The Passage (novel)

3 Reception

The Passage is a novel by Justin Cronin, published in

2010 by Ballantine Books, a division of Random House,
Inc., New York. The Passage debuted at #3 on the New
York Times hardcover ction best seller list, and remained
on the list for seven additional weeks.[1] It is the rst novel
of a planned trilogy; the second book The Twelve was released in 2012, with the third book The City of Mirrors
due for release in 2016.[2]

The National Post called The Passage Homeric and one

of the creepiest books of 2010. The book has earned
comparisons to The Stand, and earned Cronin comparisons to Michael Crichton.[3] Publishers Weekly criticized
Cronins use of certain "tropes" of the genre, but added
that he manages to engage the reader with a sweeping
epic style. Booklist said that the book was so similar to
The Stand that it required some fact-checking to ascertain it was not written under a new King pseudonym.
USA Today said that The Passage could be the best book
of the summer. The New York Times Book Review said
that The Passage is A blockbusterastutely plotted and
imaginative.[4] The Los Angeles Times said The Passage
is as stirring as it is epic, and even described a portion of the book as nearly awless, though it also describes some of the narration as portentous and slack.[5]
The San Francisco Chronicle selected The Passage as one
of the best science ction and fantasy books of 2010,
and describes the book as being action packed and
rousing.[6][7]

Setting

The Passage begins in the near future and details an

apocalyptic and, later, post-apocalyptic world that is overrun by vampire-like beings who are infected by a highly
contagious virus. What begins as a project to develop
a new immunity-boosting drug based on a virus carried
by an unnamed species of bat in South America eventually becomes the virus that transforms the world. The
novel begins in 2016 and spans more than ninety years, as
The book has also been praised by numerous contemcolonies of humans attempt to live in a world lled with
porary authors. Stephen King called The Passage ensuperhuman creatures who are continually on the hunt for
thralling, and said that It has the vividness that only
fresh blood.
epic works of fantasy and imagination can achieve.[8]
Dan Chaon called The Passage hypnotic and said that
you cant turn the pages fast enough, and yet... you dont
want it to end.[4] Jennifer Egan said that Justin Cronin
has written a wild, headlong, sweeping extravaganza of
a novel. The Passage is the literary equivalent of a uni2 Development
corn: a bonade thriller that is sharply written, deeply
humane, ablaze with big ideas, and absolutely impossible
Cronin rst began developing his ideas for The Passage in to put down.[8] Danielle Trussoni called The Passage a
2006 when his daughter asked him to write a book about sweeping dystopian epic.[4]
a girl who saves the world. He set out to write a book
that combined elements of multiple genres, most predominantly horror, science ction, and fantasy. Cronin
wanted his vampiric creatures to seem like real-world or- 4 Plot
ganisms that might have inspired the vampire stories he
knew from his childhood and the vampire-like creatures The novel is broken into 11 parts of varying lengths. The
found in the folklore of numerous cultures. Cronin de- story itself is broken into two sections: The rst and
scribed writing the book as feeling natural, and having shorter section covers the origins of the virus and its outcome very quickly.[3] Cronin said that the title is a ref- break, while the second is set 93 years after the infections,
erence to the characters journeys, and the journey from primarily following a colony of survivors living in Califorlife to death. Cronin said that many of the places fea- nia. Several narrative devices are used, including email,
tured in the novel were selected because they were places journal entries, newspaper reports, and other documents.
he had lived, and that he decided to travel every mile my Occasional use is made of reference material from 1,000
characters did, to capture not only the details of place, years after the outbreak, coming from The Journal of
but the feeling of place.[4]
Sara Fisher, sourced from a future University of New
1

4 PLOT

South Wales, Indo-Australian Republic.

