The Fall (Strain Trilogy #2)

Slick Vampire Tale

Switch on the UV light, slip on your silver bling, because this book is going to suck you in. This is book II of the Strain Trilogy. I missed book I, The Strain, but had no problem catching up within a few pages. The book is very fast paced, with just enough characters to carry the tale easily without overly complicating the plot. The world is being taken over by the minions of the Master. He is the youngest of the seven Ancients, a group of vampires who were slowly dominating the world. The Master has decided to eliminate the other Ancients, and take control of world, with humans as the food crop to nourish his army of vampires. A handful of humans attempt to stand in his way. Chief among them is Setrakian, an aging professor and experienced vampire hunter. Many years ago he was forced to kill his own wife who had been turned by the vampires. Fet, a former pest exterminator in New York, who finds his true calling is eradicating vampires. Eph , former head of the Center for Disease Control team assigned to fight this seeming epidemic, learns the truth from Setrakian and joins him to stop the Master. Zack, Eph's young son, is forced to grow up fast in a world where his mother, now a vampire, is seeking him to bring him into the fold. Throw in some corporate egomaniacs, Nazi war criminals, vampire hunting gang bangers, and a slew of red eyed, voracious vampires and you get a story packed with action from end to end. Del Toro and Hogan add some nuances to the standard vampire tale and throw in an ending that grabs you unexpectedly to make this a great summer read.

6 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

If 'The Fall' is anything at all like 'The Strain'....

Leave your lights on, better yet, read these books in full, bright sunlight. Not at all someone that suspects the dead walk among the living in the real world, this book left me shuddering shortly after the lights were turned out.

Stunning visual world exsists within the writing of Del Toro and Hogan. Living , breathing characters. Tension. Fear. Try reading about the investigative exterminator searching the WTC site to find out where the rats are really going without a knot in your stomach.....

Imagine being trapped in a cab outside your own house , under attack of former neighbors who are now vampires.....

Dead bodies escaping morgues.... running the streets of New York City.

A new twist to the horror of a charcter trying to survive the Holocaust.....

The Strain delivered on so many levels. I can only imagine i won't be able to 'fall' asleep when this story returns in the pages of 'The Fall'.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

The End of Humanity Comes Closer in The Fall

The Fall is the second book in The Strain Trilogy by Chuck Hogan and famed filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro. Continuing from the exact point where the first novel, The Strain, left off, The Fall is another action-packed installment of the human race's pending extermination at the hands of vicious, blood-thirsty vampires. Del Toro's and Hogan's vampires are reminiscent of those first seen in Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, or, more recently, The Passage by Justin Cronin. These are not the drawing room vampires of Anne Rice or the teeny-bopper heartthrobs of The Twilight Saga. The vampires in The Fall are barely reminiscent of their human selves, having been transformed by a viral worm into vampires whose primary hunting tool is a massive stinger that retracts up to six feet from their mouths, striking at their victims and injecting them with venom. The Fall links Holocaust events to an underground plot by ancient vampires to infiltrate and ultimately destroy the human race. A dwindling cast of characters includes Abraham Setrakian, an old vampire hunter who has survived the concentration camps himself and spent the rest of his life researching and destroying vampires; Ephraim Goodweather, a discredited physician with the CDC, and his son, Zach; Ephraim's partner Nora and her elderly Alzheimer's-inflicted mother; Vasiliy Fet, a New York City exterminator; and a handful of NYC gang members-turned-vampire hunters. This second novel, although equally as action-intensive as the first, falls short of the originality, character development, and overall excitement of the first novel. As the vampires continue their domination over the human race, thousands upon thousands of the vicious creatures attack the small band of humans. Yes, this is a fantasy novel, and readers should not look for much character development or realism. However, it becomes increasingly less believable throughout the novel that these highly powerful, supernatural creatures are so easily destroyed by a small ground of inexperienced hunters. At one point in the novel, even the child Zach kills two vampires without even trying. Overall, The Fall is a lot of fun, especially the scenes in which Goodweather's ex-wife, Kelly, now a full-fledged vampire, stalks the small group in search of her son, hoping to turn him into a vampire himself. The scenes surrounding an ancient text, the Occido Lumen, a book that explains the origins of the vampires as well as the methods by which to destroy them, add an element of The Da Vinci Code to this story as the coded and cryptic language must be decoded in hope of perhaps saving the human race from ultimate destruction. Following the release of Justin Cronin's popular novel, The Passage, is was perhaps too soon to release The Fall, yet another novel about a vampiric virus destroying the human race and its few remaining survivors struggling to save humanity. I look forward the 2011 release of the third and final installment in The Strain Triology.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Disappointing - but read it anyway

If you read The Strain, the first book in the series, you probably enjoyed it as much as I did and look forward to reading The Fall. Go ahead and get The Fall - you will anyways just to see how the story plays out - but don't expect the book to be of the same quality as The Strain. Much of the suspense found in The Strain is lacking in The Fall. The reader already knows about the vampire virus, how it is spread, what The Master looks like, that a lot of people will die, etc. The Fall doesn't really build up any new suspense... it's pretty much filled with action scenes and waiting scenes. Hopefully the third, and final, installment in the series will pick up the pace again.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Slightly Disappointed

As much as I loved The Strain, I found the second book, The Fall, lacking. For me, there was none of the edge of your seat suspense so prevalent in the first book. That "Oh my gosh, what's going to happen next?" feeling. Some of that may have to do with knowing now exactly what these things are and how they came about. The mystery of the first book was a lot of what I enjoyed about it. For me, the problem with The Fall was that this book was mainly a lot of battles and killing of the vamps -- which were great in that respect, after all, I love some gruesome violence and gore -- it's just there wasn't a lot of furthering to the storyline itself. This book seemed more like a means to put everything and everyone in place where they need to be for the final book. Having said that, I still feel connected to these characters. I still had some of those "what's going to happen to them?" moments. Just not so much as the first book. I'm really looking forward to the conclusion of this story and hope the authors don't make us wait too long to find out what happens to our world and these characters in the end!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Why isn't available as a e-book ...all that money for a nook

I hope this will be available as a e- book,I am dying to try out my nook and the Strain was a good read for a Vampire book.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Del Toro and Hogan continue to impress. An excellent book in what is shaping up to be an excellent trilogy.

