The Strain

The Strain ***1/2

by Guillermo del Toro, Chuck Hogan
Book Type: Horror, Fiction
Summary: 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. Ephraim "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.
summary on goodreads
My Review: "Imagine that you’re reading one of those Twilight books as Edward is whispering chaste sweet nothings into Bella’s ear, and it was oh-so-romantic-and-couldn’t-you-just-die-OMG-OMG-OMG. Suddenly Edward’s head flips back and his throat opens up like he just became a Pez dispenser. A six foot stinger/sucker thing flies out, and it zaps that silly girl right in a major artery and drains her dry in about twenty seconds while parasitic worms take over her corpse and turn her into a mindless bloodsucking meatbag." I read this review on goodreads and thought it as hilarious! And SO TRUE. This book is seriously creepy. I'm used to reading young adult novels where the focus is on love and drama! This book is anything BUT. If you want to read this book, DON'T read it at night. It will give you nightmares :). And be aware that it does swear. A lot. And there is some inappropriate material at the beginning of the story. This is definitely a novel written for a more mature audience. So if you are up for insanely creepy vampires that are blood sucking monsters with no human semblance left in them, this is a great novel for you. :)