ABAW: The Fall by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

The Fall: Book 2 of The Strain Trilogy by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

William Morrow 2010, library copy

Check out my comments on The Strain here. 

This trilogy is sort of Outbreak meets Bram Stoker’s Dracula in post-9-11 New York City. The Fall picks up right where The Strain ends, with very little back fill. Mayhem and destruction grips the globe as a vampire plague spreads quickly from an epicenter in New York City. The team of heroes is set.

• Eph: Dr. Ephraim Goodweather, former CDC epidemiologist, now a discredited fugitive wanted for murder (alcoholic, divorced, devoted father who doesn’t want to screw up anymore).
• Nora: Dr. Nora Martinez, also of the CDC (token woman and Eph’s love interest, with bonus aging mother suffering from dementia).
• Fet: Vasiliy Fet, NYC pest control officer, the talented Ukrainian-American rat-catcher (and my favorite character from this book; his tool of choice: nail gun loaded with silver nails).
• Abe: Dr. Abraham Setrakian, the Van Helsing of the set, pursuer of vamps since his time at Treblinka (complete with heart problem requiring nitroglycerin tablets).
• Gus: Augusto Elizande, the gang-banger turned vampire mercenary (a resourceful survivor, and my favorite character in book one).
• Zack: Zackary Goodweather, son of Eph, whose mom Kelly is now vamped and wanting to turn him too (grieving for his mom, with bonus asthma).   

They have some tools for self-defense and close fighting of vamps, but Abe wants to destroy The Master, his longtime nemesis and the source of the scourge. To do that, he needs a special book, uncoincidentally about to go up for auction for millions of dollars at Sotheby’s in New York. 

The enemies are many.

• The Master, the youngest of the seven ancients and the originators of all vampires on earth. He currently occupies the body of a European giant. He’ll trade up to a Marilyn-Manson-style rock star by the end of book 2.
• The Ancients, three Old World and three New World who are less than happy with their little brother. They equip and bankroll a number of mercenaries, including Gus, to contain The Master’s mess. Turns out though, that The Master’s plan was their too all along. He just took control and sped up the timeline.
• Eldritch Palmer, one of the three richest people on earth. Sickly his whole life and propped up by extraordinary and unsavory medical practices, Palmer provides the funds and the conspiratorial connections to help The Master in his plot. In exchange, Palmer wants to be a vamp. Alliances between bad guys don’t usually end well. Especially for the weaker bad guy. 

I think the suspense of the unknown in the first book made it scarier than the second. This one is more focused on logistics, filling in the history, and assembling the key pieces for the final confrontation to come. I am disappointed (but not surprised) that not all of our heroes make it to book 3. No I’m not naming the casualty.

Some people have complained about the constantly shifting perspective in the stories, offering a wide-ranging viewpoint on the catastrophe, including minor, disposable characters. I think the shift in point of view is a strength of the story. While the main plot is tightly focused on our band of heroes, the disaster reaches around the globe. Tucking in other viewpoints reminds us of the external and epic mayhem without distracting from the main story. My favorite sub-plots are the astronaut on the International Space Station and the tagger named Phade.

My main complaint about the story… The first book seemed to grow out of fear of terrorism (which was tight), but this one is environmentalism? Nuclear reactors? Really? The books are fast-paced, heart-thumping, fear-jumping good stories though. I look forward to what happens to Fet and Gus, and wonder whether Eph can avoid complete self-destruction to lead the team. I also wonder how the role of Love will play out in the accounting of the story. 

The final book of the trilogy, The Night Eternal is due out October 2011.