The Fall

The Fall is a 2010 vampire horror novel by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. It is the second novel in The Strain Trilogy, and was preceded by The Strain and followed by The Night Eternal. Plot synopsis The vampire race is descended from seven vampiric "Ancient Ones." A vampire faction led by a renegade Ancient known as the Master instigates the takeover of human civilization. Elderly billionaire Eldritch Palmer, having been promised immortality by the Master, uses his influence to create a news blackout, ensuring that the vampires face little resistance. Abraham Setrakian, an elderly vampire hunter, is hopeful that the lost grimoire, Occido Lumen, holds the key to defeating the Master, and searches for it before the Master's forces take over. Setrakian is aided by epidemiologist Dr. Ephraim Goodweather and pest exterminator Vasiliy Fet, who have joined those resisting the vampires. Goodweather also seeks to protect his son, Zach, from his wife, Kelly, who is now a vampire and is driven by an animalistic instinct to convert her family. Meanwhile, the other Ancient Ones enlist gang member Gus Elizalde to destroy the Master. Characters Dr. Ephraim Goodweather Former head of the CDC's rapid-response team, the Canary Project, Eph is now a fugitive from the law, trying to prevent the vampire plague from spreading to the rest of the country, and to protect his son Zach from his recently turned ex-wife, Kelly. Having failed to kill the Master in the previous novel, Eph becomes obsessed with trying to kill Eldritch Palmer, convinced that the Master's plan will fail without Palmer's financial backing and campaign of disinformation.