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“The Strain” — A Slice of SciFi Book Review

June 11, 2009 By Mike Hickerson 3 Comments

Reviewed by: Michael Hickerson (SoSF Editor)

“The Strain” by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hagan
Hardcover, 416 pages
Published: June 2, 2009

Purchase a copy of “The Strain.”

Slice of SciFi Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

A modern day retelling of “Dracula”

Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan originally conceived “The Strain” as a serialized television series for the Fox network.  After Fox execs balked at the original vision, insisting the writers inject more humor into the storyline of a modern-day vampire apocolypse, del Toro and Hogan decided to take their toys and go home.  Rather than create a movie version of this modern day retelling of “Dracula,” the two decided to go literary.

The result is a new trilogy of books, the first of which debuts this summer and is called “The Strain.”

And it’s one hell of a scary, thrillride.

The story’s television roots show throughout the novel with a huge cast introduced early in the story, many of whom are vampire-fodder by the mid-point of the story.  Del Toro and Hogan’s characters aren’t exactly deep, but we do get to know them enough to care for them, even as many of them succumb to the mysterious new virus that is infecting New Yorkers.

“The Strain” is a scary book that comes along at the right time.  Del Toro and Hogan’s decision to have vampirism spread not through one vampire creating another via bites but as an airborn pathogen is particularily chilling in the time of the H1N1 scare.   The story more than chillingly describes how the virus takes over its human hosts, rapidly transforming them into undead vampires.   And because this is a book with only the special effects limits of your own imagination, be prepared for to be grossed out at times.

You should also be prepared for some unrelentingly creepy moments.  The novel’s opening scenes with a jet plane sitting on the tarmac at New York airport, silent and completely dark are among some of the more unnerving moments in the book.

And while “The Strain” clearly owes an enormous debt to both “Dracula” and “The Stand,” it’s not quite in the same league as either one.  While the novel is populated by a sprawling, diverse cast of characters, many of them are two-dimensional, at best.   “The Stand” spent time developing its characters in its virus-induced apocolypse, making many of them cannon-fodder over the course of the story but still getting us to care about them.  “The Strain” has an equally high body count, but you won’t find yourself as invested in many of the characters here.

However, the pace and horror of what’s unfolding will keep you reading this one.  If your only love of vampires is those created by Stephenie Meyer, then you’ll want to skip this one.   “The Strain” returns vampires to the dark, scary recesses of the imagination, where they belong.

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Filed Under: Book Reviews

Comments

  1. Dave says

    June 15, 2009 at 5:06 pm

    Seems to me that this might be a rip-off of “I Am Legend.” Can’t anyone in Hollywood come up with anything origonal??

    Reply
  2. Steve says

    June 21, 2009 at 9:28 am

    Sorry Dave, but nothing is original anymore and nothing has been original for a long time. Everything “original” is at least partially derivative of something that preceded it. It’s been said that “there are only x number of plots in all literature. This guy boils 90% of it down to sex, violence and death. Take those away and almost nothing is left. http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2366/what-are-the-seven-basic-literary-plots

    Reply
  3. Bocoe says

    December 1, 2009 at 4:29 pm

    Well I for one, enjoyed the book very much. I was entertained and I felt compelled to turn pages until I finished the book. So many books lately I have started and put down never bothering to finish them because the story fizzled out mid book. The Strain held me fron the moment the plane sat silent on the runway until the end.. I anxiously wait for the second installment.

    Reply

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