NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES! 'THE STAND meets THE ROAD' Entertainment Weekly 'Enthralling ... richly imagined. Above all, Amy is a superb creation, believably human yet beguilingly enigmatic' Sunday Times Amy Harper Bellafonte is six years old and her mother thinks she's the most important person in the whole world. She is. Anthony Carter doesn't think he could ever be in a worse place than Death Row. He's wrong. FBI agent Brad Wolgast thinks something beyond imagination is coming. It is. 'Read 15 pages, and you will find yourself captivated; read 30 and you will find yourself taken prisoner and reading late into the night. It had the vividness that only epic works of fantasy and imagination can achieve. What else can I say? This: read this book and the ordinary world disappears' Stephen King

The islands of Prospera lie in a vast ocean: in splendid isolation from the rest of humanity, or whatever remains of it. . .

Citizens of the main island enjoy privileged lives, attended to by the support staff who live on a cramped neighbouring island, where whispers begin to grow into cries for revolution. Meanwhile, life for Prosperans is perfection - and when it's not, their bodies are sent to the mysterious third island: a facility named The Nursery, to be rebooted and restart life afresh.

Proctor Bennett is a Ferryman, who shepherds the soon-to-be retired into the unknown. He never questioned his work until the day he is delivered a cryptic message: "The world is not the world..."

These simple words unravel something that he has secretly suspected. They seep into strange dreams - of the stars and the sea - and the unshakeable feeling that someone is trying to tell him something important. Something greater than anyone could possibly imagine, which could change the fate of humanity itself...

'Next to impossible to put down . . . exciting, mysterious, and totally satisfying.' STEPHEN KING ***** The islands of Prospera lie in a vast ocean: in splendid isolation from the rest of humanity, or whatever remains of it. . . Citizens of the main island enjoy privileged lives, attended to by the support staff who live on a cramped neighbouring island, where whispers begin to grow into cries for revolution. Meanwhile, life for Prosperans is perfection - and when it's not, their bodies are sent to the mysterious third island: a facility named The Nursery, to be rebooted and restart life afresh. Proctor Bennett is a Ferryman, who shepherds the soon-to-be retired into the unknown. He never questioned his work until the day he is delivered a cryptic message: "The world is not the world..." These simple words unravel something that he has secretly suspected. They seep into strange dreams - of the stars and the sea - and the unshakeable feeling that someone is trying to tell him something important. Something greater than anyone could possibly imagine, which could change the fate of humanity itself... ***** 'A mind-bending novel full of big ideas and a rollercoaster's worth of twists and turns - so powerful and thrilling!' ANDY WEIR, author of The Martian

NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST NOVELS OF THE YEAR BY "TIME" AND "LIBRARY JOURNAL"--AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY "The Washington Post - Esquire - U.S. News & World Report" - NPR/"On Point - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - BookPage"
An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, "The Passage" is the story of Amy--abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Brad Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl and risks everything to save her. As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape--but he can't stop society's collapse. And as Amy walks alone, across miles and decades, into a future dark with violence and despair, she is filled with the mysterious and terrifying knowledge that only she has the power to save the ruined world.
"Enthralling . . . You will find yourself captivated."--Stephen King
"Magnificently unnerving . . . "The Stand "meets" The Road.""--"Entertainment Weekly"
"Great entertainment . . . a] big, engrossing read."--"The Dallas Morning News"
"Mythic storytelling."--"San Francisco Chronicle"
The story of Amy continues in "The Twelve, " coming soon. Look for a special preview in the back of the book.

This paperback edition includes:
* A sneak preview of" The Twelve," coming in 2012
* A revealing interview with author Justin Cronin
NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST NOVELS OF THE YEAR BY TIME""MAGAZINE AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
"The Washington Post - Esquire - U.S. News & World Report -" NPR's "On Point - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - BookPage - Library Journal "
An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, "The Passage" is the story of Amy--abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Brad Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl--and risks everything to save her. As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape--but he can't stop society's collapse. And as Amy walks alone, across miles and decades, into a future dark with violence and despair, she is filled with the mysterious and terrifying knowledge that only she has the power to save the ruined world.

In life I was a scientist called Fanning. Then, in a jungle in Bolivia, I died. I died, and then I was brought back to life... Prompted by a voice that lives in her blood, the fearsome warrior known as Alicia of Blades is drawn towards to one of the great cities of The Time Before. The ruined city of New York. Ruined but not empty. For this is the final refuge of Zero, the first and last of The Twelve. The one who must be destroyed if mankind is to have a future. What she finds is not what she's expecting. A journey into the past. To find out how it all began. And an opponent at once deadlier and more human than she could ever have imagined. 'Compulsively readable.' NEW YORK TIMES

"NEW YORK TIMES" BESTSELLER Look for a special preview of Justin Cronin s "The City of Mirrors" in the back of the book.

