The Strain (2009)

by Guillermo del Toro, Chuck Hogan

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: The Strain (book 1)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
4,586	298	2,666	(3.6)	192
Fiction. Horror. Thriller. HTML: "A high-tech vampire epic....Terrifying." �San Francisco Chronicle "Part The Andromeda Strain, part Night of the Living Dead." �Salon.com "Chuck Hogan is known for his taut thrillers, Guillermo del Toro for his surreal horror films...The Strain brings out the best of each." �Minneapolis Star Tribune An epic battle for survival begins between man and vampire in The Strain�the first book in a heart-stopping trilogy from one of Hollywood's most inventive storytellers and a critically acclaimed thriller writer. Guillermo del Toro, the genius director of the Academy Award-winning Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy, and Hammett Award-winning author Chuck Hogan have joined forces to boldly reinvent the vampire novel. Brilliant, blood-chilling, and unputdownable, The Strain is a nightmare of the first order. .… (more)

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▾Member recommendations

180
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (Joles)
Joles: The authors treat vampires in a similar light. The Strain could very well be what leads up to Matheson's I Am Legend.
82
The Passage by Justin Cronin (smiteme, questionablepotato)
40
Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry (Joles)
Joles: Undead creatures that reanimate with a nice bit of real-world science thrown in.
30
Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon (Phantasma)
Phantasma: you could say They Thirst would be a more likely reccomendation for this vampire novel. But I think the post-apocalyptic Swan Song is much more closesly related.
20
Draculas by Jack Kilborn (Scottneumann)
10
Midnight Mass by F. Paul Wilson (Scottneumann)
10
They Thirst by Robert R. McCammon (Scottneumann)
21
Children of the Night by Dan Simmons (Scottneumann)
00
Live Girls by Ray Garton (dante414)
00
The Missing by Sarah Langan (ahstrick)
11
Necroscope by Brian Lumley (leahsimone)
00
Uprising: Vampire Federation by Sean McCabe (mamaove)
mamaove: Good versues evil theme with vampires
11
Feed by Mira Grant (trav)
12
Wizard and Glass by Stephen King (kraaivrouw)
13
The Mouse on the Mile by Stephen King (ShelfMonkey)

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English (285) Spanish (4) Portuguese (Brazil) (2) Italian (2) French (1) Finnish (1) Danish (1) All languages (296)

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Showing 1-5 of 285 (next | show all)

Slow start but gets good. Gotta love a "vampire" rendition that can't be romanticized. These things are gross and evil. (

)

wolfeyluvr | Nov 29, 2024 |

equal parts gross and fascinating, I did this as an audio book and I'm not sure if that helped or made it worse.
The story is good, well done even, but there are a lot of people that are mentioned and it got a little convoluted

but I did enjoy it (

)

Trisha_Thomas | Nov 13, 2024 |

Great read! Your more old school vampire type story as opposed to the new sparkly romantic interest vamps. A monster comes to America and the clock is ticking. Will we recognize it and have time to stop the plague? (

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autumnesf | Sep 20, 2024 |

I wanted to like this. It had a very good introduction with the airplane landing and being full of dead people that made me want to keep reading. I knew it was about vampires so I was curious to see how they were introduced. Unfortunately the book really slows down after the bodies are removed from the plane. The characters did not keep me interested and I gave up on reading about 100 pages in when the author(s) decided to spend several pages describing the mechanism of an eclipse and how it's ACTUALLY better described as an "occultation", and how several different characters react to this eclipse, and it didn't seem to be going anywhere. So I did not finish - but with the knowledge of the vampires being somewhat interesting and the cool introduction I might try again someday. (

)

J_Money | Sep 11, 2024 |

Not a bad Vampire/Zombie novel, though the pacing is a bit slow for the first half or more of the book. It's the first of a trilogy, so that's a bit understandable. So far, it doesn't really add a lot to the surfeit of Vampire & Zombie books & movies these days. I doubt if I'll read the next books, though I will see the movie, assuming there is one. (

)

pstevem | Aug 19, 2024 |

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▾Published reviews

4 reviews

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thingScore 75

I am torn about The Strain. I like it for all of its blood-sucking charms, but in order to do so, I’ve got to overlook some fairly major shortcomings in its mechanics. And I’ve got to do it all while somehow managing to avoid blaming Guillermo for anything.

added by Shortride | editOpen Letters Monthly, Deirdre Crimmins (Sep 1, 2009)

It's so creepy that when I told my wife and daughter about it *they* got creeped out just from my description.

added by lampbane | editBoing Boing, Mark Frauenfelder (Jun 26, 2009)

The Strain is a breakneck thrill ride chronicling only the first four days of the vampire plague that may destroy civilization. The cinematic quality really comes though, making the book feel more like a action blockbuster than a thought-provoking horror novel. The publisher is hyping the heck out of this book, and it will sell like a Dan Brown of the Undead. It has some dopey parts, but is also pretty entertaining and scary. This would be an excellent vacation read, although I would not recommend reading the first fifty pages on an airplane if you are a nervous flier. Save it for the beach soaking up the UV rays.