the high-wattage lights which protect the colony from the

The U.S. government is conducting a top secret experi- virals, who in traditional vampiric style are highly lightment referred to as Project Noah, which involves ac- sensitive.
quiring and transporting death row inmates to a secret During a nighttime attack, Amy arrives at the gates of
military compound in Colorado for the purposes of test- the camp, having previously met Peter Jaxon (one of
ing a drug intended to greatly prolong life. These genetic the colonys senior gures) during a foraging expedition.
experiments originate from patient zero Fanning - one Amys arrival also results in a break-in from the virals
of two surviving members of an expedition investigat- leading to the death of Teacher - the person responing a Bolivian bat-carried virus. The virus, while causing sible for the upbringing of all the children under eight in
hemorrhagic fever and death in those who initially con- the colony. Amy now appears to be a fteen-year-old girl,
tracted it, is resulting in a boosting of the immune system, and upon her arrival is grievously wounded by a crossbow,
and enhanced strength and agility in the current subjects. but her own recuperative powers soon heal her and within
The FBI agents responsible for recruiting the prisoners days she is as healthy as she was before being injured.
are ordered to collect 6 year old Amy Bellafonte from
a convent, and, although conicted, deliver her to Dr.
Lear, the head of the project. At Noah she is exposed
to a rened version of the serum administered to The
Twelvethe original inmates. Lear theorizes that as
Amys immune system has not had chance to mature it
will form a symbiosis with the virus and live with her symbiotically, instead of the violent forms it has taken with
the other twelve.
Of the inmates, the rst and last recruited are depicted as
being dierent from the others: Babcock, the original test
subject, is stronger and appears to have developed psychic
abilities, occasionally inuencing his guards and cleaners;
and Carter is in fact innocent, but was convicted of rstdegree murder nonetheless.
Zero (AKA Fanning) and the other twelve inmates mentally take control of their guards and escape their quarantine cells, rapidly killing all who stand in their way. Amy
is rescued by Brad Wolgast (the FBI agent who brought
her to Noah) and Sister Lacey (a nun who was looking
after Amy when she was recruited). Lacey is taken by
Carter, as Wolgast and Amy escape to a mountain retreat
where they live for several months, occasionally picking
up news of the contagion spread throughout America.
The rest of the worlds fate is not stated, but it is mentioned that most of Europe has imposed quarantine over
travel.
Despite living reasonably comfortably in the mountain
site, Wolgast eventually succumbs to radiation sickness
when a nuclear device is detonated relatively nearby - he
assumes that the government is attempting to sterilize infected areas of the country - and Amy is left to fend for
herself.
The novel shifts forward in time approximately 93 years
(with occasional reference retrospectively 1,000 years in
the future), and the narrative is taken up around a selfsucient, walled, isolationist colony established by the
military (specically FEMA) not long after the initial
outbreak. The colony is in slow decline, although only
one character (a technician called Michael) seems to recognize this; he is trying to establish clandestine radio contact with the outside world to obtain spares for their failing equipment - specically their batteries which power

Amys arrival, her healing abilities, Teachers death and

inner-colony friction (caused by Babcocks mental inuence over several Colony gures) force several of the
colony dwellers to abscond with Amy and seek out another military site in Colorado - from where Michael has
been receiving faint radio signals.
Amy demonstrates a psychic bond with the virals, and
manages to keep the group of travelers relatively safe during their journey. They come across another settlement
established in a Las Vegas prison, known as the Haven,
which, while initially welcoming, is in fact Babcocks lair.
The Havens residents, most under the mental inuence
of Babcock, feeds him blood sacrices in exchange for
being left alone by the horde of virals at his disposal, referred to as The Many (as opposed to The Twelve).
Theo Jaxon, Peters brother who had been captured by virals months earlier, has been imprisoned here. Babcock is
slowly attempting to grasp hold of his mind to make him a
Familiar, but because he does not give in, he is served as
a sacrice. After resisting Babcocks mental inuence,
Theo and Mausami (his pregnant lover) are rescued by
Peter.
During a botched attempt to kill Babcock during one of
the monthly blood sacrice rituals, sympathizers at the
Haven enable the group to escape via railroad, and they
arrive at a farmstead. Theo and Maus stay behind so that
the baby can be born safely while the rest of the group
continue on and eventually meet up with a Texan military group, who assist them in nding the Colorado outpost. Once at the outpost, they discover that it is the same
compound where the outbreak started, and still serves as
home to Sister Lacey. Lacey, like Amy, was treated by
Lear with a modied form of the serum, providing her
with longer life and a psychic bond with not only Amy
and the virals, but Babcock as well.
It is decided to lure Babcock into the outpost - Amy and
Lacey conrm that he is headed towards them in any case
- where they will detonate a nuclear device originally designed to sterilize the compound, but never used. The
group theorize that the virals are like a hive mind and
once Babcock is dead his hold over the virals created
exponentially by him will cease and they will no longer
be a threat. While waiting for Babcock to arrive, the

