Book Review: The Fall by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

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The Fall by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan is the second installment in their "The Strain" trilogy. The books revolve around an impending and then occurring vampire-induced apocalypse. Being the second novel in the series, The Fall is the novel in which the vampire presence on Earth goes from being something vehemently denied by the masses to something that is undeniable.

The Fall is one of those novels that go back and forth in time in order to tell the full story of main characters. The story also jumps around a lot in order to create suspense and to keep up with the array of protagonists and antagonists The Fall has to offer. One thing that can be said about The Fall is that Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan have come up with some interesting characters. Some of them have intriguing back-stories and some of them are just very strange, in a decidedly good way.

One thing that tends to be a little distracting about The Fall is the uncommon names that nearly all of the characters have. Even worse, is the fact that each of these characters with an uncommon name also has a shortened version of their name. They may also be called by their last name, rather than their first name and then later called by their first name or their nickname. It takes awhile to become acclimated to the names and really figure out who the hell del Toro and Hogan are talking about.

There is a good deal of action and a somewhat new twist on vampires in The Fall, making it a lot less mundane than your average modern vampire novel. I will give it a readable, but not particularly memorable rating. One more thing I should mention is that it does not satisfy as a stand-alone novel. I will let you know later if it satisfies as a series.

Shelly Barclay