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

Outstanding vampire tale

Would you listen to The Strain again? Why?

Yes, it's an excellent story.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Strain?

The beginning of the story, the plane just sitting on the runway. Just sitting there...

Which character – as performed by Ron Perlman – was your favorite?

Mr. Perlman did a good job narrating but it's kinda hard listening to people you know without thinking of them. It's distracting. But again, he did a good job.

Outstanding

Ron Perlman is the balls and the taint. great story, can't wait to hear the other two

Brilliant Story, it grips you like a stinger.

If you could sum up The Strain in three words, what would they be?

Way too short.

What other book might you compare The Strain to and why?

World War Z, because it has a very similar apocalyptic theme, and where both really great to read.

Would you be willing to try another one of Ron Perlman’s performances?

Not a chance

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Its the new deep throat.

Entertaining

I like how it’s written but when certain things are read in Spanish they are mispronounced. This is not a criticism of the book but rather the talent who read it. It is common for this to happen. But it aggravates me to no end, as a bilingual person, that the extra effort is not made to pronounce words in Spanish well. I’m not talking about the accent in which they are read. The wrong letters are pronounced and emphasized. To think you can read another language and messed it up and that’s good enough for English speakers is lazy. Especially since one of the authors is Mexican.

Good but not great

If you liked the book you’ll likely enjoy the show and vice versa. I do agree with some other reviewers that Ron Pearlman (narrator) tends to have a monotone. That said, he does a good enough job to enjoy the story. The writing was decent, again enough to enjoy the story but won’t blow you away on its own. I did enjoy a few of the characters and related to them. Some felt very distant at times and mechanical, not in a good way. The level of technical detail woven into the story was great. It helped me feel like I was with the characters at certain parts of the story and I really enjoyed that. The book would have enjoyed just a few parts with decent humor. You could tell there were a few attempts but they fell flat imo. All in all, if you like this genre and the sample sounded decent to you I would give it a shot.

On edge, had to continue to listen

I enjoyed how story was narrated with such descriptive voice. It felt like I was right there.

Very Exciting Vampire Story

Exciting new thriller where the vampires are not pretty, sensuous, romantic, or talkative.

I would not classify this book as horror. It is more like the excitement of the type found in the movie Jurassic Park.

The production of the audio is excellent. It has both music and great narration.

This is the first book of a trilogy. The book ended with a completeness (as opposed to trilogies which really should be only a single book but is stretch purely for a financial gain).

The book is not totally a 5 star book, but it is much better than being ranked 4. This book is definitely book-to-movie material.

Hokey But Fun

Most of the reviews I've read have been fair--there are some elements of this story which some people may find hard to swallow; the creatures aren't properly zombies and they aren't properly vampires; the authorities take too long to wake up; Ron Pearlman isn't the most exciting narrator.

Still, this story is good fun. It dragged in a couple parts, but largely kept me interested and eager for more. I'll check out the sequels.

Great Vampire Story

The Strain is the first novel in the Trilogy with the same name by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan. Their new take on a classic vampire story is refreshing, fast-paced and, at the same time, strong on character development.

The fight between Good and Evil is on, with just a few good people knowing the End of Days might be closer than everyone thinks.

Television, film, stage actor and voice-over artist Ron Perlman brings his considerable talent to this audio production of The Strain, delivering a top-notch performance. He brings each character to life in the listener's mind by switching with ease between voices and accents. His channeling of the emotionless Master Vampire is absolutely creepy and unsettling. I was really sorry to see that books 2 and 3 of the series are narrated by someone else, but I hope he is as good as Mr. Perlman.

I picked up The Fall, book 2 in The Strain Trilogy, and I'll return with a review for that one as well, when I'm done listening.

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Thank you,
Victor

ron perlman is awesome

And del toro is even better. Chuck hogan rocks! this entire book is awesome!

And BTW I thought the corny music fit the book really well . got me into the mood of this book really well