The Passage by Justin Cronin

Book Details
The Passage by Justin Cronin
Hardcover, 784 Pages
2010, Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345504968

Synopsis
“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 the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

With The Passage, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterful prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction.

Review
The Passage is a hugely epic story bringing together aspects from a variety of genres. A scientifically created vampire virus, military abuse of power, apocalyptic scenario, survival strategy, violence, death, love, birth and everything in between is found between it's covers.

The first and last years of the story are looked at deeply in The Passage with the 100 or so years in between being mentioned only when necessary to the story. The novel can be considered moral, depending on how you deeply you look beyond the words.

The Passage is long - almost 800 pages, but the length is necessary to encompass everything the story is trying to convey. The book is thoroughly engrossing, so much so that I wouldn't have minded if it had been even longer. Reading The Passage caused something akin to a complete shutting out the world. A total apocalyptic event could have happened right around me and I would never had noticed.

The Passage was such an experience to read, so intricate yet subtle that upon finishing the book I immediately wanted to read it again. There is no other way I can describe this book other than absolute perfection. Justin Cronin has written a book that deserves the hype you've seen and then some. Definitely one of the best books of 2010.

Rating

Links

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