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The Passage (The Passage #1)

by Justin Cronin

3.91 · rating details · 26,007 ratings · 6,401 reviews

“It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.”

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for ...more

Hardcover, 766 pages

Published June 8th 2010 by Ballantine Books (first published January 1st 2010)

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May 22, 2010

Newengland rated it

Shelves: contemporary, finished-in-2010

THE PASSAGE is a lot like the month of March. It comes in like a vampire thriller and goes out like a batty soap opera. And it's big! Spreading its bat wings, it measures in at 766 pages (or at least the ARC version does). TWILIGHT this ain’t, and regular vampire fare it isn’t either. It’s a hodgepodge of Bram Stoker, Tom Clancy, Stephen King, and John Steinbeck: one if by vampires, two if by military games, three if by bloodbath, and four if by brotherly melodrama.

Overall I lik...moreTHE PASSAGE is a lot like the month of March. It comes in like a vampire thriller and goes out like a batty soap opera. And it's big! Spreading its bat wings, it measures in at 766 pages (or at least the ARC version does). TWILIGHT this ain’t, and regular vampire fare it isn’t either. It’s a hodgepodge of Bram Stoker, Tom Clancy, Stephen King, and John Steinbeck: one if by vampires, two if by military games, three if by bloodbath, and four if by brotherly melodrama.

Overall I liked it. Honest. I don’t read 766 pages during the school year easily. “Big Mo” (that’s “Momentum” to you young folk) carried me through as the Laws of Physics applied. Meaning? Cronin got this off to such a sick start that the action carried me. I couldn’t put it down.

The opening plot line was simple: Dr. Strangelove goes to South America to find the cure for death and instead turns it loose. You can always count on your military brass for that sort of screw up, no? You see, they wanted a serum from these batty vampires living deep in the jungles (only why didn’t they migrate and take in... er, over... the world, like they did later in the book?) so they could extract the GOOD part of vampirism (you know, extended life, superhuman strength, and damn near indestructibility) without the bad part (bad skin, bad breath, restricted diet, No Exit signs in the Mortality Room, etc.). The idea was to give the serum to U.S. soldiers and then look out world! That's right, the USA would be able to kick some North Korean slash Al Qaedan slash Taliban butt!

You know the drill, though: the best laid plans of bats and uniformed men.... At their underground Telluride, CO, fortress, the Army injects 12 death row inmates and one special little 6-year-old girl (hint: key to the book) and keeps them under lock and key (and 12-foot steel walls and multiple doors and so on) for observation. Only the hanging upside down former prisoners, now “virals” (that’s the word for them in this tome), are playing with their guards’ minds because they want to come out and play. Can you say “telepathic disaster”? Uh-huh. All hell breaks loose and the score winds up being Hell 1 and U.S. Army 0.

Here’s where the book takes wing. These nasty hobbits come out of nowhere and rip you open like a can of beets. Every couple of dozen victims are just “scratched” on the throat so they can become part of the Viral Army. And soon America as we know it and love it turns into Cormac McCarthy PlayLand.

Yep. It’s THE ROAD all over again. Dystopia with teeth. And compelling stuff, too. We go to various outposts where certain humans have figured out certain ways to survive. Lights, chiefly. Because the virals are creatures of the night and don’t like the spotlight.

Where the wheels start to wobble is halfway through. Suddenly Cronin plays fast and loose with his own rules. Suddenly a viral attack develops more than two possible results (death and the equivalent of taxes – being a vampire for life). Suddenly “the good guys” (i.e. major characters) are given preferential treatment.

And he delves more deeply into the social life of our hearty crew of humans, too, including a fraternal rivalry between bros named Theo and Peter. This is the Steinbeck part -- East of Eden, West of Transylvania. Here Cronin gets a little too sentimental for my tastes, too, especially with the single “good vampire” Amy, who has none of the bad attributes (elongated bicuspids, penchant for Bloody Marys) but all the good ones (extended life, telepathic abilities, the keys to the city and the book, etc.).

