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The Fall  By  cover art

The Fall

By: Guillermo Del Toro, Chuck Hogan
Narrated by: Daniel Oreskes
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Publisher's summary

From the authors of the instant New York Times best seller The Strain comes the next volume in one of the most imaginative and frightening thriller series in many, many years.

Last week they invaded Manhattan. This week they will destroy the world. The vampiric virus unleashed in The Strain has taken over New York City. It is spreading and soon will envelop the globe. Amid the chaos, Eph Goodweather - head of the Centers for Disease Control's team - leads a band out to stop these bloodthirsty monsters. But it may be too late.

Ignited by the Master's horrific plan, a war erupts between Old and New World vampires, each vying for control. At the center of the conflict lies a book, an ancient text that contains the vampires' entire history... and their darkest secrets. Whoever finds the book can control the outcome of the war and, ultimately, the fate of us all. And it is between these warring forces that humans - powerless and vulnerable - find themselves no longer the consumers but the consumed.

Though Eph understands the vampiric plague better than anyone, even he cannot protect those he loves. His ex-wife, Kelly, has been transformed into a bloodcrazed creature of the night, and now she stalks the city looking for her chance to reclaim her Dear One: Zack, Eph's young son.

With the future of humankind in the balance, Eph and his team, guided by the brilliant former professor and Holocaust survivor Abraham Setrakian and exterminator Vasiliy Fet, and joined by a crew of ragtag gangsters, must combat a terror whose ultimate plan is more terrible than anyone has imagined - a fate worse than annihilation.

Listen to the first book, The Strain.
©2010 Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan (P)2010 HarperCollins Publishers

Featured Article: The 25 Best Vampire Audiobooks to Suck You In


Vampire stories have fascinated people across cultures for generations. From gothic Transylvania to early-aughts Washington, it seems like vampires have taken every form in every culture and every country around the world. From all of these options, we’ve selected 25 of the best audiobooks from the pack—those with the most captivating characters, creepiest settings, and, perhaps most importantly, the best vocal performances available.

What listeners say about The Fall

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Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 2 Stars
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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Awful Narration - absolutely awful!!!!

Where did they get this guy? I couldn't finish the audio book. Listening to this person read this okay installment in the trilogy was like listening to a 5th grade class read a book out loud. I had bought the book the day it came out, but was pining to hear Perlman continue the tale with his excellent depiction of these characters. The characters felt vivid and alive in Perlman's voice but what made it great was that it felt like not only did Perlman do his homework (like reading, and analyzing, the book prior to the recording) but that he was just as invested in the characters as the reader. The book is good, but not great, for several reasons but I don't need to get into all of them (spoiler free review).

I will say that there seemed to be a lot of lazy, spoon-fed plot devices, not as much multi-layered tension as in The Strain and definitely lacked the sense of urgency - which was so good in the first book that it added to the fear emoted from the moment the plane touched down.

As for the narrator, it was so obvious that he either didn't read the book at all and/or he didn't listen to Perlman's interpretation of the characters. There is such a disconnect that I could never finish the audio version - and had tried 10 times before finally giving up.

I tried a number of times to push through, but the first time I heard him speak as one of my favorite characters from the first book (and whose arc in the second is kick-butt and inspiring), I couldn't get past knowing that, not only did he not sound Latin, he couldn't even pronounce his name right.

I would say, if you haven't listened to the first one, you probably wouldn't know what you are missing. If you have listened to the first one, go buy the book or the electronic version because you will not be able to complete the audio version - which would be a shame because even though the second is a little bit of a let down compared to the first, you can tell that the third book has been set up to be epic.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

I very much enjoyed the first book in this series. I didn't even mind Ron Perlman's narration, which so many other reviewers disliked.

Those readers will be happy to know that Perelman has been replaced by Daniel Oreskes. Oreskes is a better choice as a reader, but having started with Perlman, it feels strange without him.

The story is entertaining, but lacks the sense of frightening urgency from the initial installment.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Book 2 and a Filler

The last two hours save this book. The last two hours are intellectually stimulating. Toro and Hogan bring vampires into the 21st century with modern day technology and modern day theories. They also set up what may be a very exciting conclusion to the trilogy. The last two hours make the book worth buying.

