The Passage by Justin Cronin

Finally, 29 CDs and a couple of months later, I reached the last page of Justin Cronin's The Passage, the first installment in his Passage trilogy. You may recall that I have already read the second installment, The Twelve. (Reading them out of order, while not necessarily recommended, was not an impediment to enjoyment.)

I'll get right to the point. The Passage is excellent, one of the best thrillers I've read in a long time. It grabbed my interest with a post-apocalyptic setting, pulled me forward plot full of action and twists, and kept me engaged with three-dimensional characters. And while I won't claim The Passage to be high literature, it is very well written.

If you look on Goodreads or other venues you might find The Passage classified in the horror genre. Calling it horror is laughable. Worse, some might be tempted to lump it in with zombie fiction. (The basic premise is the unintentional release of a biological agent from a government research lab that has cataclysmic effects on the populace). What's truly laughable is World War Z (previously and negatively reviewed as a nice set of notes for a book) is on the verge of big screen release starring Brad Pitt. Compared to The Passage, World War Z is like a 4th grader's creative writing project.

But I digress.

If you're looking for a good book, try Justin Cronin's The Passage and follow that with The Twelve. While you're doing that, I'll be waiting for his final installment, The City of Mirrors, due in 2014.

You can read more about Cronin's work at enterthepassage.com.