The Strain: Book One Of The Strain Trilogy

This book was engulfing in the beginning and I couldn't put it down. But I don't know what happened around the middle. The mystery wore off and I didn't even finish the book. What a shame...

Del Toro and Hogan definitely brought back Vampires the way they should be "SCARY" I would recommend this book to all horror fans. If you love scary vamps and zombies you will enjoy this book.

well the book was interesting. I really liked their take on the vampire as a disease thing, and how they didn't romanticize the myth of the vampire (with that being said, I love vampire books that do too). Characters were interesting, the scenes they set up were also well thought. I could easily visualise what was happening, although at times I could visualise all too clearly and the book made me squirm. I had a few nightmares too. I liked it, but b/c of the nightmares I didn't really like it or love it. If you want to scare yourself and gain a new perspective of the vampire myth then read this.... its entertaining and keeps you turning pages and sometimes even your stomach. I must be a glutton for punishment, b/c I am interested in finishing the series, while i read it in the daytime only.

The Strain is a powerhouse. From the very first pages, the tension builds and you can't help but feel like you should be on the lookout for creepy goings-on. Everything about the opening chapters pours on the atmosphere of classic vampire movies, only to turn everything on it's head with a creature like nothing you have ever seen. The characters are strong and feel real, the dialogue feels natural, and the situations are truly scary. In a market saturated by vampire novels, The Strain goes out on a limb and dares to be the book that will leave wannabe-Bella's everywhere wishing that the sun would come up.

Having read this book about a month ago, I took a second to review it, and look over some of the other reviews. Here are my thoughts. Firstly I'm not much of a horror reader, I read a lot of the genre about 10 years ago, and definitely liked the vampire sub genre. I agree with a previous reviewer who said this book did a good job incorporating the vampire lore into the story. It does it in a way that doesn't make it hokey or cliché. Being a former science geek I loved the microbiology/virology aspects in this book, definitely increased my interest, I love books about plagues wiping out society.

So what wasn't so great. The first 40 pages of this book were chocked full of suspense, I was seriously creeped out reading it in a sleeping house after midnight. But my problem was that I didn't feel like anything really interesting happened for about 140 pages, so the suspense started to wane, big time. The authors didn't strike when the iron was hot, so a little too drawn out and too descriptive at times.

Overall this story had good character development, but I will say I felt like 50 - 100 pages could have been cut out and the story would have been tighter and a little more of a page turner which is what I was expecting. So I might read the next one but I wouldn't pay full price for the book.

I received this book as a gift recently and I didn't think much of it, as I am very picky on what I read, but considering I am a BIG horror fan I thought I would try my best to "gag" threw it.

I was so wrong... I ready the book so quickly I was flipping threw the pages biting on my nails and constantly reminding myself that it's only a book! I was totally addicted to it, I even made the mistake of reading the spookiest parts of the book at 3am... When I finished the book I was so "excited" to pick up the fall and start reading the second in the trilogy - little did I know I now need to wait for September for it!

Great read for horror fans that want something a little more grown up then twilight!

After reading some reviews on this book I wasn't sure what to expect. Are the ideas and concepts original? No. I mean vampires? End of the world scenario? But that doesn't mean it isn't a well put together and thought out story. This was a very fun read. I could totally see this as a movie. Maybe that's what Del Toro was thinking all along. But as a side note, if you're looking for a romanticized vampire story, this is not it. These vampires are not sexy and this is not a love story, which is so incredibly refreshing.

I typically don’t ready books that are vampire related but made an exception for this one based on my love for one of the authors, Guillermo del Toro. This book is definitely different from the usual vampire books I’ve peeked into. It’s complex, modern, detailed, and filled with lore and mystery. The characters for the most part are well illustrated, except for perhaps Nora, who was always there but somehow remained flat and nondescript. The book is slightly reminiscent of early Dean Koontz books. The action moves quickly, the details for the action were precise in my mind, and I found myself being able to follow the flow easily. I can see a movie script coming some time in the near future for this one. I think my only disappointment is that I now have to wait until next year for the second book in this trilogy to come out!

