The Passage by Justin Cronin comes out tomorrow (Tuesday, June 8th), and our staff is beyond excited. This book has dominated our water cooler discussions for the past two months. We’ve been passing around advance copies, wearing out the binding on more than one as Passage fever spreads throughout the store.
But it’s not just us. Plenty of publications have been giving Cronin space in their pages, from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal to the The Onion A.V. Club.
Among the heaps of praise for The Passage, the book has also received a few favorable comparisons to Stephen King’s The Stand. Both take wide screen looks into a post-apocalyptic America, where the population has been.. thinned a bit, and the survivors are left to create a new way of living. But really, besides that basic anatomy, this book is a wildly different animal.
If you’re a Stephen King fan, you’ll almost certainly enjoy The Passage, but this book is also for fans of big-budget disaster flicks; fans of smartly written characters and sharp dialogue, fans of terror and redemption and hope, fans of good storytelling. Imagine if one of those big summer blockbusters was filmed by Kurosawa or Kubrick instead of Michael Bay…basically, this monster has a brain and that’s what makes it way, way scarier.
But don’t just take my word for it. Here’s a few quotes from our staff:
“Cronin takes the tired old tropes of apocalyptic futures and turns them on their ears, creating a whole other beast entirely. Beautifully written and terrifying, this book will keep you turning pages late into the night.” – Clint
“I can’t stop thinkning — or talking — about The Passage. At first I was intimidated by it’s legnth, but after quickly reaching the end, I didn’t want it to be over. What an adventure! And he’s going to write two more? YAY!” – Samm
“I loved this book. When I finished, I spent about five minutes breathing deeply and turning the story over in my mind, then turned back to page one and started it all over again. Please read it.” – Alison
Justin Cronin will be in the store to discuss and sign copies of his book on Saturday, June 19th at 3PM.
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