Genre fans will be quite familiar with the work of Guillermo Del Toro. He’s directed such films as Mimic, Cronos, The Devil’s Backbone, Blade II, and the critically acclaimed Pan’s Labyrinth. He’s also done both Hellboy films and for fans who haven’t gotten enough LOTR he’s working on The Hobbit 1 & 2. But The Strain isn’t a movie. It’s a book collaboration with Chuck Hogan (Prince of Thieves) about vampires.
Fans of his will know he’s delved into vampire waters before with Blade II, but instead of an action movie feel there’s more of a CSI investigation vibe as a 777 airplane lands in JFK airport in New York City on board which all but four people have died with no visible signs of of injury. We follow Ephraim “Eph” Goodweather, a member of the canary team of the CDC, as he gets called in investigate what happened on this flight.
Many storylines are interwoven in this tale. Depending on your point of view, the pacing is either a positive or a negative. The Strain does initially move swiftly, but it slows down a bit after the first third. The way that it’s structured made me believe this was initially concieved as a movie project, but it couldn’t get financed so it went into a different medium.
The sound quality is excellent. Every word is crisp and clear without a single bad dub. There is some use of music to intro chapters but it’s the same piece over and over. The narration is done by Ron Perlman (the star of both Hellboy films, he also appeared in Del Toro’s Blade II). You might even remember him from televison as Vincent on Beauty and the Beast. He does a solid job narrating this work, but he has a very distinctive voice with a deep timbre. This may or may not tickle your fancy. But if you’re looking for something other than romantic teenage vampires or Southern gothic vampires, The Strain just might be what you need to sink your fangs into.