The Strain
Book One of The Strain Trilogy
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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.
The Strain
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 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. |
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Author Extras
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Critical Praise for
The Strain
“A new crew of vampires is stalking the best-seller list this week.... My bets are on The Strain.”
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New York Times
“A high-tec vampire epic.... Terrifying.... The biological rationale behind the metamorphosis of the undead is cleverly and vividly explicated, and the authors concoct a number of riveting action sequences.... With echoes of Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend and Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot, The Strain is a solid opener for a 21st century vampire saga.”
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San Francisco Chronicle
“Del Toro and Hogan create vivid scenes of a New York where something has gone terribly wrong.... Horror fans in search of a beach read will find the action moves swiftly and the violence is satisfyingly gruesome.”
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Baltimore Sun
“Just in time for summer.... A visceral page-turner that reimagines vampirism as a virus.... [An] epic battle between good and evil.... Vivid scenes of a New York where something has gone terribly wrong.... The action moves swiftly and the violence is satisfyingly gruesome.”
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Associated Press
“Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan are not interested in chaste adolescent vampires or sexy rock-star vampires or vampires who drink artificial blood. The vampires in The Strain are just plain evil.”
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Amy Virshup, New York Times
“Chuck Hogan is known for his taut thrillers, Guillermo del Toro for his surreal horror films (including Pan’s Labyrinth), and their new book, The Strain, brings out the best of each…. Riveting from the start.... Scenes are so vividly drawn that you can almost smell the moldering soil that clings to the undead, feel their unnatural heat.... Page-turning suspense.”
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Minneapolis Star Tribune
“A fast-paced mix of gruesome horror and straightforward investigative crime fiction.”
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Philadelphia Inquirer
“Potent cinematic imagery welded onto crime fiction pacing.... Reads like an extra grisly screenplay for a prime-time police procedural; a horror-infused CSI.... Del Toro offers his unique vision within the pages of this new book.... The beasts del Toro and Hogan have invented are not roaming faraway castles, but rather they inhabit our airports, backyards, and kitchens. This is a monstrous vision, one where all the romantic ideas of Bela Lugosi and George Hamilton are stripped bare and what is revealed is a new vampire biology—but with links to the past.... [The authors] create a vivid scene of a New York where something has gone terribly wrong.... Finely written.”
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Chicago Sun Times
“A man vs. vampire page-turner.... A fast-paced mix of gruesome horror and straightforward investigative crime fiction.”
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Chicago Tribune
“Creepy fun.”
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Detroit Free Press
“[Guillermo del Toro] is letting his imagination loose on vampires.... Shocking.”
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USA Today
“An imaginative and genuinely frightening mashup of Dracula and Outbreak.... Takes the vampire genre into bold new territory while still staying grounded in the classical motifs.... Intriguing.... Frightening.... An engrossing war between humanity and an enveloping darkness.... A gripping page-turner that’s bound to be one of the hottest novels of the year. The scenes are outlined in vivid detail.... A captivating thrill ride that injects new life into the vampire genre. More importantly, it’s a horror novel that’s actually frightening. Its monsters are so fully rendered, its scenes so well-crafted, that the story takes over your imagination. It will give you nightmares and make you think you see something moving out of the corner of your eye when you’re walking to your car at night.... An incredible fiction debut for Del Toro, who shows that his eye for detail and dark imagination are not limited to film. In terms of sheer horror and atmosphere, “The Strain” can stand beside the best of Stephen King or Peter Straub. It combines the elemental fears of antiquity with the unique fear and anxiety of an age of terrorist threats and biological weapons. It’s the quintessential horror story of this decade.”
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Buffalo News
“The big lure.... Plenty of arresting, vividly imagined moments in this page turner.... Good enough to make us break that vow to swear off vampire stories.”
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Newsweek
“Del Toro and thriller writer Hogan treat a vampire outbreak as a massive public-health crisis, with chilling results. The book boasts a plethora of arresting images and many terrific macabre touches. Del Toro and Hogan also succeed in constructing a driving plot and delivering a gripping conclusion. Great characters...and a flair for striking scenes get this trilogy off to a first-rate start.”
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Kirkus Reviews
“Director Del Toro makes a dramatic splash in his fiction debut, the first volume in a vampires vs. humanity trilogy.... The authors maintain the suspense and tension throughout in a tour de force.”
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Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“These undead creatures are slick, dark, and frigtening.... The story builds up steam quickly, and fans of horror, vampire fiction, and Del Toro’s Hellboy films will line up for this one. Buy multiple copies. Highly recommended.”
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Library Journal
“The Strain is a tremendous, thrilling read. I had to keep putting the book down after every few pages because I was so creeped out by the amazingly descriptive passages. If you can work up the courage to finish the book, you’ll be clamoring for the second and third installment of this trilogy in no time. This story will redefine how you look at vampires.... [A] phenomenal read.... The Strain is a must read.”
