Publishing information: Audiobook
Publisher: HarperCollins 2 June 2009
ISBN 10: 0061715204
ISBN 13: 978-0061715204
Series: Book 1 in the Strain Trilogy
Copy: Out of Pocket
Reviewer: Tyson
Synopsis: "Just as a jumbo jet on a flight from Germany to New York is touching down at JFK, something goes terribly wrong. When Ephraim Goodweather, of the Centers for Disease Control, investigates the darkened plane, he finds all but four passengers and crew dead, drained of blood. Despite Goodweather's efforts to keep the survivors segregated, they get discharged into the general population. Soon after, the corpses of the tragedy's victims disappear. The epidemiologist begins to credit the wild stories of Abraham Setrakian, an elderly pawnbroker who's the book's Van Helsing figure, and concludes that a master vampire has arrived in the U.S."
I am a fan of Guillermo Del Toro's movies, the fact that he is moving into novels did not take me long to decide on whether or not to pick up his first book in The Strain Trilogy. Del Toro and Hogan attempt to take us back to a time when vampires were scary and not out to seduce young high school girls with no personality. Borrowing heavily on Eastern European folklore we find the vampires as deadly killers with little or no remorse.
The Strain focus a lot of detail on what makes a vampire, their physiology and how they are transformed from human to vampire. At times it was interesting, but most of the time it was a large infodump. Our hero is Dr. Goodweather, a CDC worker who is in charge of the investigation since the infested plane landed. He is a likable character, but he never really managed to have me join his side and start rooting for him. The authors also include a character similar to Van Helsing, one Abraham Setrakian who has encountered the creatures before when he was in a holocaust encampment. His character had a rich background and I really enjoyed the scenes that he was in. Truth be told his character was the only reason I continued to listen to the story. The vampires are also pretty impressive. Their mythology makes a lot of sense. About half of the ways to kill them work and the reasons why make a lot of sense.
The majority of the novel is not much fun to read and quite boring. It takes a really long time for things to happen and when they do they failed to keep me reading long into the night. Admittedly, I am not a huge vampire reader but if the book manages to keep me interested I have no problem reading past my bedtime. With The Strain I found that I would look forward to lights out.
I was really disappointed in the story from someone who directs some of my favorite movies I expected something more. The only real impressive feature of the book was the talented reading of Ron Perlman. I swear he should read every novel. However, he did have a hard time keeping me interested in this book. The Fall is already out and the third book in the series, The Night Eternal is scheduled to be released on 25 October 2011. I have no plans to continue with the series.
Plot 7/10
Characters 6/10
Style 6.5/10
Voice Talent 10/10
Overall 6.5/10
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