiffed, sexy, maudlin vampires in this book, they just "vant to suck your blood" (without the Lugosi style Euro accented declaration). Of course talking about how de-fanged, lame and sparkly vampires have become since the advent of Twilight has become a trope for vampire books review so I just want to get it out...more A nice and breezy read though nice isn't quite the right word and the breeze is a bit fetid! The Strain is an increasingly rare (ahem) strain of badass vampire novels. There are no well coiffed, sexy, maudlin vampires in this book, they just "vant to suck your blood" (without the Lugosi style Euro accented declaration). Of course talking about how de-fanged, lame and sparkly vampires have become since the advent of Twilight has become a trope for vampire books review so I just want to get it out of my system. Besides, I believe Anne Rice started the trend with Interview with the Vampire, to her credit she told her story in a more thoughtful, literary and intelligent manner than Ms Meyer (of no-link-to-author fame).

Any way, back to badass vampires and the fun times to be had with them. The Strain starts off very well with a plane mysteriously landing with all the lights off and no communication or activity from the crew or passengers. Given the synopsis of the book (not to be found within this review) you can probably guess what happened to them. In this case being somewhat predictable does not detract from the fun as the story is nicely built up and the excitement mounts. I do enjoy the more scientific description and rationalization of vampirism which is all too rare. For example:

"It (a vampire's heart) was misshapen, shrunken. The arterial structure had been altered also, the circulatory system grown more simplified, the arteries themselves covered over with a dark, cancerous blight."

This reminds me of GRRM's Fevre Dream and Brian Lumley's excellent Necroscope series, I am reliably told there are others like Justin Cronin's The Passage but I have not read them yet. I am leery of reading vampire fiction these days, I am afraid (very afraid) of coming across more Edwards, Stefans, Damons etc. The co-authors did a good job with the plot structure, the action and the accessible / readable narrative. The prose style and characterization seem a little pedestrian to me, no linguistic flourishes to be found here, not that such a thing is necessary of course, but they add to the reading experience. Guillermo del Toro is of course a highly gifted director of popular genre movies like Blade II, Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy movies. The book's action scenes do seem to be quite cinematic and visual, though I could have done without some of the soap opera elements. His co-author
Chuck Hogan ~~was a very popular wrestler in his heyday before turning to writing~~ is the author of several best sellers which I have not had the pleasure of reading (I do wonder what his prose style is like in his solo endeavors?).

The end of the book is inconclusive without being a cliffhanger, clearly due to this being the first book of a trilogy and the authors want to entice the readers to come back. The book is fun but I am somewhat ambivalent about reading the rest of the trilogy, something is missing here, may be a staked heart.(less)

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Feb 08, 2009 Ron rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, medical, science-fiction, vampires, trilogy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Slick, very slick. A very efficiently calibrated commercial thriller--imagine a post-9/11 cross between 'Salem's Lot and the first third of The Stand, with liberal borrowings from Bram Stoker's Dracula. The back half in particular becomes a string of violent set-pieces depicting the rapidity with which the vampirism spreads over four of Manhattan's five boroughs. (Staten Island: free!) There's a semi-scientific explanation for the vampirism as a hyper-nasty virus, but like Del Toro's film Mimic...more

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Nov 14, 2011 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars

Extremely pedestrian retelling of a vampire tale. If you read "Salem's Lot" don't bother with "The Strain". You'll be doing comparisons in your head constantly and thinking, "man, this just doesn't measure up."

I love del Toro's movies but it's clear he doesn't know how to translate his story telling ability into the printed word. A book is not a film. You can't shift into another character's viewpoint every five paragraphs without leaving the reader adrift. Fifteen POVs are too hard to keep trac...more

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Jan 15, 2010 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, paranormal-supernatural, horror, series

This review has been moved to: http://bit.ly/14yEXs8

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Oct 26, 2012 Ian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, halloween-2012, sci-fi

It's October, the happiest month of the year!!! Once I finish "Elantris" (which is, after a fashion, a zombie apocalypse story from the perspective of the zombies...), this book will be my second Halloween-themed read.

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As it turns out, i wound up reading multiple books beforehand. But this was one heck of a book with which to begin closing out the month. Part zombie-apocalypse story, part vampire story, part epidemic story, this book is relentlessly dark and disturbing and left me feeling pa...more

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Apr 24, 2013 Katy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of horror, vampires

Recommended to Katy by: Amazon.com Vine

Shelves: vine-book

Review based upon book received from Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review. I've read this book 3 times.

