The Strain

By: Guillermo Del Toro, Chuck Hogan

Narrated by: Ron Perlman

Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

The visionary creator of the Academy Award-winning Pan's Labyrinth and a Hammett Award-winning author bring their imaginations to this bold, epic novel about a horrifying battle between man and vampire that threatens all humanity. It is the first installment in a thrilling trilogy and an extraordinary international publishing event.

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....

So begins a battle of mammoth proportions as the vampiric virus that has infected New York begins to spill out into the streets. Eph, who is joined by Setrakian and a motley crew of fighters, must now find a way to stop the contagion and save his city - a city that includes his wife and son - before it is too late.

©2009 Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan (P)2009 HarperCollins Publishers

What a ride!

Fast Pace creepy Adventure tale. Couldn't put it down. The audio book equivalent of a real page-turner. Can't wait to listen to books two and three since this is the beginning of a trilogy.

Wonderful concept, but the performance not so much

The story was alright, could definitely tell it was originally intended for the screen, but I had a problem with some of the voices the narrator used, they were a little hard to hear.

Ron Perlman is a fantastic narrator!

Fantastic story, very well written! I can't wait to listen to the next book! Also Ron Perlman did an excellent job narrating!

Worst Narrator I've Ever Listened To

If I could give the narration zero stars, I would. Ron Perlman can barely pronounce a lot of this. He reads in monotone, no inflection in his voice whatsoever. I've considered returning this book two or three times, based purely on that. The music played between interludes is SO ANNOYING. If you can get past those things, I think the story is actually pretty good. But there are a LOT of characters and it's hard to keep track of them with this monotonous reading.

A bit much

I don't typically leave a review unless I loved the book. This book was just ok. The plot was interesting, however I think the story was overly descriptive. I enjoy books that allow the reader to create a bit of the story and figure things out along the way. This book tells you over and over what to think and when. And at times these overly descriptive passages were inaccurate. The author describes rotting bodies as a mix of parmesan cheese, rotting eggs, and methane gas. Methane, by the way is odorless, the rotting egg smell is added. I know that's a small detail to get hung up on, but it bothered me.

"EEF"

the book is good, story is amazing, I love Ron Perlman narrating but every time he mispronounces the main character's name it hurts.

Greatt Vampire Story

I started by witching the TV show which I loved. Now I'm going through the audio books. Even though there are differences, I am loving the books just as much. I love Ron Pearlman's performance He is such a great actor and severly underrated..

Painful to get through

I'll start off by saying Ron Perlman is an enjoyable and greatly versatile actor who can bring about wit like none can. As a narrator however, it took sheer willpower to get through the book. The monotone, lack of audible inflections, and annoying music snippets did not create an enjoyable listen.
The story itself had potential but, as fellow listeners noted, it quickly lost any depth and intrigue; becoming a run of the mill story with predictable directions.

Trouble suspending belief

I liked this book,liked the narrator. If I can find one fault it was that I had trouble suspending belief.

We have scores of dead people rising and yet the authorities remained dumb. We had evidence of an unusual behavior of Bacterium and yet the head of the CDC is unbelieving.

Takes way too long for the authorities to wise up to what is happening.

Not Bad

Not really a fan of this type of book but found this one to hold my interest.