Cronin's The Passage

The Passage is not a novel about vampires. The monsters -variously called virals, smokes or jumps- aren't very interesting characters. Almost all of them are stripped of personality, immortal superhuman killing machines who take over North America. The author tells Salon.com that they are suspended in the moment between life and death. But really the novel is about the little girl Amy who's destined to save the world and the other survivors. The enigmatic Amy is the beating heart of the story and the single chapter told from her point of view is a shimmering literary masterpiece. As a young girl who has lived a hundred years by this point, she has a unique point of view. Many of the novel's characters spend a lot of time either imprisoned or in hiding from the monsters and the theme emerges of the effects of isolation and being trapped. As a long distance trucker I can relate to this condition of existence quite well. There are times when you feel like you're seeing the world pass by through your windshield but you're not really living in it anymore. Also, I must admit to having certain fantasies of living on as a survivor of apocalypse or as a superhero.The characters who survive and even thrive in their captivity are the strong willed resistors who eventually escape and end the novel with a declaration of war against the monsters to be fought in the sequel.
The narrative is immensely compelling and Justin Cronin is a very engaging writer who leads you effortlessly through hundreds of pages. I hadn't ever heard of him before this novel appeared on the best-seller lists but he is a wonderful talent.

He tells the website io9.com "If I was going to place these characters in a great deal of jeopardy and send them across the continent, where many would die, I had to earn the right to do that to them. And you earn that by giving them the full dignity of their humanity." 


And so he truly does.