The Fall
Book Two of the Strain Trilogy
by Guillermo del Toro
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THE FALL
Extract from the diary of Ephraim Goodweather
Friday, November 26
It took the world just sixty days to end. And we were there to account for it—our omissions, our arrogance . . .
By the time the crisis went to Congress, and was analyzed, legislated, and ultimately vetoed, we had already lost. The night belonged to them.
Leaving us longing for daylight when it was ours no more . . .
All this mere days after our “uncontestable video evidence” reached the world—its truth drowned in thousands of smirking rebuttals and parodies that YouTube’d us beyond all hope.
It became a Late Night pun, smart-asses that we were, hardy-har-har—until dusk fell upon us and we turned to face an immense, uncaring void.
The first stage of public response to any epidemic is always Denial.
The second, Search For Blame.
All the usual scarecrows were trotted out as distractions: economic woes, social unrest, the racial scapegoating, terrorist threats.
But in the end, it was just us. All of us. We allowed it to
happen because we never believed it could happen. We were too
smart. Too advanced. Too strong.
And now the darkness is complete.
There are no longer any givens, any absolutes—no root to our existence. The basic tenets of human biology have been rewritten, not in DNA code but in blood and in virus.
Parasites and demons are everywhere. Our future is no longer the natural organic decay of death but a complex and diabolical transmutation. An infestation. A becoming.
They have taken from us our neighbors, our friends, our families. They wear their faces now, the faces of our familiars, our Dear Ones.
We have been turned out of our homes. Cast out of our own kingdom, we roam the outlands in search of a miracle. We survivors are bloodied, we are broken, we are defeated.
But we are not turned. We are not Them.
Not yet.
This is not intended as a record or a chronicle, but as a lamentation, the poetry of fossils, a reminiscence of the end of the era of civilization.
The dinosaurs left behind almost no trace of themselves. A few bones preserved in amber, the contents of their stomachs, their waste.
I only hope that we may leave behind something more than they did.
From the book THE FALL: Book Two of the Strain Trilogy by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan. Copyright © 2010 by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan. Reprinted by permission of William Morrow, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
The Fall
Penned by Guillermo Del Toro, the acclaimed director of the Hellboy films and Pan’s Labyrinth, and author Chuck Hogan (Prince of Thieves), The Strain sparked an epidemic of raves, among them, “A high-tech vampire epic...Terrifying.” (San Francisco Chronicle). If you were entranced by the first novel in The Strain Trilogy, prepare to be possessed by The Fall!
While the world watches in scorn and unbelief, the vampiric virus unleashed by the Master has taken over New York City and is rapidly spreading around the globe. Amid the chaos, disgraced CDC official Eph Goodweather and his courageous rapid-response team, guided by the brilliant Abraham Setrakian and pest exterminator Vasiliy Fet, set out to stop the bloodthirsty monsters.
What they don’t know is that they have help from unexpected quarters. Threatened by the Master’s plan, the Ancients Ones—a noble race of vampires—are recruiting humans to eradicate the new scourge. Elsewhere, as Eph’s vampire ex-wife Kelly stalks the city in darkness, raging to reclaim her son Zach, Eph struggles to save the boy from the invading evil. But it may be too late...the Master’s plan is coming to fruition—a plan more terrible than anyone could have imagined.
Hardcover : 320 pages
Publisher: William Morrow & Co, Inc/Imp Of Har ( September 21, 2010 )
Item #: 13-152252
ISBN: 9780061558221
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.25 inches
Product Weight: 14.0 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
not as good as book one..so very true 
August 19, 2011
Book one is much better..had a difficult time getting to the end of the book..will continue to read the next book but will get from library rather than waste money on it
Reviewer: malisa
Not as good as book one
October 25, 2010
I was really impressed with book one of this trilogy. I could see GDT's cinematic eye in the writing-- and really, the whole thing came together well, effectively scaring the bejeezus out of me. I had a hard time putting it down! It was so good that it made the disappointment in this book all the more sharp.
**Spoiler Alert**
I recognize that the middle book is often an oddball, but this one was really irritating. Very little actually happened, and of what did happen, some of it seemed immaterial or implausible. The auction at Sotheby's shouldn't have happened if the city was in as much turmoil as was described-- that just doesn't make sense. And Mr. Silver Angel's quick appearance and death was too fast to have spent as much time on it as they did. The space station scenes were irrelevant, and not poignant enough to add anything.
The most annoying part was the fixation on Zack. I get that Eph is fixated on him, but Zack wasn't given enough personality for the reader to really care about him, so focusing so much of the book on worrying about Zack just bored me. And all the ancients were killed that quickly and easily without much of a fight??? Really? Again, that's just implausible.
Although this book was shorter, I found it harder and harder to pick up because I just didn't care as much about what was going to happen-- and because really stupid things kept happening. I'll probably rent the third book from the library before making a purchase.
Reviewer: Elizabeth
Vampires are Monsters!
October 15, 2010
Thanks for a book where vampires are monsters. I hate the current trend in books, movies and TV shows that are turning the genre into Transylvania 90210. This book isn't perfect; the idea of an auction at Sotheby's going on while New York crumbles around it stretches even my imagination. But there are still enough chills in this book to make it worth your while. If you liked Dacre Stoker's Dracula: The Undead give The Fall a read.
Reviewer: Mike A
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