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The Passage  By  cover art

The Passage

By: Justin Cronin
Narrated by: Scott Brick, Adenrele Ojo, Abby Craden
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Publisher's summary

New York Times best seller.

This thrilling novel kicks off what Stephen King calls “a trilogy that will stand as one of the great achievements in American fantasy fiction".

Now a FOX TV series!

Named one of Paste’s best horror books of the decade.

Named one of the 10 best novels of the year by TIME and one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post, Esquire, U.S. News & World Report, NPR/On Point, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, BookPage, and Library Journal.

“It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born".

An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, The Passage is the story of Amy - abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued, and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Brad Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl and risks everything to save her. As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape - but he can’t stop society’s collapse. And as Amy walks alone, across miles and decades, into a future dark with violence and despair, she is filled with the mysterious and terrifying knowledge that only she has the power to save the ruined world. Look for the entire Passage trilogy:

  • The Passage
  • The Twelve
  • The City of Mirrors
©2010 Justin Cronin (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

“[A] blockbuster.” (The New York Times)

“Mythic storytelling.” (San Francisco Chronicle)

“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: A story about human beings trying to generate new hope in a world from which all hope has long since been burnt.” (Time)

What listeners say about The Passage

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    11,796
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    5,147
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  • 2 Stars
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  • 1 Stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

I could turn this one off

Today I heard there is a sequel to the vitalness, needless to say it is already in my library and I cant wait to get started

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    5 out of 5 stars
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As good or better than the "Stand" and "Shrike"

If S. King or Dan Simmons had a love child in college it would have been Justin Cronin. The series is that good !

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

slow start but excellent overall

starts out slow and I struggled through the first quarter of the book. definitely a good payoff though. I would recommend this book with the knowledge that it has a bit of slow story building but once it takes off it is amazing.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

AWESOME ADVENTURE!!!!

Wow, this book just kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Great characters and great writing!!! And the story just went on and on...epic. I think the author tried to figure out what the reader would be guessing what would happen next, and he wrote the opposite. It was brilliant. And I can't wait for Justin Cronin's next book! (Kinda hope it's a Passage II)

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A great book and a great performance

This book is an amazing journey, highly recommend it. If you like vampires Justin Cronin's interpretation really gives it a good twist

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Excellent story

Excellent story line but at times way too wordy! The book held my interest most of the time but I really didn’t like the repetitive use of phrases and names in some places. I felt it was a bit excessive.

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    5 out of 5 stars

The Passage is excellent story

The only negative feature in The Passage are the few times the story seems to drag on.
Fortunately the author has done an outstanding job creating characters.
The story line breaks into parts which we bounce between following the characters as they proceed
Excellent book I recommend to others

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

OK.....Not Great....Not Bad

This story started out very exciting. It read like three separate books, with the middle dragging almost to a point of giving up on it. If you like lonnnng books that could have been done in half the time, then this is for you.

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Gripping until the very last seconds!!

Great story. Great writing. It reminds me of the first Michael Crichton book i read. I have recommended it to all TWD fans. I’ve already purchased book 2

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Amazing Amazing amazing

Everything about this book is tops! I cannot wait to finish the series! Two thumbs up.

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