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Book Review of The Strain (Strain, Bk 1)

The Strain (Strain, Bk 1)
gsisk avatar reviewed on + 189 more book reviews


I did not enjoy this book very much. The arrival of the main vampire is "Nosferatu" placed into modern times, so nothing original there.

There is the CDC doctor who recognizes that a new disease is spreading, with the requisite estranged wife, and his son. Of course, his boss doesn't believe him, and of course, there's the old professor from the "old" country who "knows" things. Here the vampires spread like a disease, they don't have fangs, but an insect-like stinger and are basically depicted as worm-infested human-sized rats (the worms spread the vampiricism), defecating as they go. I second another reviewer who said that there were too many plot-holes, and another who mentioned other books that tread this ground before.

I lost interest about half-way through, but kept hoping something interesting would happen. Instead it was just the usual: find the master vampire and kill him.

This is the first book in a series. I only read few vampire stories so far, and this book felt like a remake of a remake. I tried this one, because of Guillermo del Toro - I thought his "Pan's Labyrinth" and "The Orphanage" were fantastic! Maybe he should stick to making movies.