On September 24, 2010, a plane lands at JFK airport in New York City. Immediately on landing, the plane goes dark, all of the window blinds pulled down, and the doors completely locked. Ephraim Goodweather has been spending time with his son, Zack, in the lead-up to a custody battle, but he is called away from his weekend off work to investigate the plane. On arrival, he and his partner Nora realize that it is full of dead people, bar four very ill exceptions. The dead people are unusual, though, in that they appear to be full of a strange white liquid, not blood, and their bodies haven’t deteriorated at all. Eph is mystified until an old man, Abraham Setrakian, approaches him with an extraordinary tale and an urgent mission.
At times, The Strain reads like a movie on paper. Everything is very visual, from the descriptions of the scenes to the alteration between chapters to the way it cuts across the perspectives of the characters. It’s easy to imagine this on a big screen, a difficult feat for someone like me. I rarely envision what I’m reading as I go along, but I couldn’t avoid imagine these pictures. While that’s not necessarily a fault, the book had a startling amount of gory descriptions and action scenes, so I don’t think this book is for the squeamish. It had my stomach rolling at times because I could for once picture all the nastiness associated with the vampires.
What does work without a doubt is the intense, ceaseless suspense and quick pace of the novel. It only takes place over a few days, but so much happens in those days as the mystery is established, solved, and the characters set out to save the world. The timescale never feels unrealistic, especially because we don’t stay with the few main characters all the time. We’re also given viewpoint perspective for a few of the victims and their families, which really drives the emotional impact of the entire situation. The authors are very good at establishing sympathetic characters in a very small number of words, which definitely impressed me. Of course, the main characters, especially Eph, are easy to care about as well. Eph in particular virtually lives for his son, but his chances of winning custody are slimmed even further when he has to save the human race. His priorities break his heart, and they break ours too.
While The Strain is not for the faint hearted, it is certainly an exciting ride, and is meant to be the first in the trilogy. I know I will be looking forward to seeing what happens next!
I am looking forward to reading this. I just got it out of the library earlier this week.
Great review! I enjoyed this book too. It was a bit more gruesome than my normal reading but still really fun. I’m looking forward to the next 2 books.
.-= Amy´s last blog ..Her Fearful Symmetry =-.
I hadn’t read any descriptions of The Strain, though I have seen it everywhere. It sounds good, but i just know that I will not have the time to read it anytime soon.
.-= Nicole´s last blog ..This Just In! I Sold Andy Warhol. (too soon), by Richard Polsky =-.
Nope, not now. Now is not the time for this novella
I can’t seem to read anything that has such details 
i will surely mark it, to read it later
.-= Veens´s last blog ..Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer =-.
I’m a big vampire fan, but maybe I like the kinder, gentler kind! Actually, I’ll likely get to this eventually.
.-= Beth F´s last blog ..Review: Shanghai Girls by Lisa See =-.
This sounds like an exciting book–generally not something I’d read, but your review has tempted me!
.-= Stephanie´s last blog ..Book Review: Betsy-Tacy =-.
Hmmm…I love creepiness, but I don’t like gory details! So I’m kind of on the fence about this one.
.-= Nymeth´s last blog ..Black Juice by Margo Lanagan =-.
I felt exactly the same way – the whole time I was reading The Strain, I could see it as a movie in my head. I really enjoyed it – it was just the right amount of creepiness for me. I don’t like too much graphic violence in novels, but for some reason, I didn’t have any problems with the graphic details in this one. It might be because the vampires were so zombie-like, if that makes sense!
.-= Belle´s last blog ..Incoming! The Memoirs Edition =-.
Hmmm, can’t wait for the movie adaptation!
I loved this book, so I’m pleased to hear that you enjoyed it too! I can see it being made into a movie without having to change a thing.
I’m not sure about the next book in the trilogy – I don’t think it will be able to match the suspense of the first few chapters, but I look forward to finding out!
I FINALLY wrote my review of this and it is posting later this week. I’m glad you liked it too!
.-= Jen – Devourer of Books´s last blog ..Haunting Bombay – Book Review =-.
Sounds like something that I would love to read. I am not usually squeamish, and the story sounds really involving, so I will be keeping an eye out for this book. Thanks for the great review!
.-= zibilee´s last blog ..Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel – 256 pgs =-.
[…] 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 […]