Being a fan of all of Del Toro's work, and somewhat familiar with Hogan's, I knew I had to pick up this book right away. When I picked it up, I instantly read the reviews at the back of the book. Saying things like getting your "heart medicine" and not to read it at night, I knew I would be reading one hell of a horror novel. Surprisingly, it isn't as scary as all the reviews say. In my opinion of course. I was expecting to get the best out of the book, but was not as thrilled as Del Toro and Hogan probably wanted a fan to be. Although, as you get farther into the book, it gets better and better, more action packed and will finally get you creeped.

All in all, a recommended read, but only so you can understand a hopefully better written sequel.

Sets up for a very interesting series. At times I found that what were supposed to be action packed scenes were lacking in their telling. Good story however and I look forward to the rest of the series.

This book is a great mix of horror and action and does its job of making you feeling creeped out and keeping you interested in the plot so you don't put it down and continue reading page after page until you're either sleepy, or you're finished the entire story.

Action you ask? plenty of it! I like how this book just captures your attention immediately and best yet there are hardly any parts where the action stops. What I like about this book is, you get the sense of chaos about to errupt and you actually see it in development until things just hit the fan (so to speak) and by then it's too late to do anything.

There's plenty of unanswered questions and the ending leaves you with wanting a lot more. Unfortunately the second part of this trilogy is not to be released until 2010 (I'm not sure exactly when, they just gave out the year of its' future release on the backflap of the book). So obviously, I will probably have to reread this book again when the second one comes out. It's worth a second read though I think.

I'd have to say, this book does have certain similarities to Bram Stoker's Dracula (there I gave you a hint on what this book entails) (But it's not what you think!). You do have a Jonathan Harker, a Van Helsing type character, and even a Mina (not really though, sort of) which I found rather interesting and I wonder if the authors did that on purpose or it was just a creative fluke. The characters in the novels are all right and they are developing I think considering this is the first novel of a trilogy, perhaps you will see them develop more with the other two books. (I like Setrakian the most in my opinion).

I definitely do not recommend this book if you don't like blood and gore. There's a lot of it and it's very graphic. But if you don't mind, and if you like a good scare, this book does a great job of keeping you engrossed and making your skin crawl (in a good way).

I don't know about anyone else that read this book, but for me this book was extremely creepy and definitely deserves to be the horror genre!

The opening chapters of this novel will pull you in right from the start, and will have you looking over your shoulder, jumping at ever little sound. As well, the narration of some of the chapters/section were so well written that it made you wonder which author was writing it. They were crafted in such a way that I could picture a scene just from the way it was written and it was almost like watching a movies at times.


Vampire stories have been used in so many different ways and for different genres, but this one sticks out for me. They modernize this old storyline, which takes place during the present in New York. As well, they not only mix in the lore and tales of vampires but explain it in biological terms, which really interested me. It almost seemed like these monstrous beings were a hybrid of zombie and vampire (and possibly rats)

As well the dark spaces/pages between each section adds to the atmosphere and made me jumpy and nervous because I kept on thinking there was going to be a scary picture that would pop up at one point. (think "Coraline" By Neil Gaiman).

The only thing that irked me while I was reading was near the middle. At this point they drift away from the main characters and give you a short look at the people that have been infected. I found this part kind of tedious and don't think it added much to the story, other than showing proof that they were indeed infected. But I will say that one of the storylines of a person that was bitten (Ansel) was shocking and my jaw definitely dropped after reading it. It makes you wonder if vampires are the only monsters out there...

If you are looking for a vampire story with a modern twist, you will like this one.

♥ ENJOY!

A lot of people don't remember this, but up until 15 years ago Vampires were BAD! Not these romantic "I've been waiting 200 years for you my love and will spend the rest of eternity making unbelievable whoopie with you" guys you meet in most Vampire books now. Nuh uh they were human blood drinking, torture loving terrifing monsters; and Del Toro brought them back.
A plane lands at JFK, taxis down the runway and stops dead.
When airport officials manage to get into the plane everyone on board is dead. Many hours, and countless tests later they still can't figure out how they died, until a little Polish man says Vampire, and all the corpses arise and the havoc begins.
This book is a set up: giving you the knowledge you need for the rest of the series, and I still liked it.
I'm not going to lie, I slept with my lights on. I was going to sleep at my friends, but that meant going outside, and that wasn't happening.

