A review by lesserjoke
The Passage by Justin Cronin

3.0

This post-apocalyptic vampire novel has a real early Stephen King feel to it. The most direct King parallel is probably The Stand, which similarly details the outbreak and aftermath of a deadly plague virus, but there are also classic King tropes like a psychic child and the gradual corrosive destruction of a small-town community, to say nothing of the vampire/zombie creatures themselves. I did prefer the first third of this novel, spanning the buildup to the outbreak, over the remainder of the text, which then jumps forward a century to show how society has adapted. Still, the whole book is definitely worth reading for any Stephen King fans, and I'll probably check out the two sequels at some point as well.