Mary and O'Neil by Justin Cronin

by:  Justin Cronin
published by:  Dial Press
publish date:  January 2002

Mary and O’Neil frequently marveled at how, of all the lives they might have led, they had somehow found this one together. When they met at the Philadelphia high school where they’d come to teach, each had suffered a profound loss that had not healed. How likely was it that they could learn to trust, much less love, again?

In light of Justin Cronin's success with The Passage trilogy, his first books were re-released.  I was really interested in the audiobook for this one to see how it compared to The Passage despite completely different subject matter.

One of the things that I found intriguing was that even though it's a different book and a different audiobook narrator, it still sounded like Scott Brick reading The Passage at some points.  It was bizarre.  It made the point that Justin Cronin has a distinct voice.

This book was ok.  I didn't find that it was necessarily about Mary and O'Neil, but O'Neil and his sister Kay.  It seemed to be more about O'Neil and his healing process after losing his parents.  His sister Kay helped him through much of the time.

While I found the writing itself intriguing because I could compare it to The Passage, the story didn't necessarily wow me.  It was just so-so for me.  However, others might find it more enjoyable than I, so give it a try and let me know what you thought.

Review: The Twelve by Justin Cronin

by:  Justin Cronin
published by:  Ballantine Books
publish date:  October 16, 2012

At the end of The Passage, the great viral plague had left a small group of survivors clinging to life amidst a world transformed into a nightmare. In the second volume of this epic trilogy, this same group of survivors, led by the mysterious, charismatic Amy, go on the attack, leading an insurrection against the virals: the first offensives of the Second Viral War.

To do this, they must infiltrate a dozen hives, each presided over by one of the original Twelve. Their secret weapon: Alicia, transformed at the end of book one into a half human, half viral—but whose side, in the end, is she really on?

The Twelve was easily my most anticipated book this year.  I could not wait to get my hands on this book.   Honestly, I got a little teary eyed when the ARC came in the mail.  No lie.

I got a few chapters into it and realized I was going to need the audiobook.  There are just certain kinds of books that do better in audiobook form for me personally.  Since I originally started The Passage in audiobook, I kept hearing The Twelve in Scott Brick's voice in my head and that was just messing up my reading.  So I went down to the library and put my name on the waiting list.  Fortunately I didn't have to wait long.

I had a little bit of trouble keeping the time line straight in this book.  There are some jumps back and forth in time.  Generally, they were pretty straightforward and easy to follow along with.  There's a specific incident that happens in a cornfield in Texas.  Everything associated with this incident is what would throw me off.  I had trouble keeping track of who everyone was in relation to the original colony and the Texas settlements. 

Looking past all that, perhaps if I paid better attention and kept up a little better, I liked this continuation of the story.  It carried over some of the characters from the first book and introduced some new ones.  I really liked where the story line of Lawrence Gray,  one the guys in charge of monitoring the test subjects in The Passage carries on in this book.  His story introduces the diabolical Horace Guilder and crazy Lila (Brad Wolgast's ex-wife).

I found this book to be a strong second book in a trilogy.  Often times, second books aren't worth much, but this had a lot to offer.  There was a lot of world building and introduction of new characters.  There were a lot of questions at the end of this book.  I don't want to post them because I don't want to be spoilerish, but if anyone wants to chat about it, I'm definitely down for that!

And if anyone is curious about Book 3, it's called The City of Mirrors and it's due out 2014!

Revisiting The Passage by Justin Cronin

The Passage by Justin Cronin was one of my favorite books in 2010.  It was one of the first books I wrote about back when I started this blog. 

The link to the original post is here.

The next book in the trilogy comes out in October.  It's called The Twelve.  I've been waiting for it since...well August of 2010.  Here we are two years later and I only have to wait 2 more short months for it to come out.  You may remember it was featured as one of my Most Anticipated Books of 2012.

In preparation for the release of The Twelve, I've been rereading The Passage.  It's a big book, I'm sure some of the details have escaped my mind in all this time.  Once again I am reminded of why I loved this book so much.  Cronin has a way of making his characters so real and I love all his little backstories about each of them.  Only Stephen King does this better and seriously he's the master.

Again, I can't recommend enough listening to the audiobook.  Scott Brick is awesome with the narration.  I've found in my poking about that he's done the narration for The Twelve as well so I'll definitely be checking that out when I get a chance.

If you haven't read The Passage, right now is the perfect time because you'll be able to read the next book in just a few short weeks.  Even if you're vampired out like I've been, these aren't like vampires you've ever seen before.  This book will blow your mind!

Autumn's Most Anticipated for 2012

The Passage

By:  Justin Cronin

From Goodreads:  "It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born."

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.


With The Passage, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterful prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction.

Lately, I've been reading a lot of negative reviews about this book.  I don't get it.  I LOVED THIS BOOK!  I will say that I didn't read the book, I listened to the audiobook.  Maybe that's where the difference comes in.  The audiobook was one of best I've ever listened to.  Scott Brick was absolutely wonderful.   I will say that listening to the audiobook is a test of endurance though, it's almost 37 hrs. long.   I was still disappointed when it was over even after listening to it for about 3 weeks. 

Usually I'm not thrilled about books being made into movies, but the movies rights have been purchased for this book and I'm excited about that.  I think this would make a fantastic movie, maybe even two.   I understand Ridley Scott is supposed to be directing the movie and I could give him a few pointers on casting I think.  Chris Cooper for Wolgast, maybe Dakota Fanning for the grown up Amy (Elle Fanning for little Amy?), Ellen Page for Sarah, Matthew Gray Gubler for Michael/Circuit, Kenneth Mitchell for Hollis....I have a whole list in my head LOL

I really liked the way this book was structured.  I thought the division of the books was effective in keeping the story well organized.  I liked the reading of the journals.  It was good to hear the story from a different voice (literally on the audiobook).  Cronin has a wonderful way with words and vocabulary.  I find so many books are dumbed down, easy words and easy sentences, and this one didn't have this feeling but it was still easy to understand.  That's good writing!

The one disappointment I had with this book was the ending.  I was sad it ended yes, but I didn't like the way it ended.  It was so abrupt and unresolved.  However, I didn't realize when I started this book it's the first in a trilogy.  I found that out today.  Oh happy day!  The next book, The Twelve, is due out in 2012.  That's a long time to wait! 

I had so many questions....what was in the barn with Mouse and Theo?  Will we ever find out?  What IS Peter??  Why did Amy destroy the vials???  Wouldn't it have saved the world?  Didn't she know that?  Now it's just going to be her (and the other)...What the hell happened in New Mexico?  I don't want to wait for the next book!!