The Strain: Book One of the Strain Trilogy by Guillermo Del Toro

I’m not generally a fan of the horror genre anymore, haven’t been for years. I used to collect Stephen King books in my early 20’s but that ship sailed quite some time ago. There must be something to the idea that the older you get the more you realize that the truly frightening stuff is on the 6 O’Clock news everyday and there is really no need to scare yourself further with walls that bleed or extra special serial killers. BUT, I loved Pan’s Labrynth so I thought “what the hell…”. Turns out I couldn’t put it down once I started. If I had to describe this book in one sentence… think “[I Am Legend] meets Gil Grissom”. I actually found myself taking the book to work with me and holing myself up in my office with the door locked and reading all afternoon instead of working on my research. I just HAD to find out what happened next. And that’s, well let’s be honest, a pretty nice thing to find in any book. Is the writing a bit sophomoric? Well, only if you dig reading authors like Austen or Faulkner and can no longer enjoy another book that doesn’t fall into that category. In this case I find the easier reading style to be a plus. This isn’t writing you want to savor like a fine cheese, this is a story you want to totally lose yourself in so that when someone taps on your shoulder somewhere around page 355 you jump and scream like a little girl.
And did I mention the best part of the book? Not one vampire SPARKLES. And even better… there will be no debate as to which one is “OMG… hotter?!?!?!”
Lastly, another reviewer commented on the inclusion of the holocaust and how unnecessary and offensive they found that to be, the holocaust being horrific enough with the addition of storybook monsters (or something to that affect). And I have to admit that gave me pause for thought. But I think I ultimately don’t agree to the point of taking offense. I won’t go so far as to say that the author was using the vampire legend as a tool to expose the true monsters in the story (although I believe he inadvertently did, the vampire in question having nothing on the Nazi’s if you ask me) but that doesn’t mean you can’t still walk away understanding that sometimes monsters do walk the earth and they look exactly like the rest of us.
Now, how long until the second book comes out? ( )