Comments on: Book Review: The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

By: The Strain, by Chuck Hogan & Guillermo del Toro – Book Review | Linus's Blanket

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 05:01:32 +0000

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By: Vanessa @ BookSoulmates

Vanessa @ BookSoulmates — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:07:21 +0000

I LOVE your review! It’s so wonderfully detailed! *Applause*
I especially loved that you gave us books that reminded you of this book. The Hot Zone hit particularly close to home since I too read it several yrs ago, along with Demon in the Freezer. Talk about a TRUE THRILLER! lol.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this book!

Your blog is super cute!
Vanessa

By: Adrienne

Adrienne — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:02:51 +0000

Rats!- I have this on my TBR pile and was waiting for a rainy weekend (which never happens where I live)to read it. I wish sometimes when they market books they are a little more honest with the readers on exactly the type of book. If the book was marked “thriller” instead of “vampire”, do you believe your review would have been more positive?

BTW-soo jealous with envy, you have a signed copy!

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:05:09 +0000

I think that you’re right, though. It has merit. It just should have more merit. But I can’t hate anything that has a holy nail gun in it.

By: Thea

Thea — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:22:27 +0000

Harry – Hah *blushes* I know, I let this one get away from me. I kept wanting to end the review, but I’d remember something else that bothered me, and so on and so forth. I was pretty disappointed with how decidedly lackluster The Strain was (and frankly, cannot understand all the rave reviews). Gaah.

And yep, I went through a phase in middle school and the beginning of high school where I was really into medical/outbreak thrillers. It started after I saw Outbreak in the theater, and then of course I started glomming Robin Cook’s backlist…

Jeff – Ahh, gotcha. Well, I can definitely understand wanting more of the thriller side of the book (as you’re right, the supernatural angle certainly isn’t anything new). The Strain suffered from a bizarre identity crisis, and I’m not sure if that had to do with the two different authors or whatever. I just wish it had stuck with either thriller or trad horror as opposed to this weird blend that leaves all parties dissatisfied.

I kinda got the feel that this book was rushed for maximum profit, if you know what I mean? Which sucks, because I really did wanna like it. Oh well. C’est la vie.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:26:27 +0000

Thea, I have similarly mixed feelings on the book, but kind of in reverse. I was really excited to read a medical/procedural thriller about vampires – it seems like a fresh take on a worn subject that actually makes a degree of sense – but it abandons that concept as soon as Setrakian convinces Eph and Nora that they’re dealing with vampires, at which point it becomes focused on the more traditional, supernatural aspects of the source. I wish it would have been more “The Hot Zone with vampires” than it was.

By: Harry Markov

Harry Markov — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:06:48 +0000

The freaking longest review I have ever seen you write… I think it crossed over from review to essay to a critical dissertation of a published work. It’s super extra cool that you got that book signed with an individual touch and I also like the whole grizzlier take on vampires, but I am not too fond on it being a thriller. I have not read many thrillers, because all the movies I watched in this genre are pretty much in the same vein and if books are too, then I can’t waste days with them.

And OMG you read thrillers in middle school? Back in middle school I collected Pokemon and 50 pages of anything sounded like an eternity of boredom. Hated reading back then.