Book Summary: “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.
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.
Review: This was an interesting book, albeit a little too long. I really enjoy authors with imagination who can make the unbelievable suddenly seem plausible. Technically this book would fall under a science fiction category- it does, after all, deal with vampires and futuristic civilizations. I wouldn’t, however, discount the novel because of the basic premise. I actually didn’t know what this book was about before I checked it out form the library; only that it had gotten some great reviews.
Justin Cronin does a wonderful job of setting the scene, setting up his characters and then scaring your pants off. He took a great idea for a story and made it come alive. The book is pretty hefty at 784 pages- and I admit I got a little bored towards the very end. I think if he would’ve kept it around 600 pages, my attention would have held through the entire book.
Nevertheless, I really enjoyed reading this novel and look forward to the next two in the series. I would recommend starting this book on a lazy Saturday morning because you will probably have a hard time putting it down at first. The second half of the book is not quite as fast paced as the first.
7 out of 10 stars
Read if you liked: “The Stand” by Stephen King, “The Hot Zone” by Richard Preston (movie version: “Outbreak”)
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