After having come upon this book when browsing in the bookshop, I spent a long time trying to decide whether to buy it or not. I considered the cover, the title, read the blurb and a few pages of the story and this book "spoke"
to me. From the moment I picked it up, I felt a strong desire to read this book. Unfortunately, I chose a different book in the bookshop, dismissing "The Passage" as "too hard and too long", making one of the worst mistakes in my bookshelfer´s life. Of course, I couldn´t stop myself- the book seemed too good to be left behind never to be read or reviewed- and I had to take the "hard way", which meant waiting for the book to be in the library and then travelling to some far-away place to check it out...
"The Passage" is a novel (part of a planned trilogy) by
Justin Cronin. The story is told from many points of view and is set mostly in the future. It speaks of a dangerous virus created by the USA army which is meant to prolong the lives of humans it infects, strenghten their immune systems and cure all illness. Unfortunately, this virus has a few side effects: the humans that get infected turn into evil blood-sucking, meat-eating, vampire-like beings.
In the begging, the book follows the story of agent Wolgast, who works for the FBI as a special agent for a secret project under the code name "Noah". His job is to collect death-sentenced prisoners persuading them to undergo the testing of this dangerous virus without telling them what they are up against. These prisoners, most of them choosing a "secret new job" over death, are then transported to the headquarters in Colorado where they are injected with the virus, strictly guarded and observed 24 hours a day. So far, all 12 test subjects were adults. Amy Harper Bellafonte is a 6 year old orphan girl who was the first child chosen to be injected with a new version of the virus. That is when things start going wrong.
For ages the guards of each of the tweleve subjects have been having strange dreams which were, in some strange sinister way, connected to the monsters they were watching over. They all try to avoid talking about the whispers they hear in the presence of the subjects and the terrible nightmares they get every time they fall asleep, but they all know they are real- a huge unpleasant part of taking this job.
One night, after Amy gets injected with the virus, the subjects escape and twelve blood-sucking, meat-eating, vampire-like beasts are unleashed onto the world. What´s worse? Anyone they bite gets infected too. Wolgast manages to escape with Amy. Ever since they first met he couldn´t help but asocciate her with his dead daughter, feeling quite guilty for taking a six-year-old orphan girl to undergo the testing of an unknown virus, a pocedure only death-sentenced criminals were asked to undergo, and face almost certain death in the process. Surprisingly, Amy survived, and she is different from the other subjects: her skin doesn´t glow, she doesn´t feel hunger for raw meat and she doesn´t run around destroying cities and killing people. Amy has the modified version of the virus.
The story then skips a few years into the future, describing the aftermath of the virus epidemic. The virus spread quickly across America, forcing people to flee towns and send their children to special "camps" where they were guarded and kept safe from the infected. The inhabitants of these camps later estabilished colonies living behind tall walls guarded by lights, nets and barbed wires. These were often the only people that survived, living cut off from the outside world but safe from the virus. Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever. The batteries that power the lights which have for so long protected the people from the infected, are running out and when the lights go out, there will be nothing left to protect them from the outside world and the evil that lives behing the walls of the colony.
I was excited when I finally found this book sitting on the shelf in the library and I couldn´t wait to start reading. The beggining was amazing- the way the author described the feelings of the characters, weaving their personal stories in with the whole- it was unbelievably extraordinary! I loved the parts where the infected subjects spoke to their guards through whispers and nightmares and I quickly got dragged into the story. I was a bit disappointed when the book skipped into the future at a particularly exciting part though, and even more disappointed when I got introduced to the many inhabitants of the colony- there were too many of them and it was way too confusing and hard to keep track of who was who. However, I really appreciate the author´s creativity; the way he included maps and documents in the story instead of telling the reader straight away what was goin on. This is one of the books that made me think while reading, letting me use my imagination and forcing me to put pieces of the "puzzle" together to help me understand what was going on. Towards the end I was about to put the book down and give up, as I thought that the ending was too predictable and that there was no point in reading on- I suspected it would end with the classic "happy ending"- they all get married, have children and live happy lives after defeating the infected- it turns out that I was wrong: my "happy ending" suspicion was turned down by two simple words in the last sentence of the entire book- once again the author left the reader with something to think about, a piece of the puzzle which is different for everybody, leaving him to feel worried for the characters, and that is something I think happens quite a lot in this book. I recommend "The Passage" to anyone and everyone- YOU HAVE TO READ THIS! Really, if you like exciting books that make you think and help you use your imagination, read "The Passage"- and don´t stop reading, it´s definitely worth it!
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