What I'm Reading: "The Strain" by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan

I'm currently reading "The Strain," the first novel in a horror trilogy (Book 2, "The Fall" is currently out) and I simply can't put it down. Its basic premise is rooted in vampire mythology but not in the romanticized teenage bloodsucker craze we are seeing with the "Twilight" series. This one tells the story of seven Ancients, vampires who have lived for centuries, with three of them in the New World and the other four, in the Old World (Europe and Asia). When one of the Old World Ancients decide to come to the New World, aka New York City, the centuries-old peace is broken and well, you have to read it to find out!

This trilogy is a blockbuster collaboration between Spanish film director, Guillermo del Toro and author Chuck Hogan. With the recent release of the Ben Affleck-directed heist movie, "The Town," the name Chuck Hogan is beginning to garner attention as "The Town" is based on Hogan's novel, Prince of Thieves. Add del Toro, the writer/director of "Pan's Labyrinth," "The Devil's Backbone" and "Hellboy," into the mix and you have a duo of storytelling heavyweights. The way the book is written, I can definitely see a movie adaptation in the near future.

For more information about the trilogy, go to http://www.thestraintrilogy.com/