In the end, the virals become less scary, the bag loses some of its punch, and you're flipping pages just to find out how Cronin ties this mess together. Then, when you get to the promised land, you see that he doesn’t. Then you see on the Internet that this is the just the first of three books. Then you say, "Oh, no!" and ask yourself how in hell a book just south of 800 pp. would ever need a sequel when it's too long by far already.

Finally, you collect yourself and recall where you are – the United States of A-Royalties. This, after all, is supposed to be the Summer Blockbuster of 2010! This, after all, is supposed to be money in Cronin's (and Random House's) bank! This is a book already in the cinematic pipelines with Ridley Scott as director. Fasten your seat belts, then. Get home before dark and pay your electric bill, too. This won't be the last you hear of THE PASSAGE.

Five stars for the first half, three for the second. I'll rate it down the middle and let you judge this glorious, bloody mess for yourself.
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Jul 08, 2010

Ellen rated it

Shelves: novel, sci-fi-fantasy

Later, Keith Olbermann’s words, “WORST PERSON IN THE WO-O-R-R-L-L-D!!!” would echo in my head.

The other morning, my daughter called, crying, and said, “I just did something terrible.”

I froze. As a parent, these words could mean anything. I waited.

“I hit a car. I was trying to move over because the street was narrow. I hit someone’s mirror. I panicked. I just took off. I’m late for work already. They’ll fire me if I’m late. I know I damaged the mirror. I...more

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Apr 06, 2010

Mark rated it

Recommended to Mark by: GoodReads GiveAway

Thank you, GoodReads for this Advance Reader's Edition. So hard to rate. Act I is simply superb - brilliantly written, suspenseful, beautiful, a full 5. Act II is cluttered, (too) many actors moving on and off stage, rarely doing anything of consequence while they are there. Act III is a combination screenplay, set-up for a sequel, exciting in a dystopian, end-of-days sort of way, (with a ray or two of hope).

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Sep 03, 2011

Garet Wirth rated it

Oh, The Passage. You promised me such wonderful things with your sparkly cover, your titillating title (a passage to WHERE??), and your massive hype. Also your sizable heft, as you are a large, obese book, full of words and things. I figured if I didn't like you, I could use you to stone evil-doers in some town square somewhere. How could I turn you down?

Your promises, though, were only partially fulfilled. While I enjoyed stoning people in the village square with you, your cover was...moreOh, The Passage. You promised me such wonderful things with your sparkly cover, your titillating title (a passage to WHERE??), and your massive hype. Also your sizable heft, as you are a large, obese book, full of words and things. I figured if I didn't like you, I could use you to stone evil-doers in some town square somewhere. How could I turn you down?

Your promises, though, were only partially fulfilled. While I enjoyed stoning people in the village square with you, your cover was simply too pretty to be true, and your title too vague to really *mean* anything. I still don't know what the passage was, but it was full of vampire-things and massive doses of character backstory that also didn't really *mean* anything... except make you a very, very heavy book. Brick-like, really. I believe next I'll tie a ransom note to you and throw you through a window, just for the giggles.

You had such lovely backstory, such vivid characters in your opening quarter, I couldn't put you down. Well, I could, because you are a fatass and my arms grew lethargic and weak after about an hour, but figuratively speaking. I was hooked, and I loved you for it. Vivid characters, shocking scenery, emotion. You had it all, baby.

But then things changed. Oh, did they change. You forgot your old ways and introduced me to a whole slew of new characters. Characters that I didn't care about, in a situation that seemed so distant and unreal compared to your sharply defined predecessors that I thought perhaps I was reading a different book. Gone were the late nights of voracious reading. Gone were my massive biceps developed from holding you at a readable height. I slogged through you, sometimes telling friends that you were "getting better," even daring to say "really good again" in whispered tones... but you would then disappointed, like a dog who is allergic to grass, and I would yell angrily at perfect strangers that you were a meandering, lame book with stupid characters and unbelievable situations. I finished you, though, because I had devoted a better part of the year reading you, and I had to see it through. Like climbing Everest, I just wanted to *breath* again, but I knew I had to finish you anyway.

