The Andromeda Strain meets The Stand in this startling and stunning thriller that brings to life a unique vision of the apocalypse and plays brilliantly with vampire mythology, revealing what becomes of human society when a top-secret government experiment spins wildly out of control.

At an army research station in Colorado, an experiment is being conducted by the U.S. Government: twelve men are exposed to a virus meant to weaponize the human form by super-charging the immune system. But when the experiment goes terribly wrong, terror is unleashed. Amy, a young girl abandoned by her mother and set to be the thirteenth test subject, is rescued by Brad Wolgast, the FBI agent who has been tasked with handing her over, and together they escape to the mountains of Oregon. As civilization crumbles around them, Brad and Amy struggle to keep each other alive, clinging to hope and unable to comprehend the nightmare that approaches with great speed and no mercy. . .


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"Every so often a novel-reader's novel comes along: an enthralling, entertaining story wedded to simple, supple prose, both informed by tremendous imagination. Summer is the perfect time for such books, and this year readers can enjoy the gift of Justin Cronin's The Passage. Read fifteen pages and you will find yourself captivated; read thirty and you will find yourself taken prisoner and reading late into the night. It has the vividness that only epic works of fantasy and imagination can achieve. What else can I say? This: read this book and the ordinary world disappears."
—Stephen King

"The monsters in this compulsive nail biter are the scariest in fiction since Stephen King's vampires in Salem's Lot… This exceptional thriller should be one of the most popular novels this year and will draw in readers everywhere."
—Library Journal, starred review

"Fans of vampire fiction who are bored by the endless hordes of sensitive, misunderstood Byronesque bloodsuckers will revel in Cronin's engrossingly horrific account of a post-apocalyptic America… [Cronin] manages to engage the reader with a sweeping epic style."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“[A] breathtaking, late-night-with-all-the-lights-on page-turner.” 
—Cleveland.com
 
“Cronin’s vivid descriptions light the reader’s imagination, the scenes coming alive through his smooth writing. “The Passage” is an absolute page-turner, one that will have readers captivated for hours on end.”
—Linsdsay Losnedahl, Las Vegas Review-Journal
 
“A powerful page-turner. . . . an action-packed philosophically powerful novel that, despite its heft, you won’t want to put down.”
—Star Tribune (Minnesota)
 
“[An] extraordinary level of verbal craft and psychological insight . . . Like some power-mad scientist, Cronin has taken his literary gifts, and he has weaponized them.” 
—Lev Grossman, Time magazine
 
“It’s a massive tale, in a sense derivative, yet freshly rendered and for the most part perfectly paced.”
—Boulder Daily Camera
 
“Nightmare-inducing. . . . The plot-drive narrative benefits from strong character development and combination of genres, but the novel’s greatest distinction is the creation of a truly terrifying take on vampires, known as the virals.”
—Boulder Weekly
 
“With all the elements of a blockbuster hit, The Passage is an imaginative piece of literature that will surely satisfy any voracious reader.”
—Deseret News
 
“The Passage is for readers who judge books by the intensity of their own blurry, sleep-deprived eyes and the number of paper cuts left on their fingers.”
—The Salt Lake Tribune


From the Hardcover edition.

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Visit www.EnterthePassage.com
Go to www.FindSubjectZero.com for updates!

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Born and raised in New England, JUSTIN CRONIN is the author of The Summer Guest — a Booksense national bestseller — and Mary and O'Neil, which won the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Stephen Crane Prize, both for best debut fiction of the year. Other honours for his writing include a Whiting Writer's Award, fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pew Foundation, the National Novella Award, and an Individual Artist's Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. His short fiction, book reviews and essays have appeared in the Washington Post and the Boston Globe. He is a Professor of English at Rice University and lives with his family in Houston, Texas.


From the Hardcover edition.

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