You may have heard Justin Cronin’s The Passage billed as the vampire novel to read this summer, but to classify this book as a mere vampire novel is to put it in a small, easily-defined box when the scope is much, much larger. A sprawling pre- and post-apocalyptic novel that covers many years and many characters, The Passage is one of those epic novels that is perfect to read either beside the pool in broad daylight, or underneath the covers, deep into the night.
The story begins in a world five minutes from our own where scientists work on a soldier-enhancement program that spins wildly out of control, turning the subjects into feral, almost insectoid-like vampires who escape and quickly spread until only a few pockets of survivors are left. The story then shifts to one of those groups who live in a small, walled FEMA community that turns on a ring of lights at night to keep the vampires away. After almost a hundred years, however, a small group of people are propelled to leave to see what is left of the world, the key to possibly reversing the vampire apocalypse along with them.
The story jumps around a bit – instead of one protagonist, Cronin gives us dozens of them, telling his story in letters, journal entries, excerpts of academic papers, and e-mails. I didn’t mind it at all, as Cronin’s story is so involved and so rich, I felt like spending more time with even the smallest of characters, and I felt real emotion as they played their parts and moved on. Sharp-eyed readers of this review may have already noted similarities to other books, like Stephen King’s The Stand and Jeanne DuPrau’s City of Ember, but Cronin’s tale is wholly unique and absorbing. Even though the novel is a long one, towards the end I was tearing through the paragraphs, greedily gulping down the words, wanting to get to the next page as fast as I could. The book feels equally at home with small, personal moments between characters and at the same time handles large action scenes skillfully.
The only wrong note is that the book ends in a cliffhanger, with another two books from Cronin on the horizon to complete the story. It’s a minor complaint, as I’ll be returning to The Passage soon to revisit the characters before their next journey.