The Strain - Vol 1

Author: Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan
Format: AudioBook
Reader: Ron Perlman

4 of 5 stars

I had a little bit of trepidation approaching a fictional novel written by someone primarily known as a motion picture director. Just because someone is a great film director does not mean they can jump from the moving picture to the static page. Guillermo del Toro demonstrates that not only can it be done, but it can be done well. The Vampire genre has become so pervasive that it seems one cannot turn around without being confronted by yet another person or group peddling their take on the Vampire tale. After reading On The Road and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, I was ready for a quick light story, and guessed that this would fit the bill. It is a decision I did not regret.

In the same vein as The Passage, The Strain treats the Vampire legend as more of an infection than a supernatural occurrence. Unlike The Passage, the notion of a supernatural element is not completely done away with. In some ways it reminds me of the approach Dark Shadows took with the vampire Barnabas Collins and the efforts of Doctor Julia Hoffman. While there are epic highlights to the story, it is essentially a tale involving a small cast of underdog characters battling a mighty foe. There are places where the sense of scene blocking performed by an expert film director is unmistakable, and with the exception of a few close calls with cliche the whole story plays out very well. From the outset this is billed as the first of three stories, though there does not seem to be a public timeframe on when the remaining two tales are to be expected. Even if this ends up being a trilogy forever in search of its companions, the book stands well on its own. There are many unanswered questions and a number of cliff hangers, but it ends with a clear sense that a major chapter has concluded as opposed to an arbitrary deadline having been reached.

Ron Perlman is apparently not only a great actor, but also a good reader. I don't think the two necessarily go hand in hand. At first I was excited, being a fan of Perlman's other acting work, and then got a little worried at the outset of the book. Perlman has a very distinctive voice, but he also has a narrow range. I think he ends up doing a very good job supplying enough vocal nuance to specific characters that they can be distinguished from themselves. But if you have just come from a reader with a broad vocal range, it will take a little bit to get used to Perlman's significantly more subtle nuances. I also have to admit that initially it seemed a little odd to have Hellboy reading a book to me.