My opinion of Justin Cronin's The Passage would vary depending when you asked me. Catch me during the first 250 pages and I'd have told you it was a gripping, character-led page-turner reminiscent of Stephen King at his very best (in particular, The Stand). 50 pages later I might have appeared alienated as Cronin turned everything upside down, leaping 100 years into a post-apocalyptic unknown with a whole new cast and little obvious continuity from the story before. Give it another 50 pages and once I'd warmed to the new setting I'd be singing Cronin's praises all over again as he led his straggler band of survivors on an epic cross-country quest... so epic, in fact that he really didn't know when to call it a day, throwing obstacle after obstacle in the way of his protagonists till the final two hundred pages became an never ending Lord of the Rings succession of climaxes, twists, further climaxes, further twists and late-in-the-day exposition (plus a vicious sting-in-the-tail epilogue) that proved almost as wearying to the reader as trekking across America on foot must have been to the heroes. And this, it turns out, is merely book one of a proposed trilogy - 766 pages, with many, many more to come.
The frustrating thing is, when its good, The Passage is better than just about anything I've read this year. Cronin has that rare ability to make you care deeply about a large cast of characters, and his plot - at least in the first three-quarters of the book - is riveting and well-paced. There's a sense towards the end that the author has his eye on Hollywood, particularly in a huge, gratuitous set-piece involving a runaway train being attacked by vampires - sadly, action lets him down. As is often the case with End of the World thrillers, the set-up is by far the most enthralling sequence... and I wonder how the second and third novels will stand up without such a seductive entry point. But despite my criticism, I will be there to find out.
If you want to read more online book reviews or discuss your favourite books with fellow readers, Hanan of Music Induced Euphoria has now set up her own online book club called Illuminated Anglophiles. Pop over and join in the debate - tell them I sent you!
