The series begins with an homage to Bram Stoker's Dracula: A Boeing 777 lands at JFK International Airport. It stops, dead, on the tarmac. The airplane is full of pale corpses. A strange coffin filled with dirt is found in the cargo hold. This marks the coming of Jusef Sardu, a vampire known as the Master, to the United States. The novel follows Dr. Ephraim Goodweather of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) as he investigates what is first thought to be a virus that killed the passengers. As his investigation continues Eph comes into contact with Abraham Setrakian an old pawnbroker who knows a lot about this virus and introduces Eph to "another V word: vampire."
I'm just a couple of discs into the audio version of the book (Ron Perlman reads it :). The style is reminiscent of scriptwriting, and some of the characters are cliché-ish (the hero is a doctor obessed with his work, divorced from a woman he still loves, dedicated to his young son, and sleeping with his female co-worker), but overall it's pretty good and has provided some compelling images, including a chilling description of a solar eclipse.
Here's a blurb from the Kirkus Reviews ....
The book boasts a plethora of arresting images and many terrific macabre touches. Del Toro and Hogan also succeed in constructing a driving plot and delivering a gripping conclusion. Great characters, a semi-plausible premise and a flair for striking scenes get this trilogy off to a first-rate start.
- nope, not a vampire, but Ron Perlman reading a script for Beauty and the Beast
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