added by PhoenixTerran | editio9, Chris Hsiang (Jun 2, 2009)

Un Boeing 777 aterriza en el aeropuerto John F. Kennedy de Nueva York proveniente de Berlín, y cuando se dirige a la puerta para que los pasajeros empiecen a desembarcar, de repente se oscurece. La torre de control pierde contacto con el piloto y toda la actividad eléctrica del aparato se corta. No se escuchan móviles, ni BlackBerries, ni la radio, nada. Las cortinas de las ventanillas están bajadas y no se ve a nadie dentro. Se reúne un equipo de emergencias y todos observan al avión silencioso ahora bañado por las luces del aeropuerto, en completo silencio. Parece una gigantesca lápida blanca que brilla contra el oscuro cielo de la noche.
Entonces una brecha negra aparece en el fuselaje: es una puerta que se abre desde dentro con una lentitud glacial…
Siempre han estado aquí. Vampiros. Anidando y alimentándose. En secreto y oscuridad. A la espera. Ahora ha llegado su momento. En una semana, Manhattan habrá desaparecido. En tres meses, todo el país. En seis meses, el mundo entero.

added by Pakoniet | editLecturalia

▾Other authors

» Add other authors (21 possible)

Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
del Toro, Guillermo	—	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Hogan, Chuck	—	main author	all editions	confirmed
Pearlman, Ron	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Series

The Strain (book 1)

Is contained in

The Complete Strain Trilogy by Guillermo del Toro

Has the adaptation

The Strain, Vol. 1 by David Lapham

The Strain, Vol. 2 by David Lapham

The Strain, Book One by David Lapham

▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Lord Ruthven Award (Fiction – 2010)

Distinctions

New York Times bestseller (Fiction – 2009)

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▾Common Knowledge

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Canonical title

The Strain

Original title

The Strain

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

Important places

Treblinka, Masovia, Poland

JFK Airport, New York, New York, USA

Manhattan, New York, New York, USA

World Trade Center memorial, New York, New York, USA

(show all 7 items)

Important events

Holocaust

Solar eclipse (2010)

Related movies

The Strain [TV Series] (2014 | IMDb)

Epigraph

Dedication

Dedicated to all nightmares, past and present, and to all the monsters in my nursery: May you never leave me alone. -GDT

To Lorenza, Mariana, and Marisa...
and to all the monsters in my nursery:
May you never leave me alone
- GDT

For Lila
- CH

For my Lila -CH

To Lorenza, Mariana, and Marisa ...
and to all the monsters in my nursery: May you never leave me alone. -GDT

For Lila -CH

First words

The Legend of Jusef Sardu
"Once upon a time," said Abraham Setrakian's grandmother, "there was a giant."

"Once upon a time," said Abraham Setrakian's grandmother, "there was a giant."

Der var engang en kæmpe

Quotations

Nothing can unman you like an un-man.

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (2)

File:StrainDelToroHoganCover.jpg

The Strain

▾Book descriptions

Fiction. Horror. Thriller. HTML:

"A high-tech vampire epic....Terrifying."
�San Francisco Chronicle

"Part The Andromeda Strain, part Night of the Living Dead."
�Salon.com

"Chuck Hogan is known for his taut thrillers, Guillermo del Toro for his surreal horror films...The Strain brings out the best of each."
�Minneapolis Star Tribune

An epic battle for survival begins between man and vampire in The Strain�the first book in a heart-stopping trilogy from one of Hollywood's most inventive storytellers and a critically acclaimed thriller writer. Guillermo del Toro, the genius director of the Academy Award-winning Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy, and Hammett Award-winning author Chuck Hogan have joined forces to boldly reinvent the vampire novel. Brilliant, blood-chilling, and unputdownable, The Strain is a nightmare of the first order.

▾Library descriptions

No library descriptions found.

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

They have always been here. Vampires. In secret and in darkness. Waiting. Now their time has come.

In one week, Manhattan will be gone. In one month, the country.

In two months—the world.

A Boeing 777 arrives at JFK and is on its way across the tarmac, when it suddenly stops dead. All window shades are pulled down. All lights are out. All communication channels have gone quiet. Crews on the ground are lost for answers, but an alert goes out to the CDC. Dr. Eph Goodweather, head of their Canary project, a rapid-response team that investigates biological threats, gets the call and boards the plane. What he finds makes his blood run cold.

In a pawnshop in Spanish Harlem, a former professor and survivor of the Holocaust named Abraham Setrakian knows something is happening. And he knows the time has come, that a war is brewing . . .

So begins a battle of mammoth proportions as the vampiric virus that has infected New York begins to spill out into the streets. Eph, who is joined by Setrakian and a motley crew of fighters, must now find a way to stop the contagion and save his city—a city that includes his wife and son—before it is too late.

Haiku summary