Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Review Tuesday: THE STRAIN Trilogy

I had heard that the show, which is nearly done with season 2, was really good when I stumbled across the books. I was looking for something to read, and now we are here.




THE STRAIN
by Guillermo Del Toro
and Chuck Hogan
After a safe landing at JFK Airport in NYC, a Boeing 777 from Europe mysteriously "dies" along with all crew and passengers but four. It's up to Dr. Ephraim Goodweather of the CDC Canary Team to to solve the puzzle before it turns into a plague with some others providing unorthodox support.
From the very first page, this series pulls you in. The pace set from the start with the dead plane on the tarmac at JFK airport is a fast moving drama. Dust in the personal dramas of the main characters, add some flashbacks, and build a ton of suspense and you have this great story. There is so much character development, you feel like you have a keen insight about the cast of characters. Then when some die, and many do, you understand the scope of the tragedy being described.

Just a wonderful vampire story. Refreshing and like nothing previously told. Some hints about where they come from makes it a tease! The excellent writing makes you want to pick up the next installment ASAP!

AMAZON


THE FALL
by Guillermo Del Toro
and Chuck Hogan
Directly following THE STRAIN, the team attempts to recover from their failure to kill The Master. They are putting their hopes in an ancient book that is rumored to contain the history of the strigoi. Meanwhile the vampire menace continues to unfold.
The layers of plot and perfidy in this second part of The Strain series is horribly compelling. The small force of resistance is having a terrible time trying to calculate the next moves of The Master.  That is, until it's too late.

This book has a grim ending that you never saw coming.

AMAZON



THE NIGHT ETERNAL
by Guillermo Del Toro
and Chuck Hogan
It's two years after the events of THE FALL. Mankind has been enslaved as food for the vampire overlords. The fate of the world lies in the hands of our small group of resistance fighters.
Apparently the actions of The Master weren't merely to take over the world, but were also a coup to destroy The Ancients so that It didn't wouldn't have to share Its prize. Global nuclear war had left the world with only a couple hours of sunlight daily.The smart and influential of the world were massacred, killing off 1/3 of the world population virtually overnight. The vampires ruled the world with impunity.

What's left of the resistance is fractured and separated trying to avoid capture by the master. 

Then a hasty plan was put together for the final showdown with The Master as we finally learn his true origins, which should amaze you. 

And we are given a completely unexpected ending. Wonderful, delicious, yet terribly sad.


I went into these books with little to no expectations. If anything, I was a little skeptical that the story could be very original, impressive, or even worthwhile. Well, this knocked my socks off. I just never expected so much thought to go into a vampire story, and tying it in with theology no less! Beautifully terrifying writing and worth the investment of time to read them. Call me a satisfied customer.

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