And see you through I did, to an ending that only set you up for a sequel, likely full of more meaningless backstory and characters painstakingly developed over 100's of pages only to be forgotten or rendered unimportant. I did not spend 3 weeks reading you to get a cliffhanger, damnit. !@#$ you, The Passage. !@#$ you.

Goodbye, The Passage. You were a good workout, and my man-arms thank you. But you were bit of a slog and kind of boring. Sorry.

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Mar 11, 2011

Kemper rated it

Shelves: apocalypse-now, horror, sci-fi, vampires, playing-god

Good afternoon. This is Wolf Blitzer from CNN’s The Situation Room, the program that tries to make viewers think that you’re seeing the busy hub of television journalism instead of admitting that despite our high-tech looking set and satellite feeds, you’d probably learn more about what’s actually going on in the world by looking out your window.

We turn our focus now to growing rumors that the U.S. Army is conducting secret medical experiments on American soil. The bizarre claims...more

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Jan 26, 2012

Kaia rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: dnf

Chapter One: Long sob story about poor, small town girl who gets herself knocked up at 19 by an abusive man. Woman eventually loses house, has to prostitute self out to keep a roof over her head and her daughter's. Eventually does something bad and has to strand daughter with a bunch of nuns. Verdict: Cliche, stereotypical, possibly a bit misogynistic. Also, wtf is up with the dialog?

Chapter Two: E-mails from doctor/scientist guy on secret mission for something involving vampires in ...more

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Nov 17, 2010

Eddie rated it

This book, by far, was the biggest book I've read to date. And I stay away from really big books, usually, because I don't want to get to the end feeling dissatisfied. This big book left me feeling just that. The first 250 pages of this book were brilliant—left me wanting more—Initially. But, the rest of the 766 pages? Not so brilliant. By page 650, I wanted this way-too-long story to be over. I wanted to be taken off of life support and die. I had to convince myself to finish the last 100 page...more

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Jun 12, 2011

mark monday rated it

Shelves: horrortime

when i read horror, i'm usually looking for: (1) cheap thrills or (2) surreal and metaphysical weirdness or, best of all, (3) an epic full of dread and melancholy.

there is plenty of the first sort and so much of it is trash. but fun can be had with trashy things and i'm no snob. the second type can be a little more hard to find, but there's a lot to be had as well, if you look in the right places, especially the past. but the third kind, that's the hardest, i've only found a few. De...morewhen i read horror, i'm usually looking for: (1) cheap thrills or (2) surreal and metaphysical weirdness or, best of all, (3) an epic full of dread and melancholy.

there is plenty of the first sort and so much of it is trash. but fun can be had with trashy things and i'm no snob. the second type can be a little more hard to find, but there's a lot to be had as well, if you look in the right places, especially the past. but the third kind, that's the hardest, i've only found a few. Declare, It, The Terror. and The Passage. in a lot of horror, i'm not exactly eager to slowly lose myself in the world depicted - the experience is often more like a rollercoaster or a fun nightmare. but that last category, those mournful sagas - they are my special favorites. i may not want to live in a novel's world, but if it is a world that is so carefully crafted and then grown, one filled with tragedy and sadness and coming together and coming undone...i find it very easy to get lost in those worlds. it is a great feeling.

so on to The Passage. it is an excellent novel, complete with multi-leveled characters, spiritual mysteries, exciting action set pieces, and the trappings of several genres (vampire, post-apocalypse, and in the first third, an on-the-run-from-the-government-style thriller). the writing is solid, well-crafted, and certainly in no rush. particularly outstanding is the depth of characterization present in even minor or elusive characters such as the scientist Lear or the child molestor Grey. the first third of the novel is pretty much perfect, tightly-paced yet generous with motivation and context, and featuring three of the most warmly written and sympathetic characters i've come across in a while: Agent Wolgast & Sister Lacey & Anthony Carter: fallen agent, unearthly nun, misunderstood criminal. the empathy created by the author for these three and the depth of their background stories...i just really was not expecting that and it was wonderful to experience.

unlike many other readers, i felt the remaining two-thirds were very strong, moving easily between a wide range of physical and emotional landscapes, from complex world-building to pointed irony to moments of eerie beauty to straight-up horror (particularly in the Haven sequence). although it could be said that characterization was a bit less rich in the last two-thirds, the range of emotions depicted was often on a wider and more dynamic scale - the reader is able to watch characters actually grow and change.

i appreciated cronin's vampires. they certainly run against the current grain! although the threat of their bizarre, bestial presence looms over the entire novel, they remain enjoyably enigmatic and largely in the background. i assume the amount of attention paid to the vampire Babcock and his traumatic past (also very well done) will be paralleled in the sequels by depictions of the remaining vampires.