A plane arrives at JFK airport in New York City – after landing, before it reaches the terminal, it stops in the middle of the runway and completely shuts down. Dark and dead. The air traffic controller is unable to raise anyone on the plane – there is no answer by anyone’s cell phones. All the window shades are down. A baggage handler drives out to see what is wrong – there is no respo...more Review based upon book received from Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review. I've read this book 3 times.

A plane arrives at JFK airport in New York City – after landing, before it reaches the terminal, it stops in the middle of the runway and completely shuts down. Dark and dead. The air traffic controller is unable to raise anyone on the plane – there is no answer by anyone’s cell phones. All the window shades are down. A baggage handler drives out to see what is wrong – there is no response, but suddenly one of the window shades goes up. Freaked out, she leaves. People converge on the plane, trying to get in, but the emergency entrance door over the wing is stuck. While they huddle under the plane, suddenly the door opens. But no one comes out. When someone finally looks in, they find a plane full of corpses. The CDC is called in – doctors Ephraim Goodweather and Nora Martinez suit up in complete HAZMAT gear and go aboard – to find that not everyone is dead. There are four survivors. While unloading the dead, Ephraim – Eph – notices that there are no flies. The dead are not decomposing like normal. Then, a day later, all the dead … disappear. What happened on that plane? Where are the dead people? And who is this strange old man who claims to know what is going on?

Hogan and del Toro re-imagine the vampire mythos in The Strain Trilogy. These are not the beautiful, brooding creatures of modern myth - and they certainly don’t sparkle. In fact, this are quite disgusting creatures, truth be told. The authors also tell a gripping story – moving at the speed of light while still managing good character and plot development. As of the posting of this particular review (you can read my very first review from 2009 on the Amazon site), I have read this book three times and it just keeps getting better – even though I typically am a fan of vampires, I can still appreciate a good story, even if they are the villains of the piece. Folks who enjoy a good horror story should definitely pick this up, especially now that the whole trilogy is available. The second book is “The Fall” and the third book, just recently released, is “The Night Eternal.”(less)

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Jan 27, 2011 Philip rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

A modern take on Dracula. ...I noticed it's still missing from a lot of your shelves.

So you have Guillermo Del Toro of Pans Labryinth fame (by the way, if you've never seen the movie... you may consider it if you're not squeemish... it's fantastic) who, along with Chuck Hogan have written this killer, (literal and figurative) no-sparkles, apocolyptic vampire world domination book in the era of Twilight and Marked and Vampire Loves... I'm a little embarassed that I'm reading this right now as wel...more

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Mar 08, 2010 Whitelady3 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, ebook, own

I've entered the vampire world through the first two volumes of the Anita Blake series... and didn't venture much far (I have the rest of this series on e-book even though I don't like this format that much, but I like to keep some around for those times in which I might get bored while on the pc and feel like reading something). After that I picked up Meyer's saga, which again wasn't a success, and finally I read Dracula by Bram Stoker which didn't exactly matched my expectations. Despite havin...more I've entered the vampire world through the first two volumes of the Anita Blake series... and didn't venture much far (I have the rest of this series on e-book even though I don't like this format that much, but I like to keep some around for those times in which I might get bored while on the pc and feel like reading something). After that I picked up Meyer's saga, which again wasn't a success, and finally I read Dracula by Bram Stoker which didn't exactly matched my expectations. Despite having read not that much about these creatures, I already knew some variants of the myth (through Slayra's courtesy, who also lent me this book) and it was with some curiosity that I read this book, where vampirism is a sort of "disease".

The story begins with an airplane landing in New York, but something is amiss since no one comes out and even the plane seems "dead". CDC's epidemiologists are called and they discover that crew and passengers are all, but four, dead due to unknown causes as no traces of blood nor of struggle are found. Following the investigation they're faced with a myth and an epidemic, which if not stopped at time, can destroy all humanity.

This book must be read as a movie, or didn't it also have the signature of a renowned director (who I can confirm has a very weird image of vampires... remember Blade II ? Here the vampires are more or less like the hybrids), who I am sure must have contributed for very visual descriptions. Besides that, you can find many clichés one sees on this kind of movies: the hero with personal problems, the elderly teacher who tries to warn and find a pupil to whom he can pass is knowledge, a villain who tries to take over the world and countless situations with endings one guess even pages away... But all this, along with the scientific explanations for this kind of vampires and how are they linked to the myth, with some mentions to Stoker's work, turn the reading addictive and compulsive – I would find myself picking it up whenever I had a couple of seconds to spare to read it, something few books have been able to do lately.

