The Fall by Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan

Synopsis From Back Cover:

The vampiric virus is spreading and soon will envelop the globe.  Amid the chaos, Eph Goodweather - head of the Centers for Disease Control's team - leads a band out to stop these bloodthirsty monsters.  But it may be too late.

Ignited by the Master's horrific plan, a war has erupted between Old and New World vampires.  Caught between these warring forces, powerless and vulnerable, humans find themselves no longer the consumers by the consumed.  At the center of the conflict lies an ancient text that contains the vampires' entire history... and their darkest secrets.  Whoever finds the book can control the outcome of the war and ultimately, the fate of us all.

Before I sat down to write this review, I went back and read the one I did for The Strain.  I realized, after reading it, that I didn't love this one as much as the first book.  I still loved how evil and inhuman the vampires were, but I just didn't feel that same sense of giddiness that I did the first time out of the gate.

The good news is that I think I know what the problem was, and I think it will be fixed in the last book of the trilogy.  Like a lot of middle books, this one got bogged down in too much back story and plot devices.  Everything in The Fall is designed to take us into the third book, which I think will be nonstop, pounding action.  I know all the back story is needed to set up what's to take place later on, it's just always hard to get through it all.

I'm not saying this book didn't have a lot going for it, because it did.  I loved the character development and the arc some of them are taking in their lives.  Their decisions are starting to have real life consequences, some of which I didn't see coming.  The action is extreme and a lot more violent than in the first installment.  I think that has a lot to do with the fact the vampires are actually starting to seem like vampires to me.  I'm no longer annoyed with the fact that they seemed to be more like a generic 28 Days Later kind of monster, they are starting to have fangs now.  I just wish The Master would take care of the Cullens for me.

I'm looking forward to the final book in the trilogy when everything comes to a head and makes this book, more than worth the read.

Other Books In The Series:

The Strain