Del Toro’s Strain

I’ll be honest: I’m not a huge fan of vampires. Or maybe it’s that I really like vampires but I haven’t been a huge fan of any vampire stories in a long time. I can’t remember the last time I saw or read a vampire story that really made my jaw drop. Perhaps that’s all about to change with the release on June 2 of “Strain,” the novel by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. It goes something like this:

A Boeing 777 arrives at JFK and is on its way across the tarmac, when it suddenly stops dead. All window shades are pulled down. All lights are out. All communication channels have gone quiet. Crews on the ground are lost for answers, but an alert goes out to the CDC. Dr. Eph Goodweather, head of their Canary project, a rapid-response team that investigates biological threats, gets the call and boards the plane. What he finds makes his blood run cold.

So begins a battle of mammoth proportions as the vampiric virus that has infected New York begins to spill out into the streets. Eph, who is joined by Setrakian and a motley crew of fighters, must now find a way to stop the contagion and save his city—a city that includes his wife and son—before it is too late.

Publisher’s Weekly called the book a “tour de force.” Booklist says we should expect it to become the “next big horror franchise.” Perhaps this is the vampire story I’ve been waiting for? The official website for “Strain” has launched and has a ton of features for you to dig through and investigate before the book’s release. And the best part about “Strain”? It’s only the first in a planned trilogy so there’s plenty more to come. You can also order the book RIGHT HERE!