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Ray Carsillo, ESPN.com
“The opening...is about as great as you could ask for: an airliner lands at an airport, taxis to a stop, and then...it goes dark.... I like The Strain a lot.”
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Time.com
“This one’s sure to get a lot of interest.... The story offers a solid mix of horror and thriller elements.... The first installment of a projected trilogy.... You should expect to wait in breathless anticipation of volume 2. With a movie likely in the offing, this could become the next big horror franchise.”
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Booklist
“A cross between The Hot Zone and ’Salem’s Lot.”
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Entertainment Weekly
“Starts with a bang.... The creepiness ratchets up significantly.”
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St. Petersburg Times
“[A] horror tale [with] a thriller slant along the lines of writer Robin Cook.... The speed at which the drama ratchets up is intense, as are the vampires.”
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Lansing State Journal
“Eerie.... Truly terrifying.... [It] will have the hairs on your neck standing for quite a while.... Full of the blood and sinew of terrific horror fiction and nightmarish passages that will haunt you for days.... These big bad bloodsuckers will convince you they are real and that they will be marching into your town—soon. This combination of classic folk tale and modern biological nightmare will have you shivering in the night and double-checking the deadbolts.”
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Louisville Courier Journal
“Apocalyptic action.... Part The Andromeda Strain, part Night of the Living Dead.”
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Salon.com
“An easy and enjoyable beach read.... A worthy...first effort.”
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Columbus Dispatch
“If you prefer to be shaken, not stirred, The Strain might be the perfect thing….Horror novel fans are sure to suck down this first installment of a planned trilogy.”
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Santa Fe New Mexican
“A fresh approach to vampires.... Both gritty and real.... Engaging.... Compelling.... A great start to a trilogy.”
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Deseret News
“Doesn’t necessarily reinvent the vampire script but it certainly reinvigorates.... A truly creepy, intense thriller whose characters...will consume readers from the first page to the last.... What makes it special is plain old-fashioned storytelling. For those jaded by a genre that’s become a tad anemic and oversaturated, The Strain will inspire as it terrifies.”
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Anniston Star
“Have your heart medicine close: The Strain may sneak up on you—and it’s scary enough to kill. I loved it.”
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Gregory Maguire, bestselling author of A Lion Among Men and Wicked
“Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan have crafted a deliciously creepy story that will literally make the hairs on your neck stand up. The Strain is Bram Stoker meets Stephen King meets Michael Crichton. It just doesn’t get much better than this.”
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Nelson DeMille
“The first in a trilogy that soars with spellbinding intrigue. Truly, an unforgettable tale you can’t put down once you read the first page. I can’t wait until the next one.”
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Clive Cussler
“Blood and apocalypse mix in a terrifying story that feels like it was ripped from today’s headlines. Vividly wrought and relentlessly paced, The Strain haunts as much as it terrifies. I cannot wait to see where Del Toro and Hogan take us next.”
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James Rollins, New York Times bestselling author of The Doomsday Key
“Every few decades the vampire genre grows a tad anemic, as it were, and the lore of the Undead threatens to die on us. But then along comes a Richard Matheson or Stephen King and...license renewed. This time around the reanimators are Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan with their terrifying new novel, The Strain, an unholy spawn of I Am Legend out of Salem’s Lot.”
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Dan Simmons, author of Drood and The Terror
“The Strain might be the purest example of entertainment for entertainment’s sake I’ve read in quite some time.”
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Sarah Weinman, Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind
“Fans of the director will not want to miss this fresh take on the undead that will demand a little elbow room at local bookstores.... Fans of horror will lap this up and be watching their calendar for the next release.... The Strain demands attention and it demands that, yet again, we put away our old ideas and make room for a fresh take on the primordial monster.”
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theonering.net
“What makes The Strain special, what in fact makes the trilogy it begins to seem a likely candidate to join the gallery of classic vampire portrayals, is its absolute technical conviction.... [This] is what Dracula would have been like if written today by a writer of heavily researched nuts-and-bolts techno-thrillers. Combined with strong characterization, it’s a mix that winds up being commendably scary, the most viscerally exciting vampire novel since ’Salem’s Lot.”
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SCI FI Wire
“This new spin on vampires comes with a noticeable creep factor.... A breakneck thrill ride.... The cinematic quality really comes through.... Entertaining and scary.... Excellent.”
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Gawker Media
“A smart, fast-paced, and creepy book which...really resonates.... Think of The Strain as Bram Stoker by way of Stephen King’s The Stand.”
