Book Review: The Strain

Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan, 2009, Harpercollins Australia

When a Boeing 777 landing at JFK International Airport fails to respond to radio hailing, officials fear a terrorist situation. Further investigation by Dr. ‘Eph’ Goodweather and his colleagues reveal that all but four of the passengers aboard are dead, felled instantaneously by some agent that has left odd markings on their necks. There are no signs of biological contamination, radiation or gas: nothing to indicate a deliberate attack. And the only piece of luggage aboard that seems at all out of place is a large wooden box filled with soil. Before long, Eph discovers that something very old, evil and deadly has come to New York – but will he be able to convince the authorities, or even protect his own family, before the rapidly spreading Strain consumes all of New York City, and, from there, the rest of the world?

In this, the first of an apocalyptic trilogy, moviemaker Del Toro and thriller writer Chuck Hogan have produced a genuinely frightening addition to the vampire subgenre. Some elements of the plot will seem familiar to readers, having been drawn directly from such classics as Stoker’s original Dracula, I Am Legend, and 'Salem’s Lot, as well as from Dawn of the Dead and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but there’s also a great deal of freshness, with all the disparate elements drawn together to create a beautifully complex framework upon which hang both the plot and the mythology of Del Toro and Hogan’s vampires. Here, the creatures are depicted as supernatural in origin, while nonetheless conforming to some wonderfully bizarre yet credible biological restrictions: this is the vampire as a literal cancer, a plague and a parasite, as an instrument of terror that creeps into suburban households to absorb our neighbours, friends and family.

The authors aren’t shy about tapping into various current cultural fears, which gives the action- and tension-filled plot an added edge. Characterisation steers away from stereotyping, and, while The Strain works well as a self-contained novel (albeit one with an open ending), plenty of intriguing characters and subplots are set up throughout to ensure a strong readership for the two remaining instalments of the trilogy.

One of the best vampire novels I’ve ever read.