Review: The Passage

The Passage by Justin Cronin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



So one of my favorite things is Lost. For the most part, Lost threw a lot of weird conspiracies and curveballs and plotlines at you, and kept you guessing while (until the last season, maybe) keeping the pedal to the floor in terms of reveals and activities. Television studios have spent years and millions of dollars trying to find "the next Lost," never quite getting there, when I personally think that the "next Lost" already exists in book form, and it's The Passage.

The Passage is effectively a book that's about 1/3rd "prequel" and 2/3rds story, where the first third exists mostly to set up the universe that exists for the rest of the story. In a sense, the first part is more compelling than the second if only because things move at a faster clip and we get a lot of answers to go along with the pile of interesting characters. The second part is very different, and has a much different feel to it, but essentially exists to justify the first part and to keep us locked in place after we're reined in. It's a government conspiracy, it's a sci-fi epic, it's a bit of a horror thriller, it's a survival book...it's a lot of things, and it somehow keeps all those balls in the air in spite of its complexity.

I don't want to give away the core part because, frankly, had I know the basic point, I would have never picked the book up. In terms of the specific subgenre it sits in, I can't think of a better modern novel that covers it, nor can I think of anything that comes close. That's how strong this is, and I'm kicking myself that the years and years of people demanding I read this book were unsuccessful, because I absolutely loved it.

The Twelve came out somewhat recently, and I'll be looking into that sooner rather than later. If you have interest in a good, modern story that will keep you off guard and just devour you, pick this one up. So, so glad I did.




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