del Toro/Hogan - The Strain review

The Strain is the first book in a trilogy from Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan.

The book opens with a 777 landing at JFK airport in New York. Immediately after landing, the plane shuts down, instead of taxiing off of the runway to the terminal. Security people get to the plane and find everyone inside dead. There's not sign of what caused the plane to lose power or for the people to die. The autopsies of the bodies reveal some extremely unusual things. And then...the bodies get up and leave the morgues.

The story follows Ephraim Goodweather and Nora Martinez, two doctors from the Center for Disease Control, who investigate the deaths of the people on the plane. Soon, they meet up with Professor Abraham Setrakian, a 94-year-old death camp survivor and vampire hunter. Together, the three attempt to stop the plague that's descended upon Manhattan.

This is a pretty interesting and fun take on vampires. The vampires are not sparkly, nor are they sexy. They are complete monsters. When young, they are more like zombies - somewhat mindless and very, very hungry. And like zombies, they turn all whom they bite. They are also easily controlled by their creators. As the vampire ages, and the physical changes become complete, the vampire becomes much more savvy and in control.

I definitely recommend this book to fans of horror. It has elements of a zombie apocalypse with the rapid spread of the young, mostly-mindless vampires. And then there's the vampire who started it all - quite ancient, intelligent, powerful, and pretty damned evil.
/ [Viking]

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