Hunger Games, Maze Runner, The Martian, Interstellar, World War Z. . . Dystopian and post-apocalyptic chronicles are hot! The Passage by Justin Cronin – book one in a trilogy soon to be transported to the big screen to join its blockbuster predecessors – fits right in with the rest. In terms of concept, this gem of a novel may remind the Sci-Fi connoisseur a little of I Am Legend. A virus, created by the US military, is accidentally unleashed upon the population and nearly wipes out humanity (oops). Those infected by the virus are transformed into bloodthirsty, indestructible monstrosities with a hypersensitivity to light (yeah, basically vampires – but much uglier).
The book follows a group of survivors as they abandon their Californian safe-haven when they realise the generators keeping their protective UV lights on at night will soon run out of power. What follows is an epic journey through the wreckage that was once the proud nation of the United States; a world they basically know nothing about as none of them have ever set foot outside the walls of their stronghold, or even seen the stars. Are there other colonies of survivors out there? Probably. Will they find a solution, or a weapon, or a cure? Maybe. And what’s with that mysterious young girl, Amy, who one day came wandering into their settlement? Who is she? Yet, it isn’t the intricate plot or wide variety of relatable characters that makes this book stand out from the rest.
What hooked me, right from the start, was the way in which Cronin employs diary entries, emails, maps, and legal documents as the multifaceted narrative jumps back and forth through time, slowly revealing what nearly brought about the end of humanity. These are the tropes of Gothic literature, harking back to Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and the original Gothic Sci-Fi, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The “found manuscripts” add to the confusion and mystery of the story.
The Passage is a beautifully written book for which you will need to keep your wits about you, and as you do, you will be rewarded with a piece of post-apocalyptic prose at its absolute finest, leaving you craving more.