| | |  | Suspense | Home » » » » » The Passage: A Novel | | | | | | | Description: | | This eBook edition includes:
* A sneak preview of The Twelve, coming in 2012
* A revealing interview with author Justin Cronin
NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST NOVELS OF THE YEAR BY TIME MAGAZINE AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
The Washington Post • Esquire • U.S. News & World Report • NPR’s On Point • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • BookPage • Library Journal
An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, The Passage is the story of Amy—abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Brad Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl—and risks everything to save her. As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape—but he can’t stop society’s collapse. And as Amy walks alone, across miles and decades, into a future dark with violence and despair, she is filled with the mysterious and terrifying knowledge that only she has the power to save the ruined world. | | | Product Details: | | | Average Customer Rating:
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405 of 445 found the following review helpful:
 It's The End Of the World As We Know It--Several TimesApr 22, 2010
By K. Harris
"Film aficionado"
It has been a while since I've encountered a horror novel of such magnitude and scope, but Justin Cronin's hefty tome "The Passage" seems poised to announce itself as the latest true "horror epic." It's about time too! Ambitious and thought-provoking, but filled with propulsive action and bloodshed, "The Passage" is the thinking person's genre thrill ride. This massive book starts in the near future with a pretty unique combination of vampiric lore meshed with science gone awry. But Cronin, while nailing these explosive first chapters, has much more up his sleeve. The expansive (and sometimes it seems the story will never end) plot resets several times until we have followed the confrontations to their inevitable conclusion many generations later.
The comparisons to Stephen King's "The Stand" seem apt and, I believe, will be widespread. And in case anyone has a passing interest on where I fall on "The Stand," I think it's the best book of its type that I've ever read. Although the books are quite different in plotting and structure, thematically they share much. From the veritable destruction of the world as we know it, to the efforts to rebuild some semblance of a new world order, to the ultimate confrontation between good an evil replete with the requisite supernatural underpinnings--both books challenge ordinary citizens to rise to extraordinary levels to champion the human cause. In the right hands, these apocalyptic epics can be unforgettable--and I'll just say that Cronin's hands are quite capable.
Don't misunderstand the King reference, however, "The Passage" stands as its own unique portrait of a ravaged future. It's just that there are so few horror novels that set out to accomplish so much in storytelling. Cronin's novel is gutsy, challenging and filled with high level drama of the first order. It's not breezy or light entertainment, however. It's a serious reading commitment for those looking for their gore mixed with a lot of substance. A real change-of-pace and a welcome new addition to the ranks of horror lore, "The Passage" has earned the title of "epic."
291 of 334 found the following review helpful:
 Keep the Lights OnApr 29, 2010
By Jennifer L. Rinehart
If this review sounds disjointed, meandering and incoherent, forgive me, because I am exhausted. My eyes are gritty and I have a cramp in my hand because I fell asleep on it.
I got this book on Tuesday, read until my eyes were blurry and then snuck out of bed to sit in the icy cold living room so late at night (or early, depending on your point of view) to finish this book.
I'm not exaggerating when I say that this book is addictive.
First of all, I should tell you a little about my reading history. I've read The Stand, The Strain, Andromeda Strain, Red Storm Rising, One Second After, The Descent and World War Z, I could go on, but if you recognize any of these titles you will know that I have a thing for everything-goes-to-hell books.
The Passage, in my opinion, is as good as, if not better than the best of these novels.
I've gotten a bit jaded in my reading. Not only does it take more to shock me, it takes more characters, more excitement and mystery to keep me reading past the first five pages. When I read about the Passage on one of my favorite book review sites, I was interested, but not jumping up and down with glee to read it. After all, this was a book about Vampires.
I've read a lot of vampire fiction lately, and the bloodthirsty fangers just aren't as thrilling to me as they used to be. There's just two kinds of vamp books, good vamps and bad vamps. Count Dracula, Lestat, Angel and Spike would run away from the vamps in this book.
But, from the first chapter, I was drawn in by the characters. The destined for tragedy Jeanette, Wolgast, whose life has become one long waiting line, Amy, an innocent child with frighteningly wise eyes. All the side characters are intriguing too, Sister Lacey, Richards, Doyle, Peter, Michael, reminding the reader that the most placid surface can conceal the darkest depths.
As the reader, I was frightened. I put the book down about 3/4 of the way through and walked around my empty living room, trying to shake off the creeping horror of what was happening. I think the style of the writing makes it scarier, it's real, like a car crash and just as sudden. Cronin shows you the best of people one moment and then scares the hell out of you the next.
Some people might be angry about the world building. There isn't a lot of it, little clues let you know that the beginning of the book is in the future (no flying cars, gee whiz, it isn't that kind of story). The story and characters are the central focus, in this it reminds me of Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, like Thrones, you begin to see what the world is like because you are experiencing it along with the survivors.
The ending was unexpected. I don't want to say anymore about it, because you have to read this yourself.
289 of 341 found the following review helpful:
 I'm not usually a skimmer---must be going VIRAL!Jun 23, 2010
By Shiloh True
"Rabid Reader"
Justin Cronin's 766 page, 2 + pound, mammoth epic of a novel, nearly gave me bursitis in my elbows, from hoisting it up in the air over a three night period. For the first 250 pages, I thought the pain was worth it; it was enthralling. Then the storyline jumps almost a century into the future, with a host of total strangers' inking out survival in the post-apocalyptic, virus infested world. I was shaking my head in total disbelief. Just who were these people, why should I care about them, and what happened to those I had become so invested in, besides the obvious, that is, my favorite character was presumed dead. Unbelievable! I kept trudging on thinking, 'I'll soon be reunited with a couple of them.' Well, not exactly! The structure of the book became my enemy, spoiling much of the enjoyment and crashing the ride.