The Passage has been compared to The Stand; personally i think The Passage is superior. my only real issue is the very ending, which could come across as cheaply ironic and unnecessarily brutal if it wasn't clear that this is only book 1 of 3. i assume that this disturbing cliffhanger of an ending will eventually be resolved with the same sensitivity and grace brought to rest of the novel's various episodic sequences.(less)

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Aug 07, 2010

Will rated it

The hype machine was working. With some terrific reviews, this was immediately one of THE BOOKS TO READ for summer 2010, a vampire tale not written by Stephanie Meyer, and not even promoted very much as vampiric. Maybe our capacity for reading vampire novels has clotted somewhat?

The world in question begins in 2022. Gas is $13 a gallon. Iranian jihadists have killed hundreds at the Mall of America. Jenna Bush is Texas guv (this is a horror story, after all). New Orleans, battered by ...moreThe hype machine was working. With some terrific reviews, this was immediately one of THE BOOKS TO READ for summer 2010, a vampire tale not written by Stephanie Meyer, and not even promoted very much as vampiric. Maybe our capacity for reading vampire novels has clotted somewhat?

The world in question begins in 2022. Gas is $13 a gallon. Iranian jihadists have killed hundreds at the Mall of America. Jenna Bush is Texas guv (this is a horror story, after all). New Orleans, battered by another monster storm, is now an uninhabitable industrial park. An expedition to a remote corner of South America, sponsored by the US Army, is searching for a promising and dangerous virus. What could possibly go wrong? The Passage is nothing if not very, very derivative. Although there are a few nifty new notions within its 766 pages, (I will not spoil them by telling) there will be little here that is not almost immediately familiar. Government projects gone wrong, post-apocalyptic struggles for survival, battles between good and evil, strong people, weak people, and lots and lots of vampires.

That said, I felt that there were almost two complete, independent books within the whole. The first tells of the beginning of the unpleasantness, lasts for 246 pages and is gripping. I hated to put the book down. Even with the been-there-read-that aspect of the book, there was something about the writing of that 246 pages that kept me turning the pages, thirsty for more. As for the remaining 520, not so much. We move forward almost a century and enter the too-familiar landscape of post-apocalyptic survival. Although there were elements here that were interesting, some characters that held promise, I found it a very, very long yawn. I also felt that the author cheated a few times too many in leading us to believe that certain events had taken place when they had not. He even jokes about it in the writing, having one character say out loud what any reader might wonder about how a particular event transpired.

If The Passage had kept up the frantic and so-engaging pace of its long opening, it would indeed have been one of THE BOOKS TO READ this summer. Instead of reading The Passage, though, I would look for an alternate route.

I gave it two stars instead of one because the beginning was so good. Otherwise, I resented the time it took to read this waaaaaay too long book.(less)

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Jul 29, 2010

Chandra rated it

Recommends it for: Fans of The Stand.....maybe?

Shelves: 2010_reads, sci-fi-fantasy

It really doesn't surprise me that I didn't love this. It immediately reminded me of The Stand - which I have never been able to get through. It does surprise me that I actually got through the thing (800 freaking pages!!!) But a very dear, respected and highly intelligent friend gave this to me as a gift and so I felt super obligated to give it an honest try. There were a few bright spots and interesting moments through out - I like post-apocalyptic carnage as much as the next gal. But most...more

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Jul 28, 2010

Annette2009 rated it

Shelves: my-favorites

A combination of King's The Stand, McCarthy's The Road, and the movie I Am Legend.

Very engrossing; the first third reads like sci-fi thriller, thoroughly setting up the scenarios of the plague that alters the world. I enjoyed the small details of the future world; no spoilers, but look for the name of the Texas governor and certain details about evacuation plans and state secessions.

