#175 in Horror
The Strain
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Our view
“The Strain” treats vampirism as an epidemic and turns that familiar idea into brisk, well-organised horror. Del Toro and Hogan handle a large cast and draw its threads together by the end, so this first volume of a trilogy also works as a complete story. Some readers like the realism laid over old vampire lore; others are less taken with the biological explanations or find certain scenes hurried.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Strain is a 2009 vampire horror novel by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. It is the first installment in The Strain Trilogy, and was followed by The Fall (2010) and The Night Eternal (2011).
Reading order · The Strain Trilogy
Full order & progress →- The StrainThis book
7.47.4 / 10 - The Fall
7.57.5 / 10 - The Night Eternal
7.27.2 / 10
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.3 across 295 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 67% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Horror average of 7.5. That is how 7.4 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.5 | 13 | 4% |
| Hardcover | 7.3 | 282 | 96% |
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
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