So, The Passage. It is utterly fantastic. No joke. The title is slightly ambiguous, but the story starts in America in the not-so-distant future (only around 20 years or so ahead), and follows the separate stories of Amy and her mother (a 6 year old girl and her mother who has to prostitute herself to earn money), Anthony Carter (a death row prisoner in Texas), and Brad Wolgast (a special agent for the Armed Forces).
Basically, one doctor has discovered a virus that turns the victim into a vampire-they drink people's blood, are impossibly fast, can't exist in the light, etc. They don't speak in human language, though, and they communicate via telepathy. For test subjects, they use death row prisoners, as it is easy to erase their past, and that's how Carter comes into the story. The doctor says he wants a child to test the next strain of the virus on, and so that's how Amy is weaved into the plot.
Fast-forward ninety-odd years, and we are in a post-apocalyptic society, in a colony of the only remaining humans. In the time that Wolgast was living in, the virus got out of control at the compound, and the 12 test subjects killed or maimed everyone and turning the survivors into vampires. Wolgast and Amy escaped and hid in the forests in Colorado. I wouldn't be able to tell you everything that happens, and if I did it would only ruin the plot for you, so you'll have to read it for yourselves to discover what happens, but all I'll say is that you won't ever see it coming...
The plot is gripping, and the characters are fascinating. It is wonderful to see how they develop throughout the course of the story, and to see how they interact with each other. My only criticism is that the end doesn't feel very satisfying. It feels a little as though Justin Cronin was on a deadline, or was writing to fulfil the needs of his readers and so just rounded it off with a happy ending. There's a sequel coming out in 113 days (or so Waterstone's tells me), but I don't really know where else Cronin could go with the story; he's sort of covered all possible bases in terms of twists and surprises...
Anyway, next I'll be reading Selected Stories, by Henry James, so you'll have to wait a while for the next blog post, I doubt I'll be finishing it any time soon!
Basically, one doctor has discovered a virus that turns the victim into a vampire-they drink people's blood, are impossibly fast, can't exist in the light, etc. They don't speak in human language, though, and they communicate via telepathy. For test subjects, they use death row prisoners, as it is easy to erase their past, and that's how Carter comes into the story. The doctor says he wants a child to test the next strain of the virus on, and so that's how Amy is weaved into the plot.
Fast-forward ninety-odd years, and we are in a post-apocalyptic society, in a colony of the only remaining humans. In the time that Wolgast was living in, the virus got out of control at the compound, and the 12 test subjects killed or maimed everyone and turning the survivors into vampires. Wolgast and Amy escaped and hid in the forests in Colorado. I wouldn't be able to tell you everything that happens, and if I did it would only ruin the plot for you, so you'll have to read it for yourselves to discover what happens, but all I'll say is that you won't ever see it coming...
The plot is gripping, and the characters are fascinating. It is wonderful to see how they develop throughout the course of the story, and to see how they interact with each other. My only criticism is that the end doesn't feel very satisfying. It feels a little as though Justin Cronin was on a deadline, or was writing to fulfil the needs of his readers and so just rounded it off with a happy ending. There's a sequel coming out in 113 days (or so Waterstone's tells me), but I don't really know where else Cronin could go with the story; he's sort of covered all possible bases in terms of twists and surprises...
Anyway, next I'll be reading Selected Stories, by Henry James, so you'll have to wait a while for the next blog post, I doubt I'll be finishing it any time soon!