Unlike others, I enjoyed the second third the best. I found the society and government e...more

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Jul 02, 2010

Benjamin is currently reading it

Shelves: unlikely-to-ever-finish

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 06, 2010

Robert rated it

Shelves: vampires, viral, sci-fi, good-book

In this masterfully written tale, Justin Cronin takes us on a dark and harrowing journey to witness the death of one age and the birth of another. Epic in scope and yet profoundly personal, Cronin's work is full of depth, evil, heroism, and a surprisingly beautiful, if all-too-human, darkness.

I was immediately drawn in and captivated by the amazingly well-written prose. After a few days of finding myself called back to the book, as if by telepathic inducement, I completed this amazi...more

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Jul 20, 2010

galleycat rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. All that beach-book buzz you're hearing these days is almost certainly for "The Passage," Justin Cronin's big-as-a-brick apocalyptic vampire saga.

One part Stephen King's "The Stand," one part Cormac McCarthy's "The Road," this dark, humorless, 784-page morality tale is the opening act for Cronin's ambitious trilogy about a military experiment gone horribly bad.

The marketing machine for this thing is in overdrive: $3.7 million for the three-bo...more

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Jan 10, 2011

Kathy rated it

Shelves: horror, read-in-2010, favorites

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 7/29/10
I'm really enjoying this so far. I love the way he has let us get to know the characters so well. I was invested in their fate long before anything really happened. No wonder Uncle Stevie liked this so much and recommended it. Already wondering about Amy. She was different to begin with. After what happened at the zoo, how can anyone doubt that. And so far she isn't like the other virals. She seems normal in most ways with just some variations: Can't go out in the sun, not m...more

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Jan 07, 2011

Joel rated it

Recommends it for: Twilight fans, just for fun

Recommended to Joel by: Hype, BOTNS

Shelves: 2010, 52-in-2010, dystopia, sci-fi-fantasy, ooo-scary, long-as-shit

If you don't count audiobooks, this is one of the the longest books I have ever read. At first I thought that The Fountainhead was longer, but it only seemed that way because Ayn Rand is kind of a terrible writer and there aren't any parts where Dominique Francon is beset upon by a swarm of vampires (unfortunately).

Justin Cronin is not a terrible writer, in fact he's most often a very good writer, and this book has lots and lots of scenes with vampires. Lots and lots because it is s...moreIf you don't count audiobooks, this is one of the the longest books I have ever read. At first I thought that The Fountainhead was longer, but it only seemed that way because Ayn Rand is kind of a terrible writer and there aren't any parts where Dominique Francon is beset upon by a swarm of vampires (unfortunately).

Justin Cronin is not a terrible writer, in fact he's most often a very good writer, and this book has lots and lots of scenes with vampires. Lots and lots because it is so very long and it is just the first book in a trilogy, of course, because everything these days is a Series which is why I hardly ever read any YA fiction, because everyone wants to be the next J.K. Rowling.

Except Cronin actually wants to be the next, I don't know, Stephen King, if this book is anything to go by. It won't remind you a lot of The Stand just because both are post-apocalyptic thrillers that detail at length the efforts of the last survivors of a worldwide plague on a quest to save humanity, but because both writers prefer a curious blend of horror and soap opera, tense action and slightly clumsy spirituality (aside on the length issue: I confess I haven't actually read The Stand, which is probably just about as long as Book One of The Passage Whatever-ilogy, but I saw the mini-series and have read enough of Wikipedia and The Dark Tower to get the gist). Oh but where I was going with this point was Cronin is a better writer than King, at least when it comes to tension and characters and dialogue and detail, certainly far less exasperatingly crude (Stevie always relishes his sick sense of humor a little too much. If this was a Stephen King book, when the people transformed into vampires, he'd spend a paragraph talking about how their intestines would let loose and splatter the ground with shit, and then someone would make a fart joke).