The mystery is also well structured, even if some flaws can be found here and there (for example, I didn't quite understood how the collective conscience coexisted with the individual and why 4 people were left alive, when the "disease" is also spread by the dead/zombie-like people), and it clears the way for a second volume as the end is left opened. I have some theories but I really look forward to the next volume.(less)

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Aug 27, 2009 erin rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've read a lot of vampire-stuff. It's fun: I like the stories, the different mythologies, and the characters. But this book...This book had a section that just filled me with dread. Not just "ew, that's awful," but the "I am not going to turn off the lights, oh my god!" churning in the pit of my stomach kind of dread. I thought that I'd have to stop reading the book entirely; fortunately, a few story elements developed and the clouds lifted a bit for me to continue to the end.

The Strain is the...more

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May 28, 2009 Cheryl rated it 5 of 5 stars

When Abraham Setrakian was just a little boy, his grandmother told him about a story of a man named Jusef Sardu. Jusef was born with a disease that left him weak and having to rely on a cane to walk. You could tell when Jusef was near as you could hear the pick-pick-pick of his cane. While out hunting, Jusef's father vanishes. A search party is formed and slowly one by one of Jusef's cousins and uncles also disappear till only Jusef is left.

Jusef finds his father's body as well as all of his co...more When Abraham Setrakian was just a little boy, his grandmother told him about a story of a man named Jusef Sardu. Jusef was born with a disease that left him weak and having to rely on a cane to walk. You could tell when Jusef was near as you could hear the pick-pick-pick of his cane. While out hunting, Jusef's father vanishes. A search party is formed and slowly one by one of Jusef's cousins and uncles also disappear till only Jusef is left.

Jusef finds his father's body as well as all of his cousins and uncles bodies, near a cave. Jusef vows to kill the monster. That was eleven weeks ago. No one has heard or seen from Jusef since then. Till one day Jusef reappears, a changed man. He no longer requires the use of a cane and has become nocturnal. Abraham once had an encounter with Jusef. Now many years later, Abraham still can't get the sound of the pick-pick-pick out of his head.

Present Day

Something has happened at JFK airport. A huge Regis 777 has landed and is just sitting on the runway. All of the lights have been turned off as well as the shades and doors locked. A group of airport officials gather by the aircraft. As they are trying to figure out how to enter the plane, the rear door opens. They enter and what they find is cause enough to call the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Ephraim Goodweather and his team arrive. Inside the aircraft, it seems all two hundred passengers have dead but as Dr. Goodweather and his team are about to start removing the bodies, they find four survivors.

The survivors have no clue about what transpired. The only clue Dr. Goodweather has at this time lies in the cargo area of the plane. There he finds what looks to be a coffin. All of the bodies have now been transported to area morgues. Before Dr. Goodweather can check out the coffin in more detail, it disappears. When Abraham hears about what has took in place at JFK, he closes up his shop and heads to Dr. Goodweather. He has something to tell him that he believes Dr. Goodweather will be very interested to hear about.

For anyone who loves vampires, then you have got to get your hands on a copy of this book. Dr. Goodweather may seem like the silent quiet type but he is very intelligent and has a fighting spirit in him. Also beware old men who walk with a cane or you will find yourself at the business end of a very sharp sword. I dare you not to get sucked in. Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan are a dynamic duo. The Strain will leave you craving more. My only regret is that I finished this book so quickly and now I have to wait till next year for book two in this trilogy. The Strain is the classic story of good vs. evil. (less)

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Jul 16, 2009 S.D. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror

An interesting apocalypse book featuring my favorite -- vampires. An airplane lands at JFK, begins to taxi to the gate, then stops. The lights are out, all shades pulled down, engines are off, all communication has ended. Crews on the ground find everyone dead. They bring in the CDC and haul away the bodies but are at a loss to explain why the bodies aren't decomposing and are still warm. Naturally, if there was one flaw it was the intelligence of the CDC who, upon finding a casket with dirt in...more

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Feb 27, 2013 Christina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller-horror, trilogies, post-apocalyptic, vampires, sci-fi, urban-fantasy

This book had me cringing & writhing in disgust. Every little sound while dark out, had me second guessing what I had heard. That's what I get for a wild imagination. Ha!

This would make a good movie; I think that comes from Guillermo del Toro's film making experience.

There was a slight disconnect for me for a good portion of the book. I didn't really care one way or another about the characters. That changed as the book wrapped up.

