The Passage

The Passage
by Justin Cronin

The Passage is a massive book, in length (784 pages), in heft (2.5 pounds in hardcover), and in the story's scope. It's also a part of a trilogy, which isn't immediately apparent. I had originally started this book because I thought, despite its size, that the story was interesting and surely, after almost 800 pages, it would be resolved. It wasn't. But that's a good thing.

The Passage was given a big marketing push because of its vampire story. The teaser copy in the front sounded interesting, and since I was looking for a switch from the usual, I picked it up at the local library (and managed to rack up fines since long books + two-week limit = not enough time to finish).

The book starts with the story of a small-town waitress who finds herself raising a baby girl solo. Pushed to prostitution, she eventually leaves her now-six year old in the company of a nun.

In a parallel story, researchers funded in part by the U.S. military are searching the South American jungles for a legendary, mysterious cure to all of humanity's ailments. The chief researcher believes that this unknown "virus" could cure terminal illness and lengthen the human lifespan. He's correct, but not before the research team meets up with some of the "infected" in the jungles.

Shortly after these events, two FBI agents are charged with bringing in death-row inmates to a facility in Colorado for a program that will commute their sentences, but may be life-threatening.

How does all of this relate to vampires, exactly?

Author Justin Cronin, who completed the Iowa Writers' Workshop and won the Pen/Hemingway Award and the Stephen Crane Prize, flexes his descriptionary muscles throughout this tome. The "how the character takes his coffee" descriptions are there, but they never interfere with the pace of the storytelling. Certainly, there are moments where you grip the armrest, hoping the characters make it through their predicaments. And there are other times when you are stuck in moments for pages, learning the minutiae, but not minding the pause in the action.

Admittedly, I got tired of the book after page 500. We're thrown 100 years in the future with new characters and no clear connection between the previous storyline, which had me hooked. After giving it up for a few days, I started again, figuring that since I had made it that far, it would be a shame to stop. I'm glad I did. The last two hundred pages really pick up the pace and create clear connections that indicate where you'll be headed for the remainder of this book and the upcoming sequel.

Recommended for: People who like vampire stories in which the vampires definitely don't sparkle. Those who enjoy a tale where humanity must fight back from the brink of destruction. Someone who likes reading prose that hasn't been hacked to death or rushed by impatient editors.