But this book: it is mostly pretty awesome, and it held my interest all the way through. The first section is the most fascinating, a slow burn build to the release of the plague upon humanity, slowly developing characters in a manner reminiscent of linked short stories. Ultimately this level of attention to ultimately disposable characters (spoiler alert: not everyone is going to survive your apocalypse, even when it happens on page 256) is probably unnecessary, but it's so well done you'll just keep reading.

The big leap for readers, and for the narrative, takes us 100 years into the future, and suddenly we're into some heavy world building as we examine the last vestiges of society that have managed to endure. Here the book does slow down considerably, lingering for about 200 pages in this last outpost of humanity, and again, it would probably be a little boring if it didn't do such a good job of making most everyone so interesting. Which is a relief, since they could just as easily have been cardboard cutouts in a book more concerned with plot; certainly they're archetypes, but Cronin is more interested in using the apocalypse to explore human nature than to, uh, revel in vampire nature.

When the story really kicks in is page 477, which is kind of astounding, and a lot happens in those last 300 pages, enough action that you really appreciate all the character development that came before, because it makes the suspense sequences that much more intense, and you really don't want anyone to die. But some of them will, though nearly not enough, because there are a few too many GOTCHA!s, when you are sure everyone is safe and then someone dies! Oh but wait, they are somehow fine a few pages later. But then someone really does die! So you're kept on your toes but really, you get the sense that no one you really care about is going anywhere, at least until the climax of the next book (i.e. The Dumbledore Gambit). If you've seen a lot of genre movies you'll probably anticipate some of this stuff, though I admit I usually didn't catch on until after the fact, and then I'd just shake my head; yes, he went there, but he managed to fool me into following him, and that takes some skill.

I should probably have avoided calling this a vampire book (the book is indifferent, preferring more often: smokes, virals, even dracs, wink wink) because they aren't, and it takes quite a while but when you finally realize what Cronin is doing with his take on the mythos, it opens up a lot of possibilities for the next two books. I'll be reading them. Sigh.
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Jul 07, 2010

Alex rated it

Shelves: 2010

This book got me to the important realization that zombies are just vampires gone retarded.

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Jan 10, 2011

Katie rated it

OK, long book, long review. That's the deal.

If you write a book that is over 750 pages long, then you sure as heck better deliver a whoppingly satisfying ending. What you should not do is write a book of that length that ends with nothing more than a set up for the sequel. To do that is arrogant and presumptuous. And it makes me hate you. More on that later.

The premise is not unfamiliar: secret military experiment goes awry, super virus spreads everywhere, most peopl...more

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Jan 02, 2011

Corina rated it

Recommended to Corina by: the internet!

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 12, 2011

Erin rated it

This book is Cormack McCarthy's THE ROAD meets Michael Crichton, laid out in almost, at times, lyrical prose evocative of John Irving and other great, decidedly-literary writers. It is a story about government-engineered vampires, yes, but it is so much more -- a story about humanity and what it means to be human, a story about how tentative and precipitous humanity's position in the world is. It is an ambitious, giant undertaking -- telling the story of the world and it's downfall, even in the ...more

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Jun 02, 2011

Jammies rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: vampires

This book does a great job of reclaiming vampires as evil, scary, formerly human beings rather than the romantic ravishers they seem to have become. Somehow, Mr. Cronin managed to combine apocalyptic, dystopian, gubmint-conspiracy, questing, horror, sci-fi and a little bit of humor into a book that had me looking away from the page in an effort to stop bad things from happening to characters I like and yet sad when I reached the end and a little bummed that I have to wait another year for the n...more

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May 19, 2011

Bonnie rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads, favorites, dystopia

This was such an amazing novel. Sure it was insanely long and sometimes could be so intense that you just had to give yourself a break even though you felt you just couldn't stop no matter what... but was well worth it.

