The Passage is very much the book of the moment, promising to be as successful as The DaVinci Code or Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy. It’s a big, thick blockbuster that harks back directly to Stephen King’s The Stand, and it’s every bit as fun and scary, while also being exceptionally well-written. Vampires stalk the earth! But these aren’t your teenage sparkly Twilight vampires, these are savage, hungry beasties who... but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Amy Bellafonte, in a wrenching opening section, is abandoned by her mother in the care of some nuns. Unfortunately, Amy has come to the attention of some government scientists experimenting on condemned prisoners, and a pair of FBI agents are sent to retrieve her. Despite himself, one of the agents bonds with her and decides scientific and experiments and Amy are two things he doesn’t want to go together, so he takes matters into his own hand. Unfortunately for him, the organisation he works for has a long reach.

The Passage has it all! Drama! Pathos! Science gone mad! Underground lairs! A doomed world! Flawed heroes battling against hopeless odds! It’d all be hopelessly derivative and a bit boring if it weren’t for the fact that Cronin writes like an angel and knows his pulp fiction inside out. so despite the 700 plus page count, he keeps you hanging on every word, right to the bitter-sweet end.

This is epic, world-shaking adventure, and the first in a trilogy that promises to set the trend for blockbusting literary entertainment in the future. No doubt there will be a film version along shortly, but trust me, it won’t be as good as the book. Try it for yourself and see. You won’t be able to put it down.