I expected a lot more from this title as I'm a big fan of Del Toro's movies and am really looking forward to what he does with The Hobbit. But it didn't seem to be anything more than cliche after cliche. It almost felt like a movie plot that had been rejected by a studio so they decided to put it in novel form instead. In fact, some of this will seem very familiar to anyone who has seen Blade II (also directed by Del Toro).

I will undoubtedly finish the rest of the trilogy when it's released because I hate to leave a story unfinished but Del Toro and Hogan have some work to do to move this away from being just another vampire tale.

I was recomended this book at work but a coworker. I was pretty much sold after the word vampire and i was going to read Lorell next so i was pretty much looking for ANY distraction.Well, i am so glad i picked this up. I am not much for the "Horror type vamps", you know the 'dracula type' but i was very much into this. The vamps in this are humans that are taken over by a viral type strain (worm thingys) and from there all they want are blood blood blood! But it is really cool.
So the book starts out with a plane landing in NY from Germany (?) and then it 'dies' on the tarmack. When envestigated the entire plane is full of dead people who look like they just suddeenly fell asleep. An investigation is started and four survivors are found and quaranteened. After a bit the bodies from the morgue begin to dissapear.
There is also some good background lore of the vamps so it is explained and since this is the first book, there is much more to look forward to.
If you are tired of the whole sexy, love sick, or tortured soul vampire thing, i suggest you pick this book up. If you want a good story, i suggest you pick this up. If you know how to read, AT ALL, i suggest you pick this up. It is a great book and as a first in a trilogy, it deffinately has potential.
Also it is a bit gorey (i don't think so, but a couple other people have said they are scared reading the book, so i thought i would mention it), but not so much that it is out of place or redundant.

PICK IT UP!!!

Good spin on your everyday Vampire story, having it be more of a biological disease. It is the first of a three part trilogy and has set a good start for the series. Good use of the area that the story takes place in using the underground subways of New York, and all the great and discusting characters that come with it. Very good character building, from the main characters to the side characters. If you are going to read this book I say you need to pay attention to the story at the beginning of the story. I am recommending this book to all of my co-workers and all customers that are interested.

I think my expectations were too high for the director of Pan's Labyrinth. I was hoping for a slightly more creative storyline even though I didn't expect great literature. Oh well! Maybe the movie (if there's one) will be more entertaining.

My favorite thing about this book was the concept of it. Yes, it is about vampires, and yes vampires have been done to death, but this one takes an interesting turn I feel.

While a lot of people have written a lot of books about vampires, and several of them have come up with the concept of it being no more than a communicable disease, this is the most interesting one by far.

Vampirism in this book is actually caused by parasites taking over their human host and altering their bodies to better support itself. These parasites feed off human blood, so of course as soon as it feeds, it essentially infects that person with another parasite and so on and so forth.

I have never read any other vampire books with such an interesting idea. It makes the vampires more real than fiction I find, because I am sure many similar parasites exist, although granted not at this level. And it it because they are so real that they are scary. These are just normal people who have gotten infected, and they in turn infect others, and there is essentially no cure for it. Something I think that humans on a mass level fear deep down, and as a result reading about it happening makes the book more enjoyable as we love to be scared.

I will grant though that this book took a bit of time to get going, at least for me. However the interesting thing about that is that I did not care. I knew it was a slow start, I knew I was a third of the way through the book before things started to happen, but the writing was just that good I did not care.

It was suspenseful and eloquent to the point that you had to keep reading. The kind of writing that sucks you in and keeps you reading when you realize if it was any other book, you would have put it down at that point. I loved it and I can cannot wait for the second one.

If you are a fan of vampire or medical mysteries/epidemics, you should thoroughly enjoy this book.

Definitely movie material. Although entertaining Guillermo and Chuck made too many predictable moves in this debut novel for me to say it was great. At times I felt like I was reading an old Stephen King or watching Blade...Newcomers to horror will enjoy.

Not high literature, but great summer reading...and it's really gross! But hard to put down. A mixture of zombie-slash-vampire-slash-science. I know they'll be making a movie of this.