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

Hope FX doesn't Screws Up

I decided to start on "The Strain Trilogy" because of much fan fair from my friends. I'm not into vampires because most of the books that I heard of are gear to teens and I'm not into blood sucking heartthrobs or underage girls with short skirts. No time to ruin my brain and I'm way past my puberty.

Unlike other vampires that I heard of, the vamps in "The Strain" seems to be more real. Instead of teen vamps, these vampires are more like the terror in "Blade."

Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan attempted a horror series that has yet to scare me, but I'm only through the first book. It didn't scare me per say, but I wanted know more about the vampires who drank the rats and how the CDC is getting involve.

I don't see the vampires cohabiting with the humans, but in the first book so far, it hasn't been a blood bath either. The first scene of the book is pretty creepy and rad regarding the plane. That scene really caught my attention to read more.

I just hope that FX doesn't screws up the show when it debut this summer.

Kept Me On the Elliptical

I couldn't stop listening to this book - I looked forward to working out so I could listen! I love a good vampire story and this is a good modern take on the vampire. Ron Perlman was at times monotonous but the story was compelling. I liked all the detail and descriptions.

Too many cliches

What starts out as a new, exciting take on vampires devolves to "the Master," a character wholly inconsistent with the premise that vampires are living viruses.

Story was ok, Perlman was great!

I was a tad concerned with the reviews I had read that were down on Ron Perlman, but I thought he was great. The story, for the majority of the book, I thought was well done and entertaining. The end of the book I felt was the low point. It sorta seemed like they were writing and having a good time and someone told them "hey wrap it up, you have 2 more books to write" so they just ended it. The "conclusion" to the first book really requires the reader to totally let go of any sort of reality or common sense, and you have to have a fairly loose grasp of that to begin with reading a vampire book. If the ending had not been so sloppy and rushed I would have given it higher marks. I don't recommend the book if you are enjoying the tv show however. The show, oddly, differs quite a bit from the book.

Fun take on Vampires

I wasn't sure I would care for this as the plot is similar to Dan Simmon's Children of the Night (Recent listen). I found this about as logical as a vampire book could be. I liked the involvment of the CDC and was drawn in by the characters. The best test -- I wanted to continue listening after I reached my destination!

Ron Perlman was awful

I struggled to get through this. The story was good, but Ron Perlman sounded like he was reading it with no practice beforehand. Very monotonous and stilted.

Good book

Loved everything about this book. The story was suspenseful and kept me on the edge of my seat. Ron Perlman has the perfect voice for this story.

A great horror adventure, but sometimes cliched

Overall this was an excellent, fun book to listen to and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for something entertaining. Ron Perlman does a great job narrating and has distinct enough character voices that by mid way through you don't even need to be told whose talking based on his accents. The blend of science and myth to explain these supernatural events is pretty fascinating, keep in mind that a lot of those explanations don't come until later books.
The one thing that distracted me about this was some of the cliched elements that took place. I can't recall one off the top of my head, but they were akin to seeing someone fumble with a set of keys and the car didn't start as the bad guy approached type of thing. There are enough of these elements in the book that it almost seems like it was written to go straight to the screen, but not enough that it really ruined the story for me.
Overall, if you're looking for a good, entertaining horror book to listen to I'd definitely recommend this.

Ok if you can ignore the scare chords

I don't hate this book but I do hate the scare chord they play at the beginning of every chapter and the fact that Ron Perlman apparently doesn't know how to pronounce Ephraim.

loved it!

looking forward to more!! I love finding this series and thank the author! Read it!