The Twelve

A Novel

By: Justin Cronin

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 26 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best seller

The end of the world was only the beginning.

In his internationally best-selling and critically acclaimed novel The Passage, Justin Cronin constructed an unforgettable world transformed by a government experiment gone horribly wrong. Now the scope widens and the intensity deepens as the epic story surges forward....

In the present day, as the man-made apocalypse unfolds, three strangers navigate the chaos. Lila, a doctor and an expectant mother, is so shattered by the spread of violence and infection that she continues to plan for her child’s arrival even as society dissolves around her. Kittridge, known to the world as "Last Stand in Denver", has been forced to flee his stronghold and is now on the road, dodging the infected, armed but alone and well aware that a tank of gas will get him only so far. April is a teenager fighting to guide her little brother safely through a landscape of death and ruin. These three will learn that they have not been fully abandoned - and that in connection lies hope, even on the darkest of nights.

One hundred years in the future, Amy and the others fight on for humankind’s salvation...unaware that the rules have changed. The enemy has evolved, and a dark new order has arisen with a vision of the future infinitely more horrifying than man’s extinction. If the Twelve are to fall, one of those united to vanquish them will have to pay the ultimate price.

A heart-stopping thriller rendered with masterful literary skill, The Twelve is a grand and gripping tale of sacrifice and survival.

Look for the entire Passage trilogy:

The Passage
The Twelve
The City of Mirrors

Praise for The Twelve

“[A] literary superthriller.” (The New York Times Book Review)

“An undeniable and compelling epic...a complex narrative of flight and forgiveness, of great suffering and staggering loss, of terrible betrayals and incredible hope.” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

“The Twelve is even better than The Passage.” (The Plain Dealer)

“A compulsive read.” (San Francisco Chronicle)

"Gripping... Cronin [introduces] eerie new elements to his masterful mythology.... Enthralling, emotional and entertaining.” (The San Diego Union-Tribune)

“Fine storytelling.” (Associated Press)

“Cronin is one of those rare authors who works on two different levels, blending elegantly crafted literary fiction with cliff-hanging thrills.” (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

©2012 Justin Cronin (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

Named one of the Ten Best Novels of the Year by Time and Library Journal, and one of the Best Books of the Year by The Washington Post, Esquire, U.S. News & World Report, NPR/On Point, and St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"Magnificent...Cronin has taken his literary gifts, and he has weaponized them.... The Passage can stand proudly next to Stephen King’s apocalyptic masterpiece The Stand, but a closer match would be Cormac McCarthy’s The Road." (Time)

Can't wait for Book 3

Whereas the The Passage seemed sprawling and meandering (in a very good way), The Twelve is, equally epic, is much tighter in terms of the novel's overall goal and how it gets the reader there. Like the first book, this book is filled with wonderful characters: the old ones from the first book return, along with characters only lightly mentioned in the first book and some brand new ones as well. And, it's the characters -- their development, their interaction, their growth, that makes them so compelling. Combine this strong sense of character development with a gripping plot structure, and you have what makes for an excellent audiobook. And, with Scott Brick as narrator, well, the guy could read the White Pages and make it a gripping listen. Scott Brick knows how to narrate.

So, there you have it: gripping story, fantastic sense of character development, and a narrator who knows how to tell a story (not as easy as it sounds). The total package is, well, one helluva story. Enjoy!

Loved it!

Where does The Twelve: A Novel rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top five.

What did you like best about this story?

The story is riveting.

Have you listened to any of Scott Brick’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

As always Scott Brick excels.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Too many to list!

Any additional comments?

Get it you won't regret it. Can't wait for the last in the trilogy.

You won't be disappointed if you listen.

This is by far my favorite series in a while. I love how he gets you into the heads of the characters.

Good read

Sometimes a little hard to follow as you travel to different times with different groups of survivors

Loved the 12!

I was hesitant about Justin’s book the passage but after five chapters I was all in!!!! Could not wait to start the 12, the author does an amazing job of making everything so visual with words. The reader Scott Brick I could listen to everyday of my life and never grow tired. I actually met them both through the Ferryman book Justin C. Wrote and Scott B. Read, it was my first fantasy novel and now I may be hooked for life! Bravo gentleman what a wonderful team you make! Starting the third book of trilogy tomorrow! 🎉

series review

I thoroughly enjoyed this series. A cross between vampire and zombie apocalypse. This series is now among my favorites. I got used to the narrator prety quick and started to like his narration for this story. Book one was tough for the first seven hours or so. Too much description and not enough story. As time goes on and the plot thickens, the author keeps it going. Many characters that all come together at some point and much of what I thought was filler comes into play. There was about three hours of back story in book three I skipped over just because I didn't care to know about Zero's past. The ending, I would have liked a bit more wrapping up after so many hours listening to a great story. After all, in the first book, the author spared no time describing everything. Then in book three, it's all over in hardly any time. And what of Michael Fisher?? There was a recount of almost everyone else.