3
group is attacked, resulting in Alicia (Lish) becoming
infected, and treated by Sara the medic with modied
serum. Lacey hands over les on The Twelve, revealing
their hometowns, to which she suggests The Twelve will
have returned.
Upon Babcocks arrival, Lacey lures him to a chamber
where she detonates the bomb, destroying herself, Babcock, and much of the outpost. The attacking virals all
collapse and die again, in most cases leaving behind nothing but dust, proving the hive theory correct.
Lish adapts to the virus in a similar manner to Amy and
Lacey before her, yet with dierences - she has limited
psychic abilities, but has the strength and endurance of
a viral. Greer, one of the Texan soldiers traveling with
them, comments that she would be a formidable soldier suggesting that Lish has become the rst true super soldier that the government was trying to develop 93 years
ago.
The group return to Theo and Maus at the farmstead,
where the baby has been born safely and then they all depart. Part of the group - Amy, Peter, Michael, Greer and
Lish - after months of walking, return to the First Colony
only to nd it deserted, with no sign of what happened or
where the colonists may have gone. There are two bodies,
a victim of a suicide and that of Auntie, who seemingly
died of old age. They decide to hunt down the remaining
Twelve using Lears les to determine their locations, and
Lish as their primary weapon. That night Amy meets the
infected Wolgast, outside the Colony.
The other group stays with the Texan Expeditionary
force, and their remaining story is related through parts
of Saras diary - her last entry is at Roswell Base, and
among comments about her own pregnancy she states that
she can hear gunshots, and is going to investigate. This
entry is presented as part of the future reference material,
and is stated to have come from the site of The Roswell
Massacre. The novel ends ambiguously for all surviving
characters.

Expressions

Characters who are a part of the colony adopt unique

slang and language over their isolation. These are designed to reinforce the simplicity of life the colonists are
forced into - viewing everything in terms of survival and
death.
The expression All Eyes is the commonly used. Its connotations include a simple 'be careful,' but it is often extended into an expression that stresses deeper concerns
and emotional connections. It is frequently used between
characters with emotional ties, or comrades who have
been on guard / scouting together for many years. It highlights a bond between them and understanding of the vast
dangers around them. All Eyes is akin to the expression
keep your eyes open much of the time. Flyers is also

prevalent as a form of curse, although current traditional

swear words are also used in a normal manner.
The term gaps is used interchangeably for pants or
trousers, likely derived from the store from which they
were foraged.

6 Characters
Main article: List of Characters in The Passage Trilogy
The protagonist of The Passage is Amy Harper Bellafonte, a child who is infected with a form of the virus
and acquires some of the traits of the other infected (e.g.
immortality), but does not acquire their bloodlust or their
morphology. Despite being the primary protagonist, she
is absent from several of the sub-books contained within
the novel. Numerous individuals help Amy along her
journey, including Brad Wolgast, an FBI agent whose
job it is to procure people to be part of an experiment
in which participants are infected with the virus, and,
decades later, Peter Jaxon, a young man who lives in a
tenuously surviving colony. The primary antagonist is the
viral known as Babcock, who was a death row inmate before being infected with the virus. Similarly to Amy, he is
absent from a signicant portion from the middle part of
the novel. Babcock and the Twelve also play a signicant
role in this book and the sequel The Twelve.

7 Film adaptation
Fox 2000 and Ridley Scott's Scott Free Productions purchased the movie rights to this novel for $1.75 million
USD in 2007, long before the book was completed.[9]
John Logan, writer of Scotts Gladiator, will be writing this movies screenplay. According to Justin Cronin
they are rst focusing on one movie, but since he already
mapped out the other two books, they know what is coming next and they are planning on three movies. [10] As of
January 2015 it is still not clear when the rst movie will
arrive, apparently the project is still in development. [11]

8 References
[1] Schuessler, Jennifer (June 18, 2010). Best Sellers: Hardcover Fiction. New York Times. Retrieved June 18, 2010.
[2] http://www.amazon.co.uk/
The-City-Mirrors-Justin-Cronin/dp/0752897896/
ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412535829&sr=8-1&
keywords=city+of+mirrors
[3] Arts.nationalpost.com
[4] Amazon.com

[5] Park, Ed (June 15, 2010). Book Review: 'The Passage'

by Justin Cronin. Los Angeles Times.
[6] Berry, Michael (December 19, 2010). Science ction
and fantasy books. The San Francisco Chronicle.
[7] Berry, Michael (June 13, 2010). Page one -- Clinton
Pledges More Aid For Storm-Ravaged State. The San
Francisco Chronicle.
[8] Enterthepassage.com
[9] Ito, Robert (August 11, 2007). Bloodthirsty New Book
Incites a Bidding War. New York Times. Retrieved June
18, 2010.
[10] The Passage Review & Film News. Apocalypse Zone.
Apocalypse Zone. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
[11] The Passage. Retrieved 20 January 2015.

External links
Enter The Passage, The ocial website
Find Subject Zero, An ocial companion website
The UK edition of The Passage
Apocalypse Wow, National post article with details on movie rights for The Passage
Literary Novelist Turns to Vampires and Finds Pot
of Gold, New York Times, Julie Bosman, June 1,
2010
A Journal of the Plague Century: Civilization
Goes Viral. Stu Ensues., New York Times, Janet
Maslin, June 6, 2010
The Passage on Open Library at the Internet Archive

EXTERNAL LINKS

10
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