Nocturna (novel)

Night (original title in English : The Strain ) is the first novel of vampires of The Trilogy of Darkness co - written by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan .

The book was published on 2 June of the year 2009 simultaneously in Spanish and English . The trilogy is completed by Dark (2010) and Eternal (2011).

To celebrate the launch of the book Guillermo del Toro held a signing session at Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles and at Barnes and Nobles in New York .

In 2014, the authors took the book to television, with adaptation in the series The Strain .

Synopsis

A Boeing 777 lands at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport from Berlin, and when it goes to the door for passengers to start disembarking, it suddenly darkens. The control tower loses contact with the pilot and all electrical activity of the apparatus is cut off. No mobile, no BlackBerries, no radio, nothing. The curtains of the windows are lowered and no one is seen inside. An emergency team meets and everyone watches the silent plane now bathed by the lights of the airport, in complete silence. It looks like a gigantic white headstone that shines against the dark night sky. ¹

Plot

The book begins with a tribute to the novel Dracula of Bram Stoker : A plane Boeing 777 lands at JFK International Airport in New York from Berlin . He stops inert at the airstrip and his interior is full of pale corpses. A strange coffin filled with dirt is found in the luggage department. Thus comes the arrival of Jusef Sardu, a vampire known as “The Master”, to the United States.

The protagonist is Dr. Ephraim Goodweather of the CDC (Center for Disease Control) , who investigates what at first glance appears to be a virus that killed the passengers of the plane. As his research continues, Goodweather contacts Abraham Setrakian, an old lender who seems to know a lot about this “virus” and hints that it could be a plague of vampires.

Throughout the book gather several characters that will face the plague of vampires and help in one way or another Ephraim and Setrakian.

The vampires of Nocturna

The vampires depicted in Nocturna are quite different from ordinary vampires that are regularly represented in the literature. These are some of its characteristics:

Crosses, garlic and holy water do them no harm, only silver is effective.
Vampirism is a type of disease caused by a species of parasites (worms), which begin to transform the host into a vampire.
The vampires of Nocturna do not bite with their fangs, but use a kind of sting two meters in length that comes out of their mouth, which causes an almost imperceptible wound.
When exposed to a mirror with a silver background you can see how it is transformed (the reflection vibrates even though the subject is completely still) compared to the classic vampires, which do not reflect their figure.
They die if they are exposed to sunlight, and are affected by a “Luma” lamp that emits UV rays, although a type of vampire is known to whom sunlight is not so harmful.
They do not have blood as such; It is replaced by a whitish substance.
At the same time that they feed, the vampires expel the impurities of the blood in the form of a liquid composed mainly of ammonia.
Nocturna vampires do not use their mouths to speak, but communicate through telepathy . In addition, the most powerful can even read the thoughts of humans.
Newly Infected Vampires do not know how to use their sting; Some learn by moving their mouth and tongue in a strange way
The New Vampires are clumsy and without much force. However, the more experienced vampires have superhuman agility and tremendous strength and their speed increases considerably.

Characters

Main

Dr. Ephraim Goodwather: CDC Epidemiologist Center for Disease Control.
Abraham Setrakian: lender, survivor of the Nazi holocaust, vampire hunter.
Nora Martinez: Dr. Goodwather’s companion at CDC and an occasional lover.
Vasily Fet: pest exterminator.
Agustin “Gus” Elizalde: gang member, member of Los Sultanes Latinos.

Secondary

Felix: Friend of “Gus”, member also of the Latin Sultans.
Lorenza Ruiz: Comrade of Eph of the CDC.

Antagonists

Jusef Sardu: “The Master” or “The Seventh.” One of the original seven vampires.
Eldritch Palmer: President of the Stoneheart Group, is responsible for the arrival of Sardu to the United States.
Jim Kent: Friend of Nora and Eph and also a member of CDC.