A chilling end of the world as we know it saga, this first volume of a trilogy has all the impact of Stephen King’s THE STAND in breadth of vision and length. Following a failed military experiment, America falls to a zombie/vampire epidemic and only a curious little girl and a group of doughty survivors hold the key to survival. A truly epic masterpiece that will have you hanging on for dear life for both its conclusion and the next volume.
Lovereading comment:
More than just a supreme thrill-ride, but something with the resonance and power of myth, The Passage is epic storytelling at its very best. A story that powerfully articulates our deepest fears and hopes, The Passage will move, captivate and be impossible to forget.
From Bill Massey, the publisher who found The Passage:
What could an innocent child and a psychotic killer have in common? One of them could destroy us all; one could save us, But which is which? It takes a special book to pose such dark and deep questions. A very special one to answer them. And a great one to weave them into a hypnotically powerful piece of storytelling that will take over your waking hours and invade your dreams. Welcome to the world of the Passage. It's your world - our world. But change is on its way. And not all change is good. Turn the page and be among the first to take the journey.
Here are a few comments from staff at the Publishing House, Orion:
I was so obsessed with it... a towering work... one of the most amazing books I've read... an extraordinary novel... the most exciting book I've read for a decade... I couldn't put it down and its size became a virtue... an epic and vivid masterpiece of suspense and adventure... Genius, there is no other word for it... read it and you will not be disappointed.
Amy Harper Bellafonte is six years old and her mother thinks she's the most important person in the whole world. She is. Anthony Carter doesn't think he could ever be in a worse place than Death Row. He's wrong. FBI agent Brad Wolgast thinks something beyond imagination is coming. It is. THE PASSAGE. Deep in the jungles of eastern Colombia, Professor Jonas Lear has finally found what he's been searching for - and wishes to God he hadn't. In Memphis, Tennessee, a six-year-old girl called Amy is left at the convent of the Sisters of Mercy and wonders why her mother has abandoned her. In a maximum security jail in Nevada, a convicted murderer called Giles Babcock has the same strange nightmare, over and over again, while he waits for a lethal injection. In a remote community in the California mountains, a young man called Peter waits for his beloved brother to return home, so he can kill him. Bound together in ways they cannot comprehend, for each of them a door is about to open into a future they could not have imagined. And a journey is about to begin. An epic journey that will take them through a world transformed by man's darkest dreams, to the very heart of what it means to be human. And beyond. THE PASSAGE.
'Every so often a novel-reader's novel comes along: an enthralling, entertaining story wedded to simple, supple prose, both informed by tremendous imagination. Read 15 pages, and you will find yourself captivated; read 30 and you will find yourself taken prisoner and reading late into the night. It had the vividness that only epic works of fantasy and imagination can achieve. What else can I say? This: read this book and the ordinary world disappears.' Stephen King
'Do not be put off by its size. This apocalyptic thriller is epic in scale, terrifying and totally absorbing. Stephen King loves it and the film rights have already gone to Ridley Scott. The hype around this book is extraordinary, but it absolutely lives up to every word. You will not be disappointed.' W H Smith Fiction Buyer Sue Scholes
'Interweaving the stories of a six-year-old girl abandoned by her mother, a death row murderer and a Harvard professor on a dangerous trip into the South American jungle, this immense brick of a retelling of the vampire myth more than satisfied.' - Alison Flood THE BOOKSELLER
Author
About Justin Cronin
Born and raised in New England, Justin Cronin is a multi-award-winning writer. He is Professor of English at Rice University, and lives with his family in Houston, Texas.
