The Passage (Passage Trilogy, #1)

by Justin Cronin

[teachergorman]

This novel is a masterpiece, full stop. I think the most apt description I can come up with is War and Peace but with Vampires. That might frighten away people who have not read Tolstoy’s War and Peace, but that sweeping epic focuses on the beauty and tragedy of the relationships of the characters caught up in circumstances beyond their control, and Cronin’s The Passage does the same, only the war is not Napoleon’s invasion of Russia but a surprisingly believable plague story. That the plague is an infestation of vampires might also scare off some readers. I like Bram Stoker’s Dracula and generally resent stories that try to provide scientific explanations for something that clearly defies the laws of physics, but Cronin does this deftly, providing an explanation that’s just believable enough and characters so rich that it never tripped me up. If you enjoy what is best about The Walking Dead, the human drama amidst extreme circumstances, then you will love The Passage. If you enjoy prose that is artfully written, you’ll also love The Passage. Some of Cronin’s sentences are heartbreakingly beautiful, but he avoids the temptation to languish in the beauty of his prose when the story calls for action, and there’s a lot of pulse-pounding action. My only complaint about this book is that it makes authors like me very jealous because it is beyond our poor powers. I did learn quite a bit about vivid description, character development, and story arc, and I encourage any writer to check this one out. I bought both the sequels immediately after finishing it (and tweeted at Justin Cronin to thank him for this gift of a novel), and I encourage you to do likewise!