'Strain' is a fresh look at vampires

"THE STRAIN," by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, William Morrow, $26.99

Vampires are all the rage these days.

But readers who developed a crush on Edward Cullen (from Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series) will be crushed to read the latest undead offering, "The Strain."

Its creatures of the night are not handsome, charming or romantic. Instead they are hideous, malevolent and hungry.

In an e-mail interview with the Deseret News, co-author and film director Guillermo de Toro explained that the movie "Blade II" set him on the path of a novelist.

"The thing with 'The Strain,' is I took all the ideas that I posited on 'Blade II' but (that) wouldn't fit (David) Goyer's story line. All these ideas were really annotations on vampire biology I had made over the years: How long does it take to change? What organs are affected? How? What's the viral/organic way?"

These questions and the answers that sprang from them led del Toro to produce a mythology, cosmology and history that he promises will eventually be revealed in this book and the two scheduled to follow.

Del Toro, who is living in New Zealand while working on film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit," said the other two books in the series are nearly finished.

The result, for readers, is a fresh approach to vampires that examines the "science" behind the diseased vermin.

These are not creatures with anything pretty about them at all. They are found hiding in cellars or sewers, preying on the weak and wretched.

Co-author Willaim Hogan ("The Killing Moon," "Prince Of Thieves") offers a direct, matter-of-fact style that grounds the imaginative elements, making the book both gritty and real.

Fans of "Blade II," will find the the vampires in "The Strain" instantly recognizable, and readers who know the film will find the cinematic imagery impossible to escape. The violence, like that in del Toro's film, is brutal. And as new characters are infected, the process and result are intentionally ugly.

The undead here are definitely unpleasant.

What makes the book engaging is the characters, and Hogan and del Toro wisely introduce a mystery first and vampires and the mayhem they unleash later.

The story begins with a flight from Europe arriving at New York's JFK Airport going dead; communication with and access to the plane is impossible. Even the window shades are drawn.

Dr. Ephraim Goodweather, from the Centers for Disease Control, is called in, and it is his sensibilities and scientific approach that allows much of the vampire biology to find its way into the narrative.

Joining "Eph" is Abraham Setrakian, a Van Helsing-type who is every bit as compelling and who adds some of the pieces of the nature and history of these mythical monsters to the puzzle.

For those who aren't put off by the carnage, the book is a great start to a trilogy. Those who are afraid to see their runway-model vampires turned inside out should keep their distance.

E-mail: lc@desnews.com