Excellent second installment

I just finished The Twelve. While I plan to listen to it again to catch what I missed, here are my initial impressions (and no spoilers here that aren’t mentioned in literary reviews). First, the narration by Scott Brick is excellent as always. The beginning part of the story switches back and forth between 97 A.V (five years after the conclusion of The Passage) and the Year 0. In the Year 0 portion, Cronin expands on the events surrounding the viral plague through the eyes of those living through it. A few of the characters make a brief appearance or are mentioned in the first book. Of note are Kittridge (known only as Last Stand in Denver in the first book) and Lila (the ex-wife of agent Wolgast). It is interesting to see the apocalypse through the new eyes of people just trying to stay alive as the world is dying around them, and also how these characters impact future events.

The story of our main band from The Passage continues five years after the death of Babcock with the survivors trying to cope and adjust to life in Kerrville. Each is struggling in one way or another. Peter has joined the Expeditionary, but feels he isn’t fulfilling his mission. Alicia is as tough as ever, but the strain of being half human, half viral is a constant weight. Amy is growing as a woman and leader, but is haunted by the twelve and her memories of Walgast. Greer is serving time in the stockade for deserting his post to follow Amy and Peter, and he has become a man of deep faith.

The primary enemy in this novel is another human settlement located in Iowa. Some of the people we meet here are old characters and some are new. I do agree with some of the early reviews that draw a comparison between this settlement and the Vegas colony in The Stand. The leader of the community even bears some similarities to Randall Flagg. It is the confrontation and the threat of this new foe that is the source of the conflict.

I found this a great read, and an excellent follow up to The Passage. We learn the answers to many of the questions left hanging at the end of the first book, including the fate of the garrison at Roswell and what became of the citizens of First Colony. This book takes a much deeper turn into the mystical than the first book. Some of the passages that delved into the world of dreams and other dimensions were confusing at times. I also was never fully engaged by the characters in the colony in Iowa, which reminded me of a Nazi concentration camp, or its leader. Guilder, the leader, is an evil character, but I never found him as compelling as, say, Randall Flagg, to which he seems an homage.

I rate this highly as a second installment, but was not as blown away with The Twelve as I was with The Passage. It was entertaining and was good to revisit characters fans of The Passage have come to care about. It was also good to see the story move forward to what any fan knows will be the ultimate conflict of good vs evil against Subject Zero. Some people did not find the cliffhanger ending of the first book. I loved it, and found it to be great storytelling. There is no abrupt ending as before, but that’s not to say there aren’t unanswered questions. The ending does set up the finale and opens a couple of burning questions that will ensure fans run to buy the next installment. I will.

Not quite "The Passage" but still good

Which character – as performed by Scott Brick – was your favorite?

Peter

If you could take any character from The Twelve: A Novel out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Amy, she has s much wisdom to impart.

Any additional comments?

This was a lot harder to follow the The Passage was but it is still a very well written and I throughly enjiyed it.

I Cannot Wait for Book Three

I finished The Passage and went right into The Twelve. I was expecting to see Peter and his group Kill another of the twelve . Of course then I would have to buckle down and wait for each of the next eleven books. Thank You Justin for apparently not choosing that format.

Justin created a world ruled by vampires, and at the same time ravaged by human hands. In The Passage we learned that people had found the fountian of youth, but also found that it had bad side effects. The U.S. government chose twelve people from death rows around the country. They created the twelve vampires that would end the world as we know it. The Passage ended with the heros killing one of the twelve.

The Twelve started five years after the killing of one of the twelve. Each of the main characters, Peter, Aime, Sarah, Isha, and Micheal had continued on with their lives seperatly from the others. Peter joining the army fighting the virals, Aime taking care Peter's brother's baby Caleb, Micheal becoming an oiler, and Sarah being kidnapped. Each of the members would travel through the story aimed at the same destination, the destruction of the twelve. The stories of the group from beginning to end are fantastic. Each one of the stories had its own character that met new characters and followed its own seperate story. The author was very creative in this way. Not only did he create a whole new world but he also created full stories for his main characters.

The evil character in this book was not even a part of the twelve. He was a normal person that had become more by keeping one of the twelve chained up. He was creating a city that support the twelve in the future. This character in the beginning struggles with the bad things he has done to his own people, but this does not last long.The main characters all meet here at this city for a final confrontation with evil. The fianl battle has many unexpected twists and turns that will keep you guessing.



This a very well written book. I would recommend it to all the zombie lovers out their because it introduces vampires on the level of zombies. Something new for you to read about.

Second Book in the Best Trilogy ever.

I've read this trilogy twice and now have listened to it thanks to Audible. Hands down my favorite set of books.

Justin Cronin blew me away with The Passage and he delivered again with this sequel. The characters are so beautifully written, each with their own intricacies and personalities that memorize you as you read/listen. This story picks up shortly after the first one ends and adds a new story throughout, bringing in new characters and narrative that perfectly blends into the existing story.

I was beyond excited when I first learned that Scott Brick was the narrator for all three books. He does a fantastic job as always and keeps you wanting to listen more even though it is time to hit 'pause'. I can't think of anyone better in the audible book game than Scott Brick.