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

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

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.