The end of the world was only the beginning. In his internationally bestselling and critically acclaimed novel "The Passage, "Justin Cronin constructed an unforgettable world transformed by a government experiment gone horribly wrong. Now the scope widens and the intensity deepens as the epic story surges forward with . . .

THE TWELVE

In the present day, as the man-made apocalypse unfolds, three strangers navigate the chaos. Lila, a doctor and an expectant mother, is so shattered by the spread of violence and infection that she continues to plan for her child s arrival even as society dissolves around her. Kittridge, known to the world as Last Stand in Denver, has been forced to flee his stronghold and is now on the road, dodging the infected, armed but alone and well aware that a tank of gas will get him only so far. April is a teenager fighting to guide her little brother safely through a landscape of death and ruin. These three will learn that they have not been fully abandoned and that in connection lies hope, even on the darkest of nights.

One hundred years in the future, Amy and the others fight on for humankind s salvation . . . unaware that the rules have changed. The enemy has evolved, and a dark new order has arisen with a vision of the future infinitely more horrifying than man s extinction. If the Twelve are to fall, one of those united to vanquish them will have to pay the ultimate price.

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?

Justin Cronin’s poignant debut traces the lives of Mary Olson and O’Neil Burke, two vulnerable young teachers who rediscover in each other a world alive with promise and hope. From the formative experiences of their early adulthood to marriage, parenthood, and beyond, this novel in stories illuminates the moments of grace that enable Mary and O’Neil to make peace with the deep emotional legacies that haunt them: the sudden, mysterious death of O’Neil’s parents, Mary’s long-ago decision to end a pregnancy, O’Neil’s sister’s battle with illness and a troubled marriage. Alive with magical nuance and unexpected encounters, Mary and O’Neil celebrates the uncommon in common lives, and the redemptive power of love.

The eagerly anticipated sequel to the global bestseller The Passage, now an epic drama on Fox from writer Elizabeth Heldens and executive producer Ridley Scott. 'A literary superthriller' NEW YORK TIMES THE TWELVE Death-row prisoners with nightmare pasts and no future. THE TWELVE Until they were selected for a secret experiment. THE TWELVE To create something more than human. THE TWELVE Now they are the future and humanity's worst nightmare has begun. THE TWELVE The epic sequel to THE PASSAGE

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - "A thrilling finale to a trilogy that will stand as one of the great achievements in American fantasy fiction."--Stephen King

You followed The Passage. You faced The Twelve. Now enter The City of Mirrors for the final reckoning. As the bestselling epic races to its breathtaking finale, Justin Cronin's band of hardened survivors await the second coming of unspeakable darkness. The world we knew is gone. What world will rise in its place?

The Twelve have been destroyed and the terrifying hundred-year reign of darkness that descended upon the world has ended. The survivors are stepping outside their walls, determined to build society anew--and daring to dream of a hopeful future. But far from them, in a dead metropolis, he waits: Zero. The First. Father of the Twelve. The anguish that shattered his human life haunts him, and the hatred spawned by his transformation burns bright. His fury will be quenched only when he destroys Amy--humanity's only hope, the Girl from Nowhere who grew up to rise against him.

One last time light and dark will clash, and at last Amy and her friends will know their fate.

Winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for his radiant novel in stories, Mary and O'Neil, Justin Cronin has already been hailed as a writer of astonishing gifts. Now Cronin's new novel, The Summer Guest, fulfills that promise--and more. With a rare combination of emotional insight, narrative power, and lyrical grace, Cronin transforms the simple story of a dying man's last wish into a rich tapestry of family love.
On an evening in late summer, the great financier Harry Wainwright, nearing the end of his life, arrives at a rustic fishing camp in a remote area of Maine. He comes bearing two things: his wish for a day of fishing in a place that has brought him solace for thirty years, and an astonishing bequest that will forever change the lives of those around him.
From the battlefields of Italy to the turbulence of the Vietnam era, to the private battles of love and family, The Summer Guest reveals the full history of this final pilgrimage and its meaning for four people: Jordan Patterson, the haunted young man who will guide Harry on his last voyage out; the camp's owner Joe Crosby, a Vietnam draft evader who has spent a lifetime "trying to learn what it means to be brave"; Joe's wife, Lucy, the woman Harry has loved for three decades; and Joe and Lucy's daughter Kate--the spirited young woman who holds the key to the last unopened door to the past.

As their stories unfold, secrets are revealed, courage is tested, and the bonds of love are strengthened. And always center stage is the place itself--a magical, forgotten corner of New England where the longings of the human heart are mirrored in the wild beauty of the landscape.
Intimate, powerful, and profound, The Summer Guest reveals Justin Cronin as a storyteller of unique and marvelous talent. It is a book to treasure.

"From the Hardcover edition."