The Fall

Silver-backed mirrors don't lie. That's one conceit in Book Two of the menacing and literate Strain Trilogy, which attempts to circumvent silly conventions of the vampire genre. The focus is a compelling quest to uncover the vampiric origins held in a silver-edged book. Narrator Daniel Oreskes guides this quest; rarely showing fangs, he uses a straightforward tone to avoid melodrama. Oreskes suggests subtle nuances of character with his gruff voice and acknowledges the acerbic humor when appropriate. His consistent tone helps listeners to maintain suspension of disbelief. A great selection for those seeking alternatives to formulaic vampire fiction. J.L. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

August 9, 2010
Set over the course of three intense weeks, Del Toro and Hogan's gripping second volume in their near-future vampire trilogy picks up where The Strain, the first volume, left off, as the undead, aided by elderly Eldritch Palmer, one of the world's three richest men, tighten their hold on the planet. Epidemiologists Ephraim Goodweather and Nora Martinez, Holocaust survivor Abraham Setrakian, and Vasiliy Fet, "New York City Bureau of Pest Control Services worker and independent exterminator," oppose the vampires (or strigoi), as they did in the first book. Setrakian pins his hopes for stopping the vampires on tracking down a 17th-century grimoire that describes the origins of their leaders, the Seven Original Ancients. Despite the story's essential grimness, the authors manage to inject some sardonic humor, even as the plot developments will leave readers wondering how the concluding book can possibly end well.

September 1, 2010

The writer/director of Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy and Hogan pair up again for the follow-up to their best-selling debut, The Strain. A vampiric virus has conquered New York City and threatens to spread across the country and around the world. CDC team leader Eph Goodweather takes to the streets to combat these savage creatures who are locked in their own war. The Old World Ancients are raging against the New World vampires in a grudge match to dominate the planet. Driving this conflict is the Master, a clever and astute orchestrator of chaos. VERDICT Fast-paced, action-packed, and even better than the first volume, this fun and scary read is highly recommended for thriller and horror fans. Newcomers to the trilogy will have no trouble following the story line. Buy multiple copies. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/10.]--Carolann Curry, Mercer Univ. Medical Lib., Macon, GA

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 15, 2010

The second book in Guillermo del Toro (director of Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy, etc.) and Chuck Hogan's (Devils in Exile, 2010, etc.) The Strain trilogy finds civilization teetering on the brink.

The Strain (2009), the first book in the trilogy, was built on a compelling premise: What if vampires were not campy, caped bloodsuckers, or dark-but-hunky Twilight-esque heartthrobs, but rather the victims of a ravenous blood-borne parasite? And what if, as part of an elaborate plan, an ancient carrier of said parasites set out to sow its bloodsucking oats by starting an epidemic in New York City? A vampire threat like that calls for an epidemiologist, in this case Dr. Ephraim Goodweather of the CDC. The Strain closed with Ephraim and his companions--CDC colleague (and sometime love interest) Dr. Nora Martinez, exterminator Vasiliy Fet and Holocaust survivor and seasoned vampire hunter Abraham Setrakian--narrowly failing to destroy the Master, orchestrator of the outbreak, as his pandemic was starting to pick up steam. As this book opens, things have gone from worse to much, much worse. With more and more of its citizens turning into vampires, New York plunges into anarchy. Dr. Goodweather and his cohorts face increasingly long odds as they attempt to stem the tide, while protecting Dr. Goodweather's son Zach from his mother, a newly minted vampire bent on "turning" her beloved son. Meanwhile, the Master, working with sickly but fabulously wealthy Eldritch Palmer, continues to engineer the contagion's spread and the collapse of human society, much to the chagrin of a group of powerful vampires known as the Ancients, who prefer to wield their substantial power and influence from the shadows. The key to stopping the Master seems to lie in a very old, silver-bound book, but against the Master's minions and Palmer's wealth and influence, the book appears to be well out of our heroes' reach. The series stands out from the recent spate of vampire-themed entertainment thanks to its semi-scientific premise, convincing characters and wealth of almost cinematically vivid scenes of terror. This book continues in the same chilling vein.

Relentlessly paves the way for what promises to be an epic third book.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

August 1, 2010
Acclaimed film director Del Toro (Pans Labyrinth) and popular thriller writer Hogan (Devils in Exile, 2010) turn in the second entry in their vampires-versus-humanity trilogy, after The Strain (2009). Just two months after vampires landed at New Yorks JFK airport, civilization is fast disappearing as the vampiric virus makes its way across the country and the world. Disgraced former Center for Disease Control director Eph Goodweather is leading a small but fierce band of resistors, but he is increasingly sidetracked by the devastating attacks of his ex-wife, Kelly. She has been turned into a vampire and is now after her dear ones, specifically her 11-year-old son, Zack, who both fears and longs for his mother. Its left to the wily old vampire fighter Setrakian, a former professor and Holocaust survivor, to come up with a game plan. He determines that the key to defeating the vampires lies in an ancient and valuable book, which is currently on auction at Sothebys. All he needs is $25 million and some chutzpah to save humanity. With its taut pacing and macabre fight scenes, many of which take place in NYCs old subway tunnels, this scary novel should appeal to fans of both vampire and horror novels.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)