Vampires And All That Jazz

The thing that caught my eye about The Passage as I perused the new release shelves a couple of years ago was the cover. The little girl with the wise yet lost little face made me feel like the book was written for me.

And the blurb on the jacket was quite vague; or was it ambiguous??? Aren't they supposed to be opposites?!

Anyway, the girl, the vague synopsis, coupled with the fact that when I go into a bookstore, (as Loris would gladly testify!!), I go into kind of a semi trance or something; the smells, the carpet, all the quietness and shiny staircases. And the staff with their lovely quite style of doing their job, like they're there right behind you but not. If you know what I mean? It's like being enveloped in a kind of warm cocoon of old pulp and low lighting. If you read books then you know what I’m talking about. Time slows down, speeds up, something like that. There is NOTHING worse than when there is someone in a bookstore with you, and they are rushing you; I am a man, I hate shopping, yet when I’m in a bookstore, or bookshop (I yield to North American blog readers when I say store, I know, forgive me!), I can almost empathize with women. It’s not about the buying, it’s about the deciding.

I say  this because The Passage by Justin Cronin was one of those decisions, I’d never heard of the guy, never seen his face on the internet or his name on Amazon. But the book just leapt out at me..

And I never regretted it. After the first hundred pages you realize why the blurb on the jacket was confusing. The book is confusing. After about a hundred pages it becomes more confusing. You should read it. After you have finished it, read its sequel: The Twelve.

The Passage is no flawless masterpiece, but it’s terrifying in parts, and while the writing can be a bit confusing at times, it is eminently readable. And it barrels along. Stephen King is the first name that comes to mind. But his name comes to mind a lot in the horror genre one would say.

It is also touching at times, and the plot I think is quite clever. I know there are people out there who will hate this book but I’m not one of them. It sets up nicely the sequel. Which is the image you see on tonight’s blog. Has anyone read The Passage? Has anyone got any opinions regarding it? I haven’t actually started reading The Twelve. I have it sitting there. My brother has started it. He is a definite Cronin Disciple. But he is the kind of guy who when he follows a literary path, for good or ill, he follows it to hell; I’ll explain that in more detail another day…