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.

The Passage, book review. (Justin Cronin)

With the release of book three, The City of Mirrors, I figured it was time to go back to the beginning of the story and remind myself what I'd forgotten.

It begins in the world we all recognise. There are cars and shops and people going about their daily business, there's Amy, a girl of six, who spends her nights sleeping in motel bathtubs whilst her mother earns what she can; there's Carter, a death-row prisoner, and there's agent Wolgast, FBI, who's been collecting death-row prisoners for experimentation, Carter being his twelfth.

The beginning of this book is excellent. I like the contrast between the calm peaceful life of the nuns who look after Amy, against the pain, death and horror of The Twelve, incarcerated deep underground. I like the back story of the tourists in the jungle, the spookiness of the day Amy goes to the Zoo, how Wolgast's actions turn him into a criminal. I love the pandemonium when The Twelve escape and infect the world, and the isolation that follows Wolgast and Amy as they flee to the mountains.

Then, nearly a hundred years later, a small colony, humans living behind high walls, but the batteries that keep the lights on, the lights that keep the virals (blood thirsty vampire like creatures) away, are failing. They have a year, two at most. Something has to be done.

When some of the inhabitants go mad and let the virals in, a small group make a run for it; grabbing what weapons they can. They hole up in a fortified garage, find an underground bunker chock full of weapons, get rescued from an ambush in Las Vegas (which is a superb scene) and get taken to an ex-prison colony (The Haven) which is super strange because there are no virals there!

The human sacrifices that keep Babcock (one of The Twelve) and his hordes away, is soon revealed, and is followed by an epic chase across mile upon mile of open countryside on a fortified train, and it's the juxtaposition between heart in the mouth all hell is breaking lose, shit we've just lost another main character and the peaceful backdrop of snow covers mountains, where Theo and Maus have their baby and Peter and Amy find Sister Lacey with eleven vials of anti-virus, that makes this book so riveting.

There is so much going on here, that you might think you'd get lost, but with such diverse characters and such superb writing, you don’t, it just all makes sense. Coupled with a convincing setting, both in the present, past and possible future (the University of New South Wales are still reading from Sara's diary in the year 1003 AV [after virus]) I'm betting you’ll jump straight into book two, The Twelve, as soon as you’ve turned the last page.
An easy and highly recommended five star read.