The Strain, by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan
Vampires don’t just stalk the night. They’re stalking cinemas, TV’s and bookshelves everywhere. In a market full of choice now, it’s time to choose ‘what kind’ to go for. The teen stuff...hmm, nah. The older Stoker stuff... been there. Time to find our new heroes and villains.
At first I didn’t know it was a vampire book – I know, I can be an idiot. I saw some blurb on the book on the net, and latched onto the ‘apocalyptic’ elements, then raced to my local book shop to buy it. I was pleasantly surprised to find the world may end due to a vampire ‘plague’.
The Strain reads like a film in my eyes – you can see del Toro’s’ influence here. It does give the book a fast-paced element which pulls you along for the ride and helps sustain the read. Yet, it’s not all good. About 3/4 of the way in it felt quite episodic and repetitive, and the plot stalled for me slightly, shifting from a taut thriller to a late night monster-fest. Though, the twist at the end brings it back to form.
All-in-all, I enjoyed it, not as epic as The Passage by Justin Cronin, but I’m buying the next book in the series, The Fall, which is out this month.
3 out 5 dried out fangs.
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