The Twelve, book review. (Justin Cronin)

So, The Twelve, Justin Cronin's sequel to his amazing The Passage (see blog post 30/11/17)

We're back at the beginning with this book, back at year zero, where we find a number of characters making their way in the world, a world that is falling apart.

There's Grey: ex caretaker of The Twelve, who, in 97 A.V (after virus) becomes Guilder's source of blood, food for his army of red eyes (oppressive guards that control the population of the city at the centre of this book) and there's Lila, Wolgast's ex-wife (Agent Wolgast, FBI, who took Amy to the mountains in The Passage) who is able to control the virals (vampire like creatures that have decimated the world’s population) and bend them to her will.

There's Guilder, who ran things in year zero and runs things again 97 years later, and has a plan, a plan that involves The Twelve and how, when they come, they will unite under him, start a new world order.

We don't lose touch with Sara, Hollis, Michael, Alicia, Greer, Peter and of course the girl from nowhere, Amy, either (all characters from the first book) and Alicia and Amy's stories develop a lot here, but will they switch sides as they both become less human? Will they see their old friends as food?

This book isn't as good as its prequel but then, The Passage did receive a five star review, which is a tough act to follow, so it's by no means a bad book, in fact it’s quite the opposite, it’s a great book, just not exceptional.

It has pace, it has intrigue, it has the supernatural and the damned right scary, as Peter and Alicia decent into the cave home of one of The Twelve, as virals spring for hard boxes (places for humans to hide if they get caught out in the open after dark) and decimate the populace in the field. We have the calm of Danny driving his school bus around a deserted town before driving hundreds and hundreds of miles further than originally planned, the serenity of Lila's deluded mind as she continues to shop for paint in a DIY store whilst the rest of the world is dying, and we have the ending, the huge big punch of an ending, and as usual, I won't spoil things here but as Amy becomes something new, something altogether different, Lila comes to her senses (only a hundred year too late) and Guilder gets what's coming to him, it is well worth the five hundred or so pages it takes to get there.

Four big fat juicy stars then for The Twelve and now, on to The City of Mirrors, the final instalment.