Book Review: The Strain By Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

The Strain (The Strain Trilogy #1) by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

An international flight lands at JFK and then goes completely dark on the runway. All the electricity is out; the cockpit is unreachable on radio; all the shades are drawn; no passenger is answering cell phone calls. The transportation authority is called out along with local CDC representative Eph Goodweather. He's currently mired in a custody battle with his ex over their son Max and doesn't need the extra overtime. This is his weekend to impress Max with fun activities. When they finally breach the plane, all on board are dead except for four seemingly random people who are comatose. Everyone else is peacefully dead, like they all died at the same instant and without being aware that they were dying. The survivors are carted off to hospital isolation ward while a hangar is converted into a make-shift morgue for the other bodies. The investigators discover some strange thing, like a large, ornately-carved coffin-shaped box that is full of dirt in the cargo hold that is not listed as part of the cargo. As Eph and his team investigates, they come across Setrakian, an old-pawn shop owner who survived the Holocaust partly because he discovered a vampire preying at the concentration camp. He has spent his life studying vampire lore and pursuing that one vampire, who he thinks rode over on the plane for some nefarious plan. Of course, the vampire couldn't do it alone. Readers know that an aging, sickly investor has worked with the vampire. The slow acceptance of vampirism by the authorities (impeded the influence of the rich mogul) lets the situation get out of hand, with a plague threatening all of New York City that could spread to the rest of the country and the rest of the world.

The book has a lot of characters in different parts of life, a bit like Stephen King's The Stand or Max Brooks' World War Z. Their stories fit more or less together in the narrative, creating scenes of horror and forward plot movement. While Eph is certainly sympathetic, he comes off a little generic, as does the crusty old European who knows how to fight the vampires and has a stockpile of weapons in the basement of his pawn shop. A goth rock star is one of the few survivors from the plane though he turns pretty quickly into a vampire, naturally being shocked when taking his make-up off and he's still pale. A New York City exterminator is another minor character who fulfills the cliche of his profession--overweight and tough with a lot of experience fighting vermin which comes in handy when supernatural vermin show up. The characters don't feel original and move through some standard plot beats.

The vampire mythology is a blend of forensic details and mythological powers needed to advance the story. Their biology is explained in a lot of detail but they also have supernatural powers like communicating telepathically, moving at superhuman speed, and having superhuman strength. The blend is not quite convincing, like the novel can't decide if it wants to be a medically-accurate thriller or an urban fantasy apocalypse. The set-up with the plane is great but the payout is not strong enough.

Not recommended, though I am going to give the next volume a chance to see if the story picks up--some new characters are suggested at the end that might make things more interesting (and drive the story more into urban apocalyptic fantasy).