Title: The Passage by Justin Cronin
Genre: Paranormal, Fiction
Rating:3/5
When a government experiment to improve human cellular regeneration goes horribly wrong, a nightmare beyond all imagining is released on the world. As civilization falls, one young girl is sheltered by an FBI agent who is haunted by his role in the catastrophe. But her survival is only the first step in much longer journey, one that will span decades, to bring an end to creatures that never should have existed.
The Passage by Justin Cronin is beautifully written and just brimming with vivid imagery. Cronin's talent with the written word is evident from the very first page.
As one of the most talked about books in North America last summer, I've been waiting months to read The Passage. At more than 750 pages it was obviously going to be a longer read, but until I actually started it, I didn't realize how truly dense the story was going to be. The book begins with several different story lines that slowly weave together until they join at the point where the experiment subjects break free of the compound. Unfortunately, this does mean that the first third of the book feels a lot like backstory and that the main storyline doesn't begin until 250 pages in, when we're presented with a whole new cast of characters.
This isn't the type of vampire story that's been popular for the last few years. These vampires aren't the friendly, vegetarian vampires of Twilight, but brutal and gruesome killers. In fact, with the virus-like way in which the vampirism spreads, the book is actually a really interesting combination of the vampire myth with the modern-day zombie apocalypse. And Cronin's writing style is very much in the vein of Stoker's Dracula - it's a literary, Gothic epic.
Although I was really intrigued by Cronin's idea, I wasn't captivated by the story itself. I had no problem putting the book down when other things came up, and I probably wouldn't have finished as quickly had I not been commuting at the time. Moreover, there's no true ending to the book as Cronin intends this to be the first book in a trilogy.
Although I wasn't overwhelmed but the book, I do recommend The Passage to other readers, particularly those interested in darker literature. As for me, I'm waiting to give the next book in the trilogy a try.