There have only been a few books that I resorted to 'skimming' through in my entire reading history. I'm normally driven to read every word. However, I felt that there was so much filler, and situational redundancy, that wasn't integral toward driving the plot, that I simply lost the personal investment. I did revive my flagging attention span toward the end. Unfortunately, the end left me scratching my head, too, not quite comprehending the spiritual, and metaphysical viewpoints setting up for the sequel. I resigned that we were moving from mans' fight for survival toward the fantasy realm. In my personal assessment, this was throwing too many berries into the pie.
The military, bio-warfare, experiment gone awry, is not a new theme, but I had high expectations for this epic after reading the marketing campaign. I did not feel that it offered competition for 'The Stand,' or 'I am Legend,' both of which offered unforgettable characters. None of the characters in 'The Passage,' became that endearing to me. In fact, after finishing the book, I can only remember a few of the characters' names.
Overall, I view 'The Passage' as rather overly ambitious, AND, about 200 pages too long. Are there areas of greatness and creativity in this novel? Absolutely! I'd give the beginning 5 stars, but sadly the rest of it is only 2 stars---thus my average 3 star rating.
I gauge the success, of the first in a trilogy, on how anxious I am for the next installment. In this case, I'm not sure I will actually read the sequel.
32 of 34 found the following review helpful:
It's good, but...Jul 04, 2010
By M. Silverstein
First, I didn't know this was a trilogy, nor that the book was 800 pages long. A family member of mine who works at Amazon had said the latest "buzz" around the office was The Passage. I didn't have any preconceived notions and was going in blind. And the one thing about the Kindle that I just really do NOT like is that you don't have page numbers, just percentages. So throughout the book, I really had no idea how much I had left. I guess that has no bearing on this review, so forget that I just said that.
Second, the book, overall, is good. I liked it. After I finished (finally), I went to see what other people thought of the book. Looked at the five-star, one-star reviews, just a couple of each and as usual, the vast array of differing opinions is apparent. For me though, I have to agree with one of the one-star reviewers in that the character development at the beginning of the book is fantastic. Cronin does a tremendous job of giving them depth and intertwining their lives with one another. Then - BAM! - it's all "undone" having to start "over" again. I'm purposefully not being specific so I don't spoil anything.
The "over" again part was drudgery for me. I had invested in the beginning characters and grew fond of each one of them, and to then have to forget them and learn to like these new faces, it felt like starting a new book - not something that I wanted to do, especially since I just started this one. Anyway, after persevering, and while these new folks are fairly typical and devoid of substance, I did find myself finally coming to grips that these would be the main characters in the book from now on. Whatever, I guess.
Third and lastly, the ending (no spoilers, I promise) is...interesting. Again, without knowing this was a trilogy and more books would follow, I couldn't believe it ended the way it did. I felt robbed in that I still didn't understand so many things. So many loose ends untied. But after learning that this was the first of three, I guess it eased things a bit.
Overall, from start to finish, the book definitely had some painstakingly slow times, while others I couldn't get enough. I suppose this is good writing from the standpoint that you need to have the valleys to support the climactic apexes, but really...800 pages is a lot. If the vast majority of the book was devoted to the "original" character set, I think it would have been (or I hoped it would have been) a five-star slam dunk for me. The Passage was fun, definitely, and I would hope that as with any trilogy, the final novel will bring everything full circle or, better, yet, reveal further depth of characters.
I will have to say that even during the first 10% of the book, I could see Hollywood writing the script, Ridley Scott, bringing the virals to the silver screen. This has the all the ingredients for a blockbuster kind of picture, and unfortunately, I think the vast majority of the budget would be spent on the "new" characters, not the old. Only time will tell though, hopefully it would be a good blend of both.
So, would I buy this book? Yes, but know that it's a trilogy, there's more to come, and that it's long, very long. It's entertaining enough, and well written. Definitely enjoyable.
71 of 81 found the following review helpful:
 Depends a lot on your taste & reading backgroundJun 29, 2010
By longfellow
You know why there is such a discrepancy in the reviews? It's simply this: aficionados of horror or post-apocalyptic fiction recognize this as a mash-up that doesn't really fulfill the expectations of either genre. Fans of literary fiction find it rather thrilling -- a 'good' writer tackling those supposedly lowbrow genres.
So in the end, your level of satisfaction will depend on your taste, reading experience, and genre expectations. No book can please everyone and The Passage is no exception.
For me, there were some beautiful and evocative sections, but as others have pointed out, I cared a lot less once the story jumped 100 years into the future. The 'new' characters are thinly drawn and largely stereotypes; the villainous creatures get progressively less dangerous and nowhere near as fast as they were in the beginning; the plot s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s out to less reward; and the resolution(s) are both complicated and easy. Plus you're left hanging until the sequels.
It's an experiment, really: putting a literary writer into the genre pit. He claws his way out, but the genre fans can't help but find his story rather ho-hum, which leaves the literary crowd to coo about this as a "startling achievement"--they just don't know any better.
You were warned!
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