The second book in the Passage Trilogy, The Twelve follows up, continuing the massive epic with all of the grace and aplomb that comes along with author Justin Cronin's name. It starts off in present day times, showing the audience how the apocalypse started. It centers on three characters Lila, Kittridge and April. Lila is a doctor who also happens to be pregnant. Her mother's instinct is strong enough to make her continue the plans for the child to be born, despite the world falling apart. Kittridge's moniker, Last Stand in Denver, befits him as he takes to the treacherous roads by himself. April is a teenager who is the last person left in her family to care for her younger brother. She is thrown into a scary and life-threatening new world head on.
Fast forward one hundred years in the future, and we have Amy, from the first book, along with others fighting to survive. Only they don't know that the creatures are evolving, becoming more dangerous and evil than they already were. The humans must fight together for the Twelve to fall.
While you can read THE TWELVE without having read the first, I recommend them to be read in order, so that the entire picture is fully formed. With a story as in-depth and complex as Cronin's, you don't want to miss a single page. There are quieter moments between the intense action, but both serve to progress the story forward, supplying much information. Cronin's ability to walk the line, teetering between literary and genre fiction gives a satisfying balance, never straying too much to either side.
The characters are rich, and I found myself caring more for them than I even did in the first book, which is to say a lot. The reader becomes engaged in their lives, their survival, almost firsthand. The vampire-like creatures in this story are like none you've ever encountered before I venture to guess. Incredibly visceral and still harboring the tiniest sliver of humanistic qualities, they are killing machines that are to be feared and remembered. I wait for the third book on tiptoes and with bated breath. This is a trilogy that should not be missed.
The end of the world was only the beginning.
In his internationally bestselling and critically
acclaimed novel The Passage, Justin Cronin
constructed an unforgettable world transformed by a
government experiment gone horribly wrong. Now the scope
widens and the intensity deepens as the epic story surges
forward with . . . THE TWELVE
In the present day, as the man-made apocalypse
unfolds, three strangers navigate the chaos. Lila, a doctor
and an expectant mother, is so shattered by the spread of
violence and infection that she continues to plan for her
childβs arrival even as society dissolves around her.
Kittridge, known to the world as βLast Stand in Denver,β has
been forced to flee his stronghold and is now on the road,
dodging the infected, armed but alone and well aware that a
tank of gas will get him only so far. April is a teenager
fighting to guide her little brother safely through a
landscape of death and ruin. These three will learn that
they have not been fully abandonedβand that in connection
lies hope, even on the darkest of nights. One
hundred years in the future, Amy and the others fight on for
humankindβs salvation . . . unaware that the rules have
changed. The enemy has evolved, and a dark new order has
arisen with a vision of the future infinitely more
horrifying than manβs extinction. If the Twelve are to fall,
one of those united to vanquish them will have to pay the
ultimate price. A heart-stopping thriller
rendered with masterful literary skill, The Twelve is
a grand and gripping tale of sacrifice and survival.
No excerpt available.
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