As THE STRAIN begins, Flight 753 from Berlin to New York has experienced trouble — not in the air, but upon landing. Rather than taxing to the terminal, the plane just sits there, and its pilots ignore messages of inquiry from the control tower.
When people are sent in to check it out, all the shades are drawn. And inside, everyone appears to be dead, but with no signs of decomposition. Upon further examination, CDC investigators Ephraim Goodweather and Nora Martinez find that one pilot and three passengers actually are alive, barely. So what the hell happened?
That strange box of soil found among the cargo may be to blame. And there’s blame still to be meted out, as the quartet of survivors begins to experience … well, changes. Like an unquenchable thirst for blood — the family man craves dogs; the Marilyn Manson-esque musician, groupies; the society matriarch, grandkids. All develop retractable stingers underneath their tongues, and their organs are being manipulated by the unusual cancer that metastasizes within.
A survivor of the Nazi regime tells Goodweather and Martinez that this strain of vampires has been around for decades, and that Manhattan is doomed. With it being an island, however, the threat may be contained if they act fast enough, as its passing over water unaided is impossible. Otherwise, the Big Apple will rot. Tomorrow, the nation; then, the world.
And one presumes that’s exactly what we can expect, as this is the first of a trilogy, with the second and third installments to follow in 2010 and 2011. But didn’t David Wellington already do this kind of thing — island, nation, planet — but with zombies?
Co-written by Chuck Hogan and Oscar-nominated director Guillermo Del Toro (PAN’S LABYRINTH, HELLBOY, BLADE II), the novel has all the pros and cons of Del Toro’s films. On the plus side, there’s plenty of imagination and nightmarish images. On the other hand, it doesn’t know when to quit. (Don’t misunderstand me: He’s a terrific director, but not always on top his game when it comes to structuring stories.) The first half is solid as the suspense builds and Hogan tempers Del Toro’s tendency for sometimes sluggish narrative into more easily digestible slow burn. But once the plague spreads and the vamps go off on their individual attacks … well, just how many attacks does one need to witness, over and over?
A late-in-the-game introduction of a rat exterminator helps deflate the bloat, but THE STRAIN never quite gets back to its bogeyman basics. If Stephen King’s THE STAND — an epic which this somewhat resembles — can enthrall for more than 1,100 pages, shouldn’t THE STRAIN not be one in roughly a third of that count? All in all, this collaboration makes a serviceable start to a series I’m unsure about continuing. —Rod Lott
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great review, Rod. thanks a lot.