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dreadcentral.com
“The Strain is not just another vampire book. It’s one of those books that re-invents the genre so cleverly you wonder why no one has done it before.... A fantastic book.... Best of all, del Toro writes in pictures. Few authors share that talent.... The book delivers such powerful imagery that it seems inevitable it wind up on the big screen.... Guillermo del Toro is the best thing that has happened to vampires since Vlad Drakhoul and Bram Stoker.”
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john-howe.com
“Maybe you’re tired of all the good-looking vampires wooing pretty girls….Maybe you just like the kind of horror that makes you feel cold while you’re sitting in the sunshine….[The Strain] brings old-time folklore together with high-tech New York, whose citizens are in denial over creeping, ugly death….One of those just-one-more-chapter books for readers.”
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Toronto Star
“An arresting start for a topical new take on one of the oldest themes in Hollywood movie-making, and that is surely where The Strain is headed...the old magic works...the crossfertilisation between myth, science and fantasy makes The Strain a rattling piece of escapism...”
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The Times (London)
“[A] fast-paced, high-concept outing.... A tale that blends genre thrills with eccentric detours into folklore and mordant comedy.... The epitomoe of established, mass-culture storytelling.... Diverting and never less than expertly crafted.”
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The Guardian
“Entertaining mix of action blockbuster and vampire myth.... An exciting page-turner.”
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Metro London
“Del Toro’s cinematic background is evident.... The action thunders along at a cracking pace.... Slick, assured thriller with a genuinely creepy supernatural edge, think early Robin Cook.”
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Bookseller
“Oscar-nominated director Guillermo del Toro seems to have the Midas touch, and looks to repeat his film successes in the publishing world with The Strain.... Fans of his flicks will love this—it’s as filmic and gothic as you’d expect from del Toro—and the opening scenes are worthy of any good monster movie. A good commercial horror novel which reinvigorates the traditional vampire story.”
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Bookseller (Booksellers' Choice)
“Reads like a fleshed out movie script, and has clearly been written with as much thought given to the look and feel of the story as the motivation and development of the characters.... The story is genuinely chilling.... It strikes enough of a balance between creating clever psychological tension and breaking out the chainsaws to make it both readable and interesting.... A well written and absorbing read.... An enjoyable romp with plenty to recommend it.”
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Sunday Business Post (Ireland)
“This book was impossible to put down….This duo is dynamic, their vision of a world on the brink is equal parts apocalyptic and redemptive, and they have left the story wide open for two must-read sequels.”
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National Post
“The combination of del Toro’s fervid imagination and Hogan’s gritty realism produced the holy grail of horror—a book as scary as it is believable.”
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Melbourne Herald Sun
“Magnificently creepy.... Genuinely scary.”
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Sunday Age (Melbourne, Australia)
“Give the whole [vampire] concept more teeth.... Dracula for the CSI brigade.... I was hooked.”
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The Sunday Star-Times (Auckland, New Zealand)
“Guillermo del Toro is a master storyteller. He’s one of the few filmmakers whom you can rightfully call a visionary.... He knows how to tell a good story. And The Strain, which he co-writes with Chuck Hogan, is a terrific vampire novel.... It’s vampires portrayed as they should be - powerful, otherworldly and completely terrifying.... These two amazing storytellers have done a fine job here. There are moments...that work like a dark fairy tale and are utterly mesmerising and chilling.... Thrilling, relentless.... Like reading The Hot Zone—only with vampires.... I love this world they’ve created. I can’t wait to go back.”
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New Straits Times (Malaysia)
“The first in a trilogy that brings vampires back to basics.... A cross between Bram Stoker’s traditional Dracula and Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend.”
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The Business Times (Singapore)
“The Strain has sting.... An entertaining potboiler perfect for a lazy beach or airplane read which will have fanboys baying for more.”
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The Straits Times (Singapore)
“[One of] the most original and powerful filmmakers working today.”
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The Hollywood Reporter
“His distinctive creatures and otherwordly parables use the realms of fantasy to explore fundamental human issues such as love, alienation, weakness and, of course, fear…
[He is] a master of monsters.”
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USA Today
“A cinematic magician who has never lost his childlike sense of wonder.”
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Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh in Associated Press
“[An] amazing writer and director. . . . Pan’s Labyrinth places Mr. del Toro in the first rank of world filmmakers.”
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New York Times
“He elevated gothic horror to art. . . . Bilingual, bicultural, multigenre, he has a voice that feels both fresh and ancient.”
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Entertainment Weekly
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The Fall
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Nocturna
Siempre han estado aquí. Vampiros. En la oscuridad y en secreto. Esperando. Ahora ha llegado su momento. En una semana, tomarán Manhattan. En un mes, el país entero. En dos meses, el mundo. El visionario creador de la película ganadora del Oscar El laberinto del Fauno y un escritor ganador del...
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