Synopses & Reviews
The visionary creator of the Academy Award-winning
Pan's Labyrinth and a Hammett Award-winning author bring their imaginations to this bold, epic novel about a horrifying battle between man and vampire that threatens all humanity. It is the first installment in a thrilling trilogy and an extraordinary international publishing event.
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 pawn shop 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.
Review
"The book boasts a plethora of arresting images and many terrific macabre touches....Great characters, a semi-plausible premise and a flair for striking scenes get this trilogy off to a first-rate start." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Despite the somewhat slow start, the story builds up steam quickly, and fans of horror, vampire fiction, and Del Toro's Hellboy films will line up for this one."
Synopsis
An epic battle for survival begins between man and vampire in this heart-stopping thriller — the first in a trilogy — from one of Hollywood's most popular storytellers and a Hammett Award-winning writer. An electrifying and highly imaginative retelling of vampire lore that reaches from Eastern Europe during World War II to contemporary New York and features fascinating and unique biological and historical details.
Synopsis
"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.
Synopsis
“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 Hollywoods most inventive storytellers and a critically acclaimed thriller writer. Guillermo del Toro, the genius director of the Academy Award-winning Pans 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.
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About the Author
Born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico, Guillermo del Toro made his feature directorial debut in 1993 with the film
Cronos, and has since gone on to direct
Mimic, The Devil's Backbone, Blade II, Hellboy I, Hellboy II, and
Pan's Labyrinth, which garnered enormous critical praise worldwide and won three Academy Awards. He will direct two films based on
The Hobbit, to be produced by Peter Jackson.
Chuck Hogan abandoned his career as a video store clerk when his first novel, The Standoff, became a bestseller and was translated into fourteen international editions. His most recent novel, Prince of Thieves, was awarded the Hammett Prize for excellence in crime writing, and is being made into a major motion picture by Warner Brothers. He lives with his family in Massachusetts.