Not the ideal ending, but with this being a trilogy I guess...more

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Aug 05, 2010 Chrissy rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: disappointing, awful, horror

This book lacks absolutely all the qualities one might expect from Guillermo Del Toro. Eerie atmospheres, vivid imagery, moments of fearful anticipation, and anything resembling good story-telling are all thrown out the window in favor of a mountain of clichés, a woefully obvious narrative, cardboard cut-out characters without a single believable thought or action, and 300 pages of exposition leading up to a sad excuse for a climax. Finished off with the fact that any moment which COULD HAVE con...more

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Sep 17, 2011 Vincy rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book started off rather slow. So slow, in fact, that I was worried I would not be able to read the whole thing. Yet those few chapters in the beginning were needed for me to understand and grasp the entirety and nuances of further chapters. Which were extremely good.[return][return]The novel is heart-pumping, edge-of-your-seat thrilling. It describes vampirism as a disease using extremely realistic descriptions of the virus and the modifications it makes upon the human body. This made it fe...more

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May 10, 2013 Tommy Marx rated it 2 of 5 stars

"The Strain" is not a badly written book, it's just not particularly well written either.

I like books where the words flow, creating images and characters that capture both your attention and your imagination. When I pick up a Stephen King book, for instance, I know that it will read like King is sitting on the front porch, weaving a story for me as the sunlight slowly fades over the horizon. I love falling into a story to the point where I forget I'm reading and feel like I'm actually living it...more "The Strain" is not a badly written book, it's just not particularly well written either.

I like books where the words flow, creating images and characters that capture both your attention and your imagination. When I pick up a Stephen King book, for instance, I know that it will read like King is sitting on the front porch, weaving a story for me as the sunlight slowly fades over the horizon. I love falling into a story to the point where I forget I'm reading and feel like I'm actually living it.

Unfortunately, I never got that from "Strain". Instead, it felt more like a recitation of events: this happened, then this happened, then this happened after that. Much of the book was choppy, jumping from one scene to the next without any flow or feeling. There was no particular attempt to horrify or thrill beyond the actual concept itself; if vampires existed, yes, that would be horrifying. But the authors don't do anything to make it feel real or scary. Going back to Stephen King, there are several passages in "'Salem's Lot" that are truly frightening because King captures the sense of something evil stalking the townspeople and the excruciatingly terrifying last moments of so many of the characters. In "Strain", all we get is a play-by-play that invariably ends before anything too scary can happen, as if the book's audience is intended to be children.

I think the authors did a decent job with the characters: the main character is more fleshed out than most heroes, even if the myriad other characters are largely two-dimensional at best. I also have to commend them on the dialogue. One major problem with supernatural books is how unnatural and ridiculous characters' lines are for the most part. I don't remember coming across any clunky lines in "Strain".

But in the end, the book reads more like a script then a novel. Oddly for a vampire novel it's bloodless, both in the "scary" scenes and in the writing itself, as if Del Toro and Hogan are waiting for actors to actually flesh out the characters and give them life.

It's not particularly bad, but it's not very good either. And honestly, I want more from a book than that. I don't look for mediocrity, I look for amazing. And this fell far short of the mark.(less)

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May 06, 2013 Melissandre rated it 4 of 5 stars

A boeing777 lands at JFK airport of New York. As the plane lays on the tarmac it appears dead. As people are able to open the plain from the outside they find that all 214 passengers are dead or unresponsive and drained of blood. The bodies are distributed to three morgues in Manhattan but after 24 hours the bodies disappear leaving a path of victims and unexplained disappearances on their trail.
Ephriam, Setrakian and Nora are the only ones left who know and will accept that Manhattan has been i...more

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What's The Name o...: Book about an infection? On a plane when it crashes it is discovered? [s]	6	57	Feb 01, 2013 10:25am
Apocalypse Whenever: The Strain	51	179	Jan 31, 2013 07:23am
The Strain	22	178	Oct 22, 2012 06:03pm
Apocalypse Whenever: Del Toro's 'The Strain' to be made into TV series	12	39	Sep 23, 2012 04:00pm

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About Guillermo del Toro

Guillermo del Toro is a Mexican director mostly known for his acclaimed films Pan's Labyrinth, The Devils Backbone and the Hellboy film franchise. His films draw heavily on sources as diverse as weird fiction, fantasy, horror, and war. In 2009, Del Toro released his debut novel, The Strain, co-authored with Chuck Hogan, as the first part of The Strain Trilogy, an apocalyptic horror series featurin...more

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The Night Eternal (The Strain Trilogy, #3)

El Laberinto Del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth)

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Quotes from The Strain

“...to all the monsters in my nursery: May you never leave me alone.” — 50 people liked it

“What you fought was a dead man, possessed by a disease.' - Setrakian
'What--like a pinche zombie?' - Gus
'Think more along the lines of a man with a black cape. Fangs. Funny accent. Now take away the cape and fangs. The funny accent. Take away anything funny about it.' - Setrakian” — 7 people liked it

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The Strain (The Strain Trilogy #1)

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