Guillermo Del Toro Writes The Strain

With a little help from Chuck Hogan

BY COLIN ENQUIST

The Strain is a novel co-authored by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan and was released June 2nd, 2009. The Academy Award-winning creator of Pan’s Labyrinth and the Hammett Award-winning author of Prince of Thieves bring us an epic tale about the horrifying battle between man and vampire. It is the first instalment of what will be a trilogy of novels.

When I heard Guillermo Del Toro was writing a prose novel, well, I might have shrieked. Guillermo Del Toro is fast becoming one of my favourite writer/director and his imaginative mind could only bring us a fantastic story, right?

I will get to the novel in a moment. First I want to say that all I knew about this book was the name of the author(s), the title and the release date. When I received my copy of the book in the mail I did not even read the dust jacket. Tossing the jacket aside, I was flying completely blind into the novel. I was giving Del Toro (and Hogan!) the complete benefit of the doubt of telling a compelling story. Hopefully they would not disappoint.

The novel opens with what seems to be an all too common scenario since 9/11 for starting a story. A plane, loaded to the brim with passengers, has some strange misfortune at JFK airport in New York City. The writers do something a little different though, when the plane touches down on the runway, blackness envelops the plane, killing all the electronics. As the plane stalls in the middle of the runway, no movement comes from inside. Airport security calls in for emergency help. After consideration if this is some kind of terrorist attack, CDC (Centers for Disease Control) is called in and we are introduced to Dr. Ephraim Goodweather. Looking for a biological weapon, a fellow agent and Ephraim board the plane, dead, on the tarmac. They discover that everyone on board is pale and now a corpse. The puzzles are starting to pile up and Del Toro has me fighting my chores because I do not want to put the novel down! Almost the entire first section of the novel has you wanting to keep reading, hoping something will arise on the next page.

As Del Toro and Hogan start unravelling their story we are given hints through a few interludes to what exactly Ephraim and his fellow CDC agents are dealing with. The interludes bring us back into Nazi Germany, during the war. We are introduced to a young Abraham Setrakian (he was vaguely introduced earlier in the novel) and his battle to stay alive during the Holocaust in a concentration camp. To my surprise, Setrakian is more frightened by the monster that is hunting the weak in the concentration camp. We soon learn that this monster is actually the monster from his grandmother’s story that she told Setrakian at the start of the novel. These interludes are explanations throughout the novel to flesh out not only Setrakian’s story but also a good chunk of mythology that will be used later in the book (and possibly the series).

Shortly after a couple interludes, Del Toro and Hogan join Ephraim and Setrakian’s stories. Once the two meet up, questions really start to get answered. The ideas used by the writers actually made me second guess what I thought was happening. I was correct in my theory (but I was not confident about it!), vampires are active in this novels’ world.

Del Toro and Hogan created something new, building off the already existing (but underused) myths about vampires. Not only do they make the vampires seem highly original but the writers vivid imaginations cause them to be scary, disgusting, almost zombie like creatures that have no remorse for human life, truly treating us like a food source. Part of me wonders if cows think of us like this. If you have watched Blade II then you are already imprinted with some of Del Toro’s take on vampires. The visuals from that film really help generate the image your mind creates when you read the words on the page.

The one weaker side to this novel was the introduction to so many characters. Aside from Ephraim and Setrakian, not a single character felt fleshed out. An exception could be made for Ephraim’s son, Zack, who seemed interesting but was merely used as a plot device to direct some of Ephraim’s actions. Some characters play pivotal roles but are left without much use, popping up only when needed, silently waiting in the background for when called upon. The writers will hopefully expand more on one of the minor characters (an exterminator) in the next two novels who was featured very little in the novel but is a compelling character from what we read.

A gripping conclusion brings us to the end of act one, of the seemingly apocalyptic story, with an epilogue that is absolutely chilling. This novel was very intriguing but it is not the greatest stand alone story. More answers on the mythology will probably help to make this story a little more cohesive as well. You must know ahead of time that you will be required to read the next two chapters in the coming future (titled The Fall and The Night Eternal which will be released annually) to understand the entire story.

4 out of 5