This is a novel about vampires, although you'd never guess it. Bottom line? It is nothing like anything out there today and is the most original story I have read in a long time. The details of all the storylines and the depth shown in all of the chracters... I am so gla...more

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Jan 31, 2012

Chantal Boudreau rated it

In the beginning of this story, we are presented with a cast of characters who all end up tied into a military experiment with a virus that has healing and strength properties, if you survive it, but also leaves its target with vampiric-like traits: a thirst for blood, a sensitivity to daylight, mind-control, something akin to flight and a “sweet spot” in the chest where the individually can be staked. The characters are a diverse lot. We have Amy, a child who has a strange effect on animals, ...moreIn the beginning of this story, we are presented with a cast of characters who all end up tied into a military experiment with a virus that has healing and strength properties, if you survive it, but also leaves its target with vampiric-like traits: a thirst for blood, a sensitivity to daylight, mind-control, something akin to flight and a “sweet spot” in the chest where the individually can be staked. The characters are a diverse lot. We have Amy, a child who has a strange effect on animals, abandoned by a destitute mother, Sister Lacey, a nun who suffers from both terrible memories and premonitions, Wolgast, an older divorced FBI agent who laments a lost child and Doyle, his younger partner, and Anthony Carter, an inmate on Death Row who happened to be a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The story follows them and secondary characters, the other 11 participants in the experiment, for example up to a climactic event as a result of the experiment, The story then jumps ahead a hundred years and we are introduced to an entire new setting and a new world order, and we are provided a second new cast of characters, Peter, Alicia, Sara, Michael, Caleb, Theo, Mausami and others, all struggling to survive a harsh life facing a constant threat from the “virals”. Things begin to change with the alluring call from the one who calls himself “Babcock” and the arrival of Amy, throwing the life they know into greater chaos.

I’m not going to expand on the story beyond that, to avoid spoilers. It is a very long book, and the fact that I finished tells you I found it worth my time. However...

This is the first book I felt obliged to discuss with others before reviewing it, partially because the first part of the book was *so*spectacular and while the second part of the book was good enough to read, it had its questionable moments. That and the reviews from the pro venues and Stephen King raved about the book as a whole, but I disagreed, and so did those I talked to.
The difference between first and second section was enough that it almost seemed like the two sections had been written by two different people. The current scenes at the beginning were vivid, the storyline gripping, and the characters developed in great detail. I was well invested in all of them by the time that part ended. The time gap came as a bit of a disappointment, especially when the return to the story meant having to face a brand new selection of people. They were not so well developed, the focus more on the changes in society and the environment and the threat from the virals, to the point of being repetitive about it in places. Some of the characters did stand out. I particularly liked Alicia and Sara, and while the male characters were likable, they were ultimately interchangeable. I couldn’t picture any of them properly in my mind’s eye and if we hadn’t been told who was acting amongst the men, I never would have been able to guess who was doing what.

I didn’t like the set-up with the Teacher and the Sanctuary, sheltering children from the truth until they were eight, either. That seemed cruel and pointless to me, as well as unrealistic. The conditions they lived in would have demanded “survival of the fittest” tactics, and I would have expected children to be aware of what to expect from the beginning, to better prepare them, rather than raising their hopes and then crushing their spirits in one fell swoop. I also didn’t enjoy the incessant love triangles. Boy A loves girl A but girl B loves boy A and then girl B gives up on boy A because he doesn’t love her back, so she turns to boy B but then girl A makes it clear that she can’t love boy A and so he turns back to girl B but she has moved on, etc., etc.
There is also one scene at the end where one character does something horribly selfish when she had never done anything selfish in the past, so it was totally out of character for her. But giving exact details would be a spoiler, so I will refrain.

Lastly, some of the characters that were the focus of the opening section were almost non-existent in the second section. I felt that as a big loss, especially after having become so invested in them.

Even with these things that didn’t agree with me, I still enjoyed the story and Mr. Cronin has fantastic action scenes. I would have read this book for the sake of those scenes alone – so I’m giving this four stars based on that and the five star opening. I plan on reading the sequel because I do want to see where the story goes and hopefully find out what happened to those errant intro characters. I also hope that the sequel, The Twelve, has more writing like what I enjoyed in the first section and less of the sometimes meandering and unfocussed plot that appeared in the second.
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Aug 24, 2010

Brandon rated it

Shelves: fiction, post-apocalyptic, read-in-2010, letdowns

I take in book related podcasts, spend a lot of time on GoodReads.com and browse the web for upcoming releases that are setting the book industry ON FIRE. Therefore, I'm bound to be sucked into the hype machine that can surround some big releases. This year, I took in the first Stieg Larsson book, The Girl With The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and loved it; the hype was worth it. I thought to myself, "Hey, maybe hype isn't all that bad." I haven't read nearly enough books to conside...more

