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The Fall (Hardback)
Short Description for The FallThe tension-filled sequel to The Strain, from the world-famous director whose films include Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy.
Full description- Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
- Published: 16 September 2010
- Format: Hardback 320 pages
- See: Full bibliographic data
- Categories: Horror
- ISBN 13: 9780007319497 ISBN 10: 0007319495
- Sales rank: 20,294
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Reviews for The Fall
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Top review
Humanity's fall
The Fall is the second book of the Strain trilogy, and is a fitting sequel to the excellent The Strain. It's an old-fashioned vampire novel, with evil, depraved nosferatu-type blooddrinkers unleashing a play for the end of the human world and its remaking into one that suits vampires.
The book may be old-style in its depiction of vampires, but is defiantly modern in its somewhat-flawed protagonists, corrupt businessmen and incompentant politicians. More to the point, the way the characters behave is realistic, given what you can know or infer about them. The hero of this book is old Abraham Setrakian, a Jewish vampire hunter who first stumbled across vampires in a WWII Nazi death camp. Nazi undead is a trope as old as WWII, but it works here, and is part of the logical plan beginning only now to fully unfold.
In addition to Setrakian, Ephraim Goodweather is trying to make sense of his life, and stop his bloodsucking ex-wife from stealing his son. Yes, I know that last sentence was laden with gender issues, but blame (or credit) the book that it only occurred to me as I typed out the sentence. Vasily Fet is a Ukrainian pest controller turned vampire slayer, and is a wonderfully drawn working class hero. Add in a retired aging Mexican luchador (wrestler) and film star, a street gang lord, and the intorduction of the mysterious Mr Quinlan, and things really look interesting for the final volume of the trilogy.
Interestingly, this novel reveals much of the vampire lore of the story, but much remains concealed. There are hints of a religious origin for vampirism, which is a welcome harkening back to the historical fear of vampires as drinkers of the immortal soul as well as of mortal life.
This is a fine story to read and enjoy - it's a page turner, with occasion flashbacks to the past which are well written and advance the main plot. The Fall is truly the end of the world as we know it; this is a excellent modern vampire myth for the 21st century. by John Middleton
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