I was fortunate enough to get an ARC of "The Fall". I was completely engrossed in it from the first page. I finished it in two nights. I don't want to give anything important away so I'll be as general as possible. "The Fall" picks up shortly after the end of "The Strain". The pace of the book is quick. It's extremely dark, but in a good way. It's, what feels like, an appropriate second book in a trilogy. Think "The Empire Strikes Back" as a comparison. It left a lot of questions and a lot of different possible answers. I will eagerly wait for the final book. I can't wait to see how this all turns out. One thing - I initially had some difficulty figuring out if it was daylight or nighttime during the first bit of the book. It was slightly confusing at first, however, it didn't take away from the overall enjoyment of the book. I especially enjoyed the transcripts from Ephs diary and Fets blog and how they were incorporated into the story. An excellent way of foreshadowing and insight into the characters mindsets. I liked "The Passage", but this was even better, for me.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Amazing

I just finished reading the ARE for this book. It's amazing. I'm not usually one who enjoys vampire books, but this one was vicious and written with a very sexy, engaging style. I recommend this one.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book opens almost immediately after the first one ended, wh

This book opens almost immediately after the first one ended, which will be refreshing for the readers. Almost no time has passed, and the time that has is explained. Today’s vampires are sexy, brooding and seductive, which is fine, but del Toro and Hogan take this desire for immortality and they remind people that vampires were originally evil, blood-sucking creatures who did not sparkle, did not cry blood, but simply fed to satisfy the most basic instinct. This dark duo takes the story to a whole new level, not pulling any punches and not showing any mercy. You will be begging for, and dreading, the final chapter to this twisted tale.

A gripping, stunning, and terrifying trilogy about the extermina

A gripping, stunning, and terrifying trilogy about the extermination of the human race by a vampiric plague. The suspense of the first book continues as the parasitic virus spread by the "Master's" ominous plan leaves the human race decimated within days. The detail, accuracy, thought and character development put into this novel makes the reader feel like the events are actually happening in real time. Once you delve into the first chapter of the Strain, the mounting tension will keep you completely engrossed in the whole Trilogy. Sleep while you can, because "The Night Eternal" looms on the horizon with mankind at the brink of extinction!

Spellbinding

Following on the heels of the first book this one captivated me from the first chapter and didn't let go until the last word on the last page. Unfortunately the interest built in books one and two do not carry over to the third.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Good read

Now onto the last book!

Letdown

Not nearly as good as the first book. The father-son storyline is so annoying that i won't even read the third book.

Good

It was ok. The story was a good continuation of the first book. It seemed like the relationship between two of the characters was than what the audience was led on to. So some of the reations didn't make sense. Otherwise it ended well and in a way that makes me want to read the last book in the series

Amazing, if you only read one book this year read this book

Very seldomnly do I find a book this engaging. If you like horror scifi genre check this one out. The Fall is a very dark story that I would say is the perfect second story in the Strain trilogy. This is honestly the first trilogy I have seen that had the perfect middle story. A series of heart wrenching moments leave you wounded and begging for more. I highly urge you to read The Strain first before reading this book. A definite must read.

Must read for sci-fi buffs and Guillermo del Toro fans!!

Awesome series for anyone who loves smart, page turning science fiction. This is a must also for any Guillermo Del Toro fans.

Not as good as the first book in the series

not a scary as the first book. the vamps become too commonplace and easy to kill.

Good...

...book as far as Vampire saga's go. I liked the continued story of the character's. It's not a book for anyone who wants something to sink their teeth into, a lot of plot holes, but overall a satisfying read. There are no glittering vamps in this story!

The best one of the three

A great read. My only complaint is that this and the third book should have been sold as one. The first book could kind of stand by itself, but the second can't and it leaves everything hanging so you have to read the third. Steven King writes big long books and usually sells them as one story, but I'm rambling. This was a good read and its recommended.

Very worthy follow-up!

Usually after the initial novel, the middle sequel leaves something to be desired; not this one. The book starts with an extract from Ephraim Goodweather's diary "It took the world just sixty days to end". This is a full tilt continuation of The Strain set a few weeks after the 777 landed in NY with The Master on board. The converted passengers of the plane have changed over into vampires and had returned to their homes in search of their "dear ones" (their family), turned them & so on. The vampiric virus is sweeping NY and other locations around the globe with the assistance of the uber-rich & dying Eldridge Palmer facilitating the spreading of the infection in the hopes of being turned himself. As one would think, society is in a full out panic & services are breaking down. Roads are jammed, gas & food are scarce and the nighttime world belongs to the vampires who are in all out slaughter mode. This novel is filled with many twists & turns culminating in The Masters ultimate endgame (which I will not spoil here). If you liked The Strain, you'll certainly want to read this follow-up! I, myself have already started devouring the third book in the trilogy & the saga continues.