Review: The Fall, Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

After the showdown with the Master, in which they failed to kill him, Ephraim Goodweather and Abraham Setrakian are left clutching at straws in their attempt to vanquish the vampires and save the human race.  Worse, Eph is now discredited from his organization and must hide at all times, his ex-wife has now been turned and is trying to capture his son, and in all respects it’s clear that the good guys are running out of time.  Abraham is left racing to get his hands on a book that will help them, a book that the Master wants, and must use all of the abilities he has left to get it before the vampires do.

This is going to be a difficult review to write, simply because I did not like this book.  I did like The Strain, which I think set me up for disappointment here.  Like many second books in trilogies, this one just falls flat, limp with a total lack of plot, too many unnecessary plot strands, and for me at least, a complete and total lack of suspense and fear.  Mainly, I read my way through the book feeling bored, disgusted, and uncaring, which means that I at least will not be reading the third installment of this trilogy, even if it lands on my doorstep for free.

If I found any part of the book interesting, it had to be Abraham Setrakian’s backstory.  I quite enjoyed reading about his past, horrific as it was, because I felt it cast some much-needed light on the main story.  In fact, I could quite easily have stripped out everything else and solely had a book about how the vampires rose from World War II to the present; unfortunately, that isn’t what I got.  Perhaps it’s just personal preference talking, but I have no real desire for a book that seems solely about killing, without a plot to hang on, that relies on disgust for its shock factor and leaves character relationships and development to the wayside as a result.  And no, it’s not just because I like my vampires sparkly, because I don’t.  I just grow tired of fight after fight with gushy white blood for what felt, to me, no purpose.  It read more like a horror movie than a book exploring the takeover of vampires.

I’m not sure I can still recommend this series.  I know quite a few other people enjoyed The Fall, my own husband among them.  For me, however, I’m drawing the line here, and will not be reading the next book.

If your opinion differs, I’d love to hear about it.

I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for review through Amazon Vine.