The Passage, Justin Cronin
The Passage, Justin Cronin
104 Rating(s)
List: $22.50 | Sale: $15.75
Club: $11.25

The Passage
A Novel (Book One of The Passage Trilogy)

Author: Justin Cronin

Narrator: Edward Herrmann

Abridged: 14 hr 52 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/08/2010


Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • This thrilling novel kicks off what Stephen King calls “a trilogy that will stand as one of the great achievements in American fantasy fiction.”

ONE OF PASTE’S BEST HORROR BOOKS OF THE DECADE • ONE OF TIME’S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, Esquire, U.S. News & World Report, NPR/On Point, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, BookPage, Library Journal

“It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.”

An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, The Passage is the story of Amy—abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Brad Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl and risks everything to save her. As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape—but he can’t stop society’s collapse. And as Amy walks alone, across miles and decades, into a future dark with violence and despair, she is filled with the mysterious and terrifying knowledge that only she has the power to save the ruined world.

Look for the entire Passage trilogy:
THE PASSAGE | THE TWELVE | THE CITY OF MIRRORS

Praise for The Passage

“[A] blockbuster.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Mythic storytelling.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Magnificent . . . Cronin has taken his literary gifts, and he has weaponized them. . . . The Passage can stand proudly next to Stephen King’s apocalyptic masterpiece The Stand, but a closer match would be Cormac McCarthy’s The Road: a story about human beings trying to generate new hope in a world from which all hope has long since been burnt.”—Time

“The type of big, engrossing read that will have you leaving the lights on late into the night.”—The Dallas Morning News

“Addictive.”—Men’s Journal

“Cronin’s unguessable plot and appealing characters will seize your heart and mind.”—Parade

About The Author

Justin Cronin is the New York Times bestselling author of The Passage, The Twelve, The City of Mirrors, Mary and O’Neil (which won the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Stephen Crane Prize), and The Summer Guest. Other honors for his writing include a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and a Whiting Writers’ Award. A Distinguished Faculty Fellow at Rice University, he divides his time between Houston, Texas, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Garet on March 25, 2012

Oh, The Passage. You promised me such wonderful things with your sparkly cover, your titillating title (a passage to WHERE??), and your massive hype. Also your sizable heft, as you are a large, obese book, full of words and things. I figured if I didn't like you, I could use you to stone evil-doers......more

Goodreads review by Mark on February 18, 2025

At the start of this book I was pretty sure it would be a 5* read. In the middle I was losing the will to read on and thought it would do well to wring 3* from me. By the end I give it a hearty 3* but just can't bring myself to offer 4. So, this is a vampire book without the sparkling, the forever se......more

Goodreads review by Emily on January 12, 2019

(3.5) This was a wild ride! I've been going through my list of "post-apocalyptic books to read" and this one had been recommend to me so much that I had to read it. Within the last year I read The Stand by Stephen King (disease) and Swan Song by Robert McCammon (nuclear war) so it's impossible for me......more

Goodreads review by Mario the lone bookwolf on February 26, 2022

One of the most amazing horror/fantasy novels I´ve read, combining splendid character design, very complex subplots, and amazing wordbuilding to something in the league of G R R Martin, King, and Sanderson. That´s why professional creative writing matters This Iowa writers workshop Cronin studied in m......more

Goodreads review by Matthew on September 27, 2017

Epic . . . very, very Epic! I feel like I just read about 5 books. Not because it was long, but just because there is so much story here that changes direction so many times. I cannot believe there are still two books to go . . . I mean, I can believe it because there is more story to tell, but how m......more


Quotes

“[A] blockbuster.”The New York Times Book Review

“Mythic storytelling.”San Francisco Chronicle

“Magnificent . . . Cronin has taken his literary gifts, and he has weaponized them. . . . The Passage can stand proudly next to Stephen King’s apocalyptic masterpiece The Stand, but a closer match would be Cormac McCarthy’s The Road: a story about human beings trying to generate new hope in a world from which all hope has long since been burnt.”Time

“The type of big, engrossing read that will have you leaving the lights on late into the night.”The Dallas Morning News

“Addictive.”Men’s Journal

“Cronin’s unguessable plot and appealing characters will seize your heart and mind.”Parade

“Cronin has given us what could be the best book of the summer. Don’t wait to dive into The Passage.”USA Today

“Great storytelling . . . vital, tender, and compelling.”O: The Oprah Magazine

“Cronin gets it just right; the combination of attentive realism and doomsday stakes makes for a mesmerizing experience.”Salon

“Magnificently unnerving . . . A The Stand-meets-The Road journey.”Entertainment Weekly

“Imagine Michael Crichton crossbreeding Stephen King’s The Stand and Salem’s Lot in that lab on Jurassic Park, with rich infusions of Robert McCammon’s Swan Song, Battlestar Galactica and even Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.”The Washington Post


Awards

  • Indie Next