The first hour has some good old fashioned vampire scariness and throughout the book are scattered some gory action scenes. What keeps the book from going five stars is that a lot of the book is filler. Boring scenes that only serve to set up the third book and to make this book novel length. The first book was about a half a star better. This book has conspiracies, Nazi, The Book and a really scary addition, The Feelers. I found the Feelers to be especially creepy.

I did have some questions about the silver. First I know this is not the same as all vampire stories, even though they stayed true to mirrors, masters, daylight, etc, but isn't silver suppose to kill werewolves? Then after you have accepted silver has a weapon, they sure came up with a lot of it in the forms they needed pretty quick. They shot a lot of silver nails and I don't think that is a top seller in most hardware stores. I also felt it unrealistic that masses of people could be killed in New York City and the rest of the world totally ignorant of it. What happened to journalism?

The narrator had a way of going from a quiet scene to a action scene with no variation in his voice. Your mind may be wondering due to the filler nature of the story and then you hear an attack is going on, but your wondering when did the attack start and did I miss something of interest?

Remember the last two hours are really good.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Great Story.... Lousy Reader!

This could truly be an excellent part 2 to a great adventure. But the narrator is the worst I have ever encountered in my 8 years with Audible. In part 2 (of part 2) he just stops trying to define characters with any definition so that's impossible to tell who's talking, and when he changes chapters there is not even a small break to tell let you know he has and then transitions using the same voice. Impossible to follow without spending half you time backing up and saying... did I miss something?

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

BAD

I couldn't even finish the book...the narrator was the most monotone, boring reader of any audiobook I have listened to. The first book was great...very disappointed. Maybe if he makes a movie I'll find out how it ends.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great new installment in the trilogy.

Just as good as the first in the tilogy, which I thought was excellent. I can't wait for the third. It's a great take on the an old myth, vampires. Not for Twilight fans, in these stories the vampires are pure evil, just like they should be.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Please bring Ron Pearlman back!!!

This narrator seemed to be bored reading this book. Okay story, bad reader. The story doesn't progress much from the first book, but it does set up some interesting turns that should be resolved in the next one. Look forward to the next book...I just hope it's read by Pearlman.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

The Bar is Raised

The Strain put new fuel into the vampire genera. No more the teen, heavy petting, high school romance. Del Toro and Hogan bring horror and thrill back...old school. Worthy of sharing shelf space alongside King's "The Night Flyer"...but greater in scope and depth! I would venture to guess the bad reviews for this book and other epic vampire tales (i.e I'am Legend), come from a "softer" now generation, those who like the teen romance vampires...or the simple minded, who find longer stories hard to follow...you know, the guys who find a video game back story hard to grasp...these folks need their "soft" rock, "soft" horror...and wait for the movie. For the rest of us, this is a good ride!

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great New Vampire series and great narrator

When I first got the Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, I knew that I would be purchasing all the books in the series. I love this new book The Fall. I love the story, the character development, and the new world that is being built by the writers. I love the fact that here is a well written and interesting vampire story line with out being a romance with fangs book.

Knowing of Del Toro's love for HP Lovecraft, the whole premise of the book is even more interesting as he and Hogan as they build a new work in fear, and the fear of the unknown and there extermination of man kind by an ancient race.

It is interesting that one of the main characters is an epidemiologist, and how his scientific mind has to learn to accept the fantastic world of vampires which is like a virus.

As much as it is about vampires it is about the story line of the main characters reacting to a new world of vampires in New York. Having been on the subways and train systems in New York, it is amazing that they have included the dark elements of this work into the work.

As for the Narrator, Daniel Oreskes does a fantastic job narrating the book. Yes, it would have been great to have Ron Perlman for this book, but Daniel Oreskes has the voice to do this job. He developed his own depth to the reading of the book and makes it very accessible.

I loved the book and the narration.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Disappointing Sequel

Loved the 1st audiobook. I could not wait to listen to the second installment in the trilogy. WOW, what a disappointment. The production of "The Strain" was riveting - from the reader to the storyline to the musical accompaniment\sound effects... In fact, I listened to it more than once. Sadly, "The Fall" was a far cry from the 1st installment's quality. I cannot believe that there was such a disparity in value. I actually found myself tuning most of it out. What a terrible reader. Skip it.

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3 people found this helpful