The Passage

A Novel (Book One of The Passage Trilogy)

By: Justin Cronin

Narrated by: Scott Brick, Adenrele Ojo, Abby Craden

Length: 36 hrs and 49 mins

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)

A Good Book, But Long

Let me say that i took my sweet time listening to this book, i think it took me more than a 2 months to finish it... why? well because its beginning was really good then it was a bit slow, then slower, then slower.. by that time i took a pause when i was halfway through.
But then when 5 days ago i picked up the book again, it started getting better and better and better, which made me finish it and buying the next book.

what i didn't like about this book is how long it was.. i think if it was a little bit shorter it would have been better. some books tend to drag you along and thats really boring.

What i liked is the new ideas that aren't in any other books, and how real the life in that book felt like, and thats is amazing.

So to get it or not to get it?
If you like these end of the world books and how life is afterwards, you will like this book when you pass halfway through it. And this book will go through years even a hundred years between characters and thats new for me.
but again, if you hate long books this will feel really really long.

i really like it, but maybe in more than 5 years i might come back and read it again as how long it was.

The Stand

Alot like King's The Stand but the Stand was so much more creative. I liked the character development in the first part of the book but then it went off on a tangent and there were too many events and characters to hold the thread of the story. I thought I was really onto a good book but by the time I finished it,I could not wait for it to just end-too bad. When a book leaves me hungry for more I know I have found a great author. Please tell Scott Brick not to be so dramatic in his narrations- I now think twice about buying a book if he is the narrator.

Masterful narration

Given who the narrator is, I would expect nothing more than masterful narration, and Scott delivers. Could not have asked for better. The cameos by the other narrators add a nice flair and change of pace. Both are excellent as well.

But the story is a slog. Starts off well, shifts time, and then draaaaags. Just as I was getting to know the characters in the first part, I'm expected to shift gears and start caring about this whole NEW set of characters and I just couldn't do it.

Fine performance of self-indulgent writing.

I really liked this book

Very different take on a vampire story. Enjoy Scott Brick as a narrator also.

Well worth the money.

I hope Audible will soon have the 2012 book by Justin Cronin as well.

I didn't want it to end!

In the tradition of The Stand, this exceptionally well-written and narrated tale is a long one but very satisfying. The characters are well developed and we the listeners end up caring about them. I couldn't get enough of this and found myself sneaking away from work to listen (always the sign of a great book). Justin Cronin's apocolyptic world of the walkers and the virals is utterly believable and one that I look forward to visiting again the sure to come sequels.

Ending??!!??

Well written book. A bit monotonous at times but a good story. Right up until the end that just leaves you hanging. After 36 hours I was expecting a conclusion.

Long, but good!

Writing is mostly excellent, but at times feels like it could use an edit. Long chapters where not much happens and passage after passage about nothing. But otherwise the story is very edge-of-your-seat. The narration is excellent!

I love it !

Ive read the bad reviews and dont think they are a reaction to the book but to Scot Brick.If this was read by someone else it would get much better ratings.Scot just reads badly,I read the book first and its better and you have to get around the whinning voice of his.The prose is good,the story lines detailed.And it may have a vampire story line but thats todays "monster".If it was from the 60s it would be space monsters. All books have a period accent to them.

Buy the book, it is a great value

I love long books and this one did not disappoint. This was very reminiscent of one of the big Stephen King books like The Stand or Under the Dome. Not as good as The Stand but Better than Under the Dome. For the people that complain about the ending find me a long book that ends the way we think it should and I will eat it.
Buy the book, it is a great value.

the first half was good

the story is in third person and has a very engaging start, characters are well drawn and the story moves apace. The second half degenerates into the same post- apocalyptic para- military society crapola that has been done to death. I simply cannot relate to characters who regard a cache of guns with holy reverence. Might as well let the creepies have all the people if thats the best they can do. I didnt make it all the way though and I won't ever listen again