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Sep 02, 2011

Misha rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-sci-fi-apocalyptic-paranorm, favorites-2011, favorites, mystery-suspense-thriller

*4.5 Stars*

The Passage was like an exciting, heart-pounding ride. It started off great! Somewhere in the middle, it got a tiny bit boring and seemed to go nowhere. Then when a character I loved died, I was pretty sure I was going to hate it from then on. However, the opposite happened. The plot seemed to suddenly get even more compelling, as I got more involved into the almost scarily believable world that the author has created. The Passage is the only apocalyptic novel I have read ...more

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Dec 07, 2011

Lance Empey rated it

Recommends it for: most people

Recommended to Lance by: audible.com

Don't be deceived by my three star rating. I enjoyed this book. However, it is nothing new. I think that this book, and many others, are a direct result of an over-saturation of both post apocalyptic and especially vampire books in the media right now. But, since I enjoy such books for the most part, I'll claim this book as a goodread.
The book begins in a not-so-distant-future kinda atmosphere and then abruptly shoots about 100 years further into our world to be. Although ...more

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Jul 01, 2010

Shellie (Layers of Thought) rated it

Recommends it for: horror, action lovers, and escapists

Recommended to Shellie (Layers of Thought) by: amazingly apeared in my mail box

Shelves: spec-fic-sf-utop-distop-ia-appocaly, aa-blogged-reviews, read-in-2010, spec-fic-horror, spec-fic-monsters, spec-fic-science-fiction

4.5 stars actually

The original copy of this review with additional links is posted at Layers of Thought, including a link to an interview on NPR.

Tired of vampires? Well not so fast. This is a different kind of vampire (no sparkles here.) These are termed “Virals” and they are very scary.

Synopsis: In the recess of the Amazonian mountains a virus is discovered which scientists believe may extend human life, as well as some other physically enhan...more

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Jan 10, 2012

Debra rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: sai-king-recommends, horror-supernatural, series, apocalyptic-dystopian, seasonal-challenge-winter-2011

Stephen King recommended book. He called The Passage "enthralling", and said that "It has the vividness that only epic works of fantasy and imagination can achieve." He also said: "Read this an the ordinary world disappears."

More from King: "You've heard about this ripping (literally) yarn; summer's the perfect time to read it. Zombie vampires called ''virals'' overwhelm the world, and mankind's only hope rests with an immortal little girl from Iowa...more

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Jun 21, 2011

Christopher H. rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, fantasy-scifi, american-authors-translators, american-literature, modern-literature, read-in-2011

I have been waiting to read this since it was first released a few months ago. I loved every page of this sophisticated 'beach read.' It is a real 'stem-winder' from start to finish. This is a post-apocalyptic novel in the vein of Stephen King's masterpiece, The Stand, and might even be a notch better. Be aware that this is the first book of a planned two part series. The ending of the first book is still quite satisfying and leaves one with a real desire to read the next installment. Cron...more

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Jun 15, 2011

Valerie rated it

Shelves: favorites

Think Stephen King's "The Stand," mixed with Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan's "The Strain," and throw in the character Alice from "Resident Evil" - that's this book.

A tale of the apocalypse, wrought by human greed - Project NOAH was supposed to create super soldiers, but instead, created the end of the world as we know it. Only one hope remains - a young girl named Amy, the final test subject of Project NOAH. As Amy and her savior flee to the mountains...more

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About Justin Cronin

Justin Cronin is an American novelist. Awards he's won for his fiction include the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Stephen Crane Prize, and the Whiting Writer's Award.

Born and raised in New England, Cronin is a graduate of Harvard University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He currently lives with his wife and children in Houston, Texas where he is Professor of English at Rice University.
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“We live, we die. Somewhere along the way, if we're lucky, we may find someone to help lighten the load.” — 57 people liked it

“What strange places our lives can carry us to, what dark passages.” — 26 people liked it

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