The Twelve: Part IX: The Arrival.

[Carol/Bonadie]

The Twelve by Justin Cronin. This is the second in the trilogy begun in The Passage.

Since spoilers are allowed please only post contents related to the part referenced in the title. The first person posting might want to do a brief summary of what happens in the section, so we can be reminded of when to start (and stop) posting, contents-wise.

[Ann]

IX The Arrival
Chapter 55 Three hundred examples
Chapter 56 Iowa Bone fields and the voice of Zero
Chapter 57 I am Morrison-Chávez-Baffes-Turrell-Winston-Sosa-Echols-Lambright-Martínez-Reinhardt-Carter

[Carol/Bonadie]

A very short part. Guiilder is enraged at the suicide bombing that killed 19 of his men. Amy and Alicia reconnect, with Amy a fully grown beautiful woman. I guess the arrival referenced is more virals, greeted by Guilder. Not sure whose tribe they are associated with, but Guilder is connected to them mentally somehow as he knew they were coming.

[Ann]

Towards the end I was going through parts faster, this one especially and I didn't segment my comments at the time. That seems a good correlation to the title of the part "The Arrival" as things seem to come to a head and the other virals are on the way.

Lila's awareness was coming back to reality and I was glad that Sara was there with Kate. The three hundred killed as examples were a chilling reminder that there was no real life for the people under the steel boot of the Red-Eyes and Guilder, who was less human than some of his cohorts.
The feeling of how people act like cattle sometimes, going with the flow of the herd, not rocking the boat, trying to stay invisible, manifests into a stark reminder of what that can turn into, and something we are wise to not forget. (The killing fields in parts of the world of our own contemporary time sans virals are too real and too close to be ignored as we read this fiction)

Carol/Bonadie wrote: "A very short part. Guiilder is enraged at the suicide bombing that killed 19 of his men. Amy and Alicia reconnect, with Amy a fully grown beautiful woman. I guess the arrival referenced is more virals, greeted by Guilder."

[Ann]

The comments in chapter 56 about how the virals evolved, the speculation about what connected them and how the "life cycle" of them was moving were somewhat more revealing than what we had gleaned here and there before, but still shrouded in mystery and speculation.
Life evolves, but could they really be an organism of this scope? It makes what was found in the jungle so many years before seem like a parasite colony, a cannibalistic and predatory parasite.

[Ann]

I was so glad when Alicia escaped. She is of course different after the horrific experience. Her arrival at the complex under the orders of the President was supposed to be to observe, but her own moral core wouldn't let her protect herself at the expense of others; and now she is almost broken after the brutal treatment she endured. Amy comforting Alicia was needed so much.

[Carol/Bonadie]

Ann wrote: "The three hundred killed as examples were a chilling reminder that there was no real life for the people under the steel boot of the Red-Eyes and Guilder, who was less human than some of his cohorts..."

I was sickened at the way Guilder shot the teenage girl in the head after she revealed herself when her mother was harmed. He underwent such a change from the man who fell in love with a prostitute and wanted to take care of her to this murderous monster.

And yes, this story has lots of parallels and cautionary tales when compared with some of the heinous acts perpetrated by modern day individuals around the world.

[Carol/Bonadie]

Ann wrote: " It makes what was found in the jungle so many years before seem like a parasite colony, a cannibalistic and predatory parasite ..."

Oh yes, I'd forgotten about that. Good memory!

I can't imagine where Cronin will take this story for another full book.

[BarryP]

Some heavy portents in this chapter. On the side of angels, we find Alicia reconnecting with Amy. On the side of evil, we see the Twelve, in some form, gather together to plot their future, and Zero in touch with Grey.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill, this is not yet the beginning of the end, but it may be the end of the beginning.

[Ann]

Very wise and apt!
Barry wrote: "Some heavy portents in this chapter. ...To paraphrase Winston Churchill, this is not yet the beginning of the end, but it may be the end of the beginning. "