About this title: An epic battle for survival begins between human and vampire in this heart-stopping thriller--the first in a trilogy--from the visionary creator of the Academy Award-winning "Pan's Labyrinth" and a Hammett Award-winning writer.
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Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Edition: First Edition first
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: William Morrow
Date Published: 6/2/2009
ISBN-13:9780061558238ISBN:0061558230
Description: New. 0061558230 Brand New Book With Remainder Mark. May Have Slight Shelf Wear. In-Stock Now For Immediate Secure Packaging & Delivery. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: William Morrow
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780061558238ISBN:0061558230
Description: New. Items ship once payments have cleared. Media mail 5-8 days Priority 2-3 days and international orders may be subject to customs clearance procedures which can cause delays. Seasonal delays can occur in postal system. All items ship within 24 hours of receiving payment. read more
Edition: Advance Reading Copy-1st Edition, 1st Printing
Binding: Glossy Pictorial Die-Cut Wraps
Publisher: William Morrow, New York
Date Published: June 2009
ISBN-13:9780061558238ISBN:0061558230
Description: AS NEW in AS NEW WRAPS. 8vo (6 x 9), 401 pp. Softcover advance edition is FINE--unread, unmarked, and AS NEW in AS NEW die-cut pictorial wraps. (dc) A plane lands at JFK with what seems to be 200 dead bodies. Very strange. But--first--4 are found to actually be alive and then all 200 disappear from their respective morgues, it becomes apparent they may all be vampires and if so, have spread out to do their work before anyone could know what was going to happen. Guillermo del Toro is the ... read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780061558238ISBN:0061558230
Description: New in new dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 416 p. Audience: General/trade. Over 30% off retail. Prompt shipping from a reliable bookseller. read more
Description: Very good. Box is slightly smooshed, otherwise A Brand New Copy. Never Opened. Still Factory Sealed in the Publisher's Original Shrinkwrap. Book-on-CD. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Harperluxe
Date Published: 2009-06-02
ISBN-13:9780061893902ISBN:0061893900
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780061893902. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: William Morrow & Co
Date Published: 2009-06-02
ISBN-13:9780061558238ISBN:0061558230
Description: NEW. Hardcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780061558238. read more
Binding: Hardback
Publisher: HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780007310258ISBN:0007310250
Description: BRAND NEW HARDBACK. High-concept thriller with a supernatural edge from world-famous director, whose films include pan's labyrinth and hellboy. (Hardback) read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: HarperLuxe
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780061893902ISBN:0061893900
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Spoken Word Compact Disc
Publisher: Harperaudio
Date Published: 2009-06-02
ISBN-13:9780061715204ISBN:0061715204
Description: NEW. Spoken Word Compact Disc. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780061715204. read more
Binding: Audio CD
Publisher: HarperAudio
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780061715204ISBN:0061715204
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
"So here's the problem with this book, I didn't like it, but it wasn't bad enough for me to dislike it. If anything, this book rates as a 'meh' on my scale. The 'vampires' in the book are strange, in that they don't have fangs, they have long fleshy stingers that emerge from their mouths to attack their victims. Also, they're stupid. Apparently, becoming a creature of the night removes all but your basic brain functioning.
I also think it's a risk when an author attempts to combine the folk/myth aspect of the vampire with a new scientific explanation. Here, the reasoning was thought out, but perhaps too much so, because it felt like the one knowledgable character was always tutting on the vampire mythos and spouting off the real reason for the start of the stories.
Honestly, it read like a movie script that had just been fleshed out to prose proportions. And I'm sure that's probably the direction it will move back to.
"First let me say that this is the first horror novel in a while that gave me old fashioned chills and that there were specific scenes that were very good. Other parts of the novel however, could use more work. The writing was very clunky at times, themes are touched upon but never followed through - e.g. the protaganist is an alcoholic but it is just thrown out as a phrase, it doesn't really give depth or meaning to the character. Characters are introduced just long enough to make a good "visual" and then dropped. Spoiler....
The premise of vampirism as virus could have been interesting but once again never really folllowed through on. One puzzler the heart in the jar. If that heart could live on wouldn't other disembodied parts from other vampires also live on? and what about the dogs wouldn't the virus try and mutate them?
and finally since I listened to this I'd like to say that Ron Perlman's narration was sometimes rushed and not as nuanced as his work on CIty of thieves."
"Director Del Toro (who won an Oscar for Pan's Labyrinth) makes a dramatic splash in his fiction debut, the first volume in a vampires vs. humanity trilogy, coauthored with Hogan (Prince of Thieves). Just as a jumbo jet on a flight from Germany to New York is touching down at JFK, something goes terribly wrong. When Ephraim Goodweather, of the Centers for Disease Control, investigates the darkened plane, he finds all but four passengers and crew dead, drained of blood. Despite Goodweather's efforts to keep the survivors segregated, they get discharged into the general population. Soon after, the corpses of the tragedy's victims disappear. The epidemiologist begins to credit the wild stories of Abraham Setrakian, an elderly pawnbroker who's the book's Van Helsing figure, and concludes that a master vampire has arrived in the U.S. The authors maintain the suspense and tension throughout in a tour de force reminiscent of Whitley Strieber's early work.
A little bit more than the normal vampire lore and at first I thought it a bit much; however, I was intrigued throughout and am looking forward to the next book to see what happens next"
"A lot of the comments mirror my own issues. Great start, mediocre middle/end. Eph was such a cliche that I really couldn't take him seriously. Government agent going through a tough custody battle and will do anything for his son because he loves him so much? Really? Top it off with an incredibly vague love affair with his partner and this is just a personification of a myriad of tough/sensitive guy stereotypes. Also, my own quibble, I found his name never flowed while I was reading it: "F"? Based on his character description, he should have been called John Q Hollywoodman.
Not to say there aren't some incredibly entertaining parts. I enjoyed the flashbacks as well as the detailed scenes of neighbors and friends attacking each other (although as mentioned before, this went on for way too long. I found myself really immersed in these sections and expected each of them to turn out differently. They never did though. At the end of each family/friend kill scene, I felt like Charlie Brown kicking the football and chastized myself for thinking this section would be different).
It looks like the character of Gus will really be fleshed out in the next installment, which is good because I enjoyed his story arc. However, it was criminal what was done with Fet. He started strong and had a lot of badassery but then was relegated to cheap comic relief and became very unbelieveable. And by the way, what a colossial coincedence that Fet just happened to call Eph's cell phone. When that scene unfolded, I literally put the down book and said out loud "Are you f****** kidding me?". The authors knew these characters needed to meet and took the easiest, cheapest, most unbelieveable way possible.
Last complaint: Physical action is very hard to depict and acurately portray in novels. Some authors have a knack for it, others dont. The battle with The Master was so clunky and confusing that I had to reread paragraphs just to follow the action. "Something black flew by. Someone was hit in the back. He turned and swung his sword but he was gone. Something black flew by...". Painful.
All griping aside, I honestly was entertained throughout this book and will probably read the entire trilogy. I wasn't expecting a literary masterpiece; just vampires, killing and heroics. I probably won't remember all the details of this book in a year but it was a fun ride while it lasted."
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