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

A little bit of a "strain"

I enjoyed the story quite a bit, but two things were rather disappointing. First, the same stupid music that comes along sort of randomly and WAY TOO OFTEN. The second was the narrator, Ron Perlman. Although I enjoy him as an actor, his narration was one of the worst I have ever listened to.

I see that a lot of reviews talk about how good he was. I disagree. Naratives were monotonous. But more annoying were the dialogs -- I could not keep track of who was talking -- even when a man was talking with a woman.

As far as the story, it was well done. I thought the internal conflicts of the lead characters was very realistic -- imagine having your entire belief system -- what you have always believed to be true or false -- wiped out in an instant. I also liked the "explanation" of the vampires.

For the story, 4 stars, for the narration only 2 (I'd have given it only 1 if it had been anyone but Ron Perlman). So, overall I gave it 3.

Narrator brought the book to life

Ron Pearlman's bassy voice brought life to the book. He was easy to listen to, but I think the book is a 3/5 star in itself

Very Good Book

Love the book it was great! Second book should be just as good. Ron Perlman was GREAT!!!

Good- but has some problems

First, I got the free first chapter download which really hooked me! Excellent build up of suspense. However, the actual book gets a little boring because of the narration and the Horrible music that is blasted in between every chapter. This is "part one" of a triology and definitely has a different take on vampires from the other stories that are out right now. Even so, I probably won't buy the next two parts unless they change the narration and music.

Great listen

I loved this book. It is a keeper. I didn't find it slow at all. The narration was very well done. I really enjoyed the dialogue and the description by the authors. The only thing that was strange to me was the musical "interlude" between chapters. Can't wait for Part 2.

Disappointing

Started strong, with a fresh & intriguing slant on vampires. Unfortunately, once the groundwork was laid, no story followed. Just degenerated into good guys chasing bad guys, and good guys chasing bad guys, and .......

I want Ron Perlman to read to me from here on out!

Narrating was tremendous! Story will make me definitely finish the trilogy. I would recommend this to people that like things that are awesome.

Rip roaring terror filled fun!

I haven't boarded any Vampire trains since the Ann Rice books and movies. Quite frankly I felt I thought I was done with that genre. Not so, because someone mentioned in a review that she could imagine how much fun the authors must have had writing this book. I promptly decided not to miss out. This book (1st of 3) was worth my credit and I am looking forward to the rest.

By some magic of my own, I am trying to describe a hair-raising trilogy without scaring you out of your wits and away from reading the books:

So first be warned, there's lots of undead scenes and creepy, crawly scenes that might be hard on your stomach and nerves. The authors have an expected talent for making a great plot line come together. This is how folklore should be told. Also, try to keep your curtains drawn, doors locked and tongue in your cheek thru some things. I personally don't recommend this to your mature teens~especially if they are still wearing black lipstick.

I was very pleased with Ron Perlman's performance. Know the summary of main characters and get them straight at the start.
Don't forget you were warned, it's the season and we're overpopulated any way. You know your own tastes and tolerances, or maybe take a bite on the wild side.

Worth your credit

After listening to The book I couldn't put it down made me want to watch the show so bad it's freaking awesome Ron Perlman does a bang up job even tho it sounds like he was getting tired of reading

Fan of the show

As a fan of the show on FX, I looked forward to finally reading the book(s). While there are many similarities, there were small differences that made it feel like a fresh story and not simply a retelling of what I’ve already seen. By the end of this first book, I find myself excited to continue the story. It definitely left me wanting more.

As a fan of Guillermo del Toro and Ron Perlman, I also enjoyed Perlman’s narration. My only two criticisms are (1) his pronunciation of Eph, which he says as “eef” as opposed to “eff” (as heard in the show); and (2) his lack of various voices for the characters. Perlman’s voice is so distinct and well known that it was difficult to not simply hear Ron Perlman even when he attempted voices and accents. There are times where I lost track of which character he was voicing, which made dialogues slightly difficult to follow.

Overall I recommend this book, especially for fans of the show, vampire fiction in general, and/or fans of Guillermo del Toro.