The Twelve

By Justin Cronin

Spoilers Ahead

[The Twelve - death-row prisoners with nightmare
pasts and no future, until they were selected for a secret
experiment. Now they are the future, and humanity's
worst nightmare has begun...

But in a world ravaged by the viral plague, something
is changing. All the clues point towards the Homeland,
a sinister dictatorship where an unlikely trio are re-imagining
humanity's destiny: a veteran of the original experiment
with a blood-curdling vision of immortality; a woman whose
tragic past has turned her into a figure of nightmare;
a man whose desire to belong has been fulfilled in the
most gruesome way imaginable.

And then there is Amy. The Girl From Nowhere.
The one person who can penetrate the Homeland's secret.
But what she finds there may spell the end of everything.]

Cronin takes us through loss and heartbreak, revenge and endless plotting, with a full on quest by the characters in search of the twelve - or eleven since the end of The Passage - viral leaders this time. It has many twists and surprises along the way, many that I was not expecting.

Although The Passage was definitely more dramatic and had me on the edge of my seat for the majority of the book - due to the countless threats the characters encountered and the tension built - The Twelve started a little while after the final events in the previous instalment and at a slower pace, filling us in on what has occurred in-between.

I was slightly gutted with the little detail provided about the attack on the camp in the final scene and especially how Maus and Theo died - as well as Sara's capture (although this obviously developed and had questions answered later on throughout the story). However, there were still a lot of tense moments and the events we didn't get to read, I feel, made the characters more realistic, adding depth to them. I enjoyed the addition of Lore, as well as Kate/Eva as the story evolved. This, in turn, also added to the characters growing up as I feel quite a few of them became quite maternal/paternal which was a sweet addition to the already family-like situation they had created.

Like with The Passage, The Twelve started way before any of the main events have taken place, giving us more details about the backstory, linking characters future endeavours in a very nifty and exciting way. I lovedddd the backstory of Lila Kyle (Wolgast's ex-wife) and Grey, the viral who has a conscience, and their part in the bigger story. Lila's split personality was just brilliantly done, really making you loathe her at one point, and love her the next!

And Guilder. What a horrific man! Cronin really knows how to portray those who are evil beautifully. Every evil character or act they do makes your skin crawl. They really deserve what's coming to them.

Cronin also has an ease at which he kills off characters - truly heartbreaking but I think that's one of the things that makes him such a good writer and what makes this novel such an epic story and a battle for survival.

The final few chapters, before the epilogue, revealed the finale to the fighting and an end to, not only Wolgast, but the remaining eleven virals (not including the recently turned Amy herself). I expected a few more casualties to be honest, other than Tifty, but was generally shocked by the final moments. If all the virals are dead, how can there be another book?

And then the epilogue came.

A sweet moment between the only nice viral, Carter, and Amy - presumably as he was about to go off to the afterlife (it's not entirely made clear what has happened to either of them. Is Amy dead or alive? She just seems to disappear from the battle scene). And a concluding scene with Alicia, who has just tried to commit suicide, reveals the plot to the final novel. At last. The hunt for Zero, the original viral, is on.

I. Cannot. Wait.

I've already pre-ordered this beauty (The City of Mirrors) which comes out on June 16th! Eeek!


☽