The Strain

The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro

Published- 2nd June 2009
Publisher- William Morrow
Pages- 403 pages (hardback)

The Strain TV show- (from left to right)- Fet, Nora, Setrakian, Dutch, Zack and Ephraim.

Flight 753 has been found on the runway with all engines dead and every passenger inside the plane is dead aswell. What happened to all the passengers and how did they all die? Also, what is this sudden mysterious virus that is sweeping over the city of New York? 

The description of the vampires within this novel was well written as there was lots of description and they were terrifyingly written about. These creatures sound so scary and are not things you want to meet in a dark alley at night. The most horrifying thing about them is the stinger which they release from their mouths when they are about to finish off their prey. They are by far the scariest vampires I have ever read about within a novel. If you were expecting vampires like the ones in Twilight then this is definitely the wrong novel for you to be reading. 

Ephraim Goodweather was a great main character as he wanted to find out about this disease and find a way to cure it. He also wanted to protect his ex-wife, Kelly, and son, Zack, from being infected also. However, things don't always go as you want them to. Abraham Setrakian and Fet were also good characters as they had a lot of skills for killing the vampires. Setrakian was filled with all the vampire knowledge of how to destroy vampires and hopefully find and kill the Master. However, finding the Master and killing him are the hardest things as he is not that easy to kill. You didn't find out much about Nora, but she seems like a good character from what we know about her. Although, you did find out that she has been in a relationship with Ephraim and she would make a good mother figure to Zack. 

The writing in this novel flowed really well and it was an easy read. A lot of the descriptive writing was really graphic and in some parts terrifying. For example, some of the death scenes were very descriptive and contained a lot of violence and horrific reading. This is not a novel for younger readers because of all the violence that is involved within the writing. The TV show should also not be watched by younger viewers as that does get quite graphic at times and includes some violent death scenes.

The TV show is quite different from the book as they have changed a lot and added a lot of stuff to it. For example, Zack did not get attacked by Matt in his own home, that was added into the TV show. Also, the character Vaun does not appear in the books. There is a character like Vaun in the books, but he has a different name. TV shows are always changing stuff from the books to make them their own and to give them different twists and turns so they can run for many seasons. If a TV show always followed strictly to the books then it would only last for 1 or 2 seasons. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel and give it 4.5/5 stars. It was easy to read as some of the chapters were really short. This is a definite must read if you love vampire novels, horror stories, love the TV show The Strain or love Guillermo Del Toro. I can't wait to read the next book in the trilogy to find out what happens to Ephraim, Setrakian, Nora, Fet and Zack. Will the vampires eventually all be wiped out? I'll have to read the next 2 books in the trilogy to find out.

                      Rating 4.5/5