The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan
The entire time I was reading Day By Day Armageddon my slightly oversized and sharper than average canine teeth were tingling. Knowing that I was cheating on my first love-and liking it- I knew that I would instantly have to somehow make ammends. So, when I finished the book, I ran out as fast as I could and snatched up The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan. Chuck Hogan wrote a book titled The Prince of Thieves. It has nothing to do with Robin Hood, but it has everything to do with the movie The Town. The Town was based on this novel, while Del Toro directed the Hell Boy films as well as the fantastic film Pan's Labyrinth.
The Strain is a vampire novel. I discovered it by discovering The Fall, which is the second book in The Strain trilogy. I walked into Borders and saw it prominently displayed on the front table. Drawn in by the powerhouse names on the front cover, I was shocked to realize that it was the second book of a trilogy. How could a vampire novel with this much star power escape my radar? Intrigued, I picked it up and read the inside cover and back of the book. I did a little research and I don't remember the exact quote, but one the authors stated that with these novels they wanted to restore the horror aspect of the modern vampire. Disappointed by the new era pop culture vampires, they set out to create a new sci-fi horror epic to combat the convention. Hell yes!
The Strain starts out with an old woman spinning an old folk tale to her sickly grandson. The legend tells of a boy giant and a murdered hunting party in eastern Europe. The setting quicky changes to the present with a jet landing at JFK airport in New York City. After the plane lands it loses all power and comes to a halt on the runway. After further inspection, everyone on the plane is found dead in their seats with no evidence for a cause of death. Dr. Eph Goodweather, employed by the CDC, is called in to investigate. Later it is discovered that there are actually four survivors, who are in critical condition, while the rest of the 200 plus passengers are scattered across the city morgues waiting for mass autopsies. Soon bodies are disappearing from the morgues and the survivors start to recover. Then the survivors develop severe throat and jaw pain, which is the beginning of the mutation.
The pace of the story is rapid fire, not quite that of a Dan Brown novel, but not surprising considering the authors. The story jumps from scene to scene quickly and it always charges forward. It reads like a movie, again not surprising considering the source. It satisfies and entices at the same time. This will be made into a movie! At its heart, the story is pure Dracula. A mirror image of the classic. From the secret casket crossing the Atlantic, to the rats, to Setrakian the old man holocaust survivor expert vampire killer playing the role of Van Helsing leading a posse of multicultured warriors. When Stephen King wrote Salem's Lot, he wanted to write what it would be like if Dracula showed up at a small town in Maine. The Strain is also similar in many ways to Salem's Lot, but it shows what would happen if perhaps Dracula showed up in the 21st century in the nation's largest city.
Soon the corpses that once inhabited the city's morgues are running nude in the streets. And when the thirst hits, the new vampires seek out the people closest to them. Friends, families, and lovers are the first ones to be turned. Here is where you zombie people may be intrigued, the Vampires actually infect their victims with a virus. As the humans mutate into vampires they develop apendages that protract from under the tongue while the jaw unhinges. Injected into the victims by the appendages are blood sucking, flatworm-like, parasites that take over and control all the internal organs. Very quickly all hell breaks loose and scenes not unlike that of a typical zombie outbreak litter the pages. In an attempt to integrate some clever symbolism, the authors describe in detail a solor eclipse, which is technically an occultation. And the eclipse signifies the arrival of the vampire who was on the passenger jet and the resulting vampire infestation. In a coincidental moment Zack, Eph's son, shares that the kids at school say that staring at the eclipse could turn you into a zombie, and also if that were to actually occur the most resourceful tools are a machete and a helicopter. Mix in Eph's ex wife, Setrakian's concentration camp flashbacks, and a dying billionaire with a dark secret, you have one hell of ride!
Joining Eph and Setrakian are Nora, who is Eph's colleague, and Visily the Russian exterminator. After a cash course in the lore of the strigoi (old world term for vampire) the posse set out hot on the trail of the vampire who started the transfer of the strain who is known as The Master. The Strain has surprising depth, and what it lacks in originality, it makes up for in pure thrill. The conclusion leaves the reader hanging, revealing vague knowledge of underground vampire elders after the fearless vampire hunters have a confrontation with the Master. I'm afraid I've said too much, I don't want to spoil it. So, to finish up, again nothing really original, but great storytelling. I blew through this book, I couldn't put it down. Book two will soon be in my queue, I can't wait to finish this trilogy.
Next is The Shadow Of The Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
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