It’s not giving anything away to say that plans go awry, subjects escape and infect others, and soon an end-of-the-world scenario is playing out as those who are infected - called virals - hunt down those who are not.Īn early scene in which she first communes with caged polar bears and then drives the entire zoo population crazy is done particularly well.
A virus discovered in South American jungles is being used for experiments by the military (death-row prisoners, naturally, are the test subjects). Unlike the recent spate of zombie fiction (such as “Pride, Prejudice and Zombies,” little more than the literary equivalent of sampling) - “The Passage” will likely join King’s end-of-the-world opus and books like Robert McCammon’s “Swan Song” in the pantheon of genre classics.Īlthough “The Passage” is the first of three books, Cronin gets everything right the first time out: suspenseful pacing, using third-person viewpoints that alternate throughout his massive tome (766 pages, 2.4 pounds), interesting, semi-formulaic characters with all-too human flaws (from a pedophile laborer and a misunderstood prisoner, to a motherly African nun and an FBI agent with a powerful paternal instinct), and just enough verisimilitude in his SF-cum-horror plot to have readers believing the fictional apocalypse in his story just might be plausible.Īfter a brief, 16-page introduction to the character of Amy Bellafonte, Cronin sends his narrative into overdrive as the next two chapters let the reader in on all the basics. Owing a debt, and paying homage, to such classics as “Earth Abides” and Stephen King’s “The Stand,” Cronin’s apocalyptic thriller hits all the right notes. If “The Passage,” by Pen/Hemingway Award-winner Justin Cronin, does only half as well as his publishers are hoping and the book world is expecting, the mainstream writer and his neo-vampire trilogy-in-the- making will be the envy of genre writers and the obsession of vampire- fiction-loving fans the world over.Ĭronin, who already has scored $3.75 million from publishers and another $1.75 million from blockbuster Hollywood director Ridley Scott for the movie rights, has said he wrote the book mainly because his daughter, 8 years old at the time, asked him to write a book about a little girl who saves the world. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menu
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