The Twelve

‘Will stand as one of the great achievements in American fantasy fiction’ Stephen King

By: Justin Cronin

Narrated by: Scott Brick

'A literary superthriller' NEW YORK TIMES - and major TV series

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

(p) 2012 Penguin Random House LLC©2012 Justin Cronin

Critic reviews

As exhilarating as The Passage, with people variously trapped in hideous bleak labour camps, engaging in cage fights with virals (Cronin's name for vampires) or chained up for decades.

For fans of apocalyptic thrillers who aren't afraid of the dark

[The Passage was] smart, well-crafted and entertaining ...The Twelve delivers much of the same vitality and vision. Like it's predecessor, it is a strange new creature for the 21st century: The literary superthriller, driven at once by character and plot

The follow-up to the much-lauded The Passage deepens and darkens the apocalyptic events of the first book

[A] literary superthriller.

A compulsive read.

Amazing

I was worried after the end of the previous book but this one took the story to the next level!!

Epic continues

For me this lived up to the first, which is saying something. On to the last!

Still doesn't know what it wants to be

I reviewed the first book in this series and my conclusion was that it didn't know what it wanted to be. It started out as a mystery thriller with suspense, action and well developed characters. It was interesting. Then it turned into a Mad Max with zombie vampires, and shallow characters. This books goes even further. It has flash-backs to the 'present day' of the first book. Here characters start to get interesting again, and it's like Justin Cronin is back on his own turf. But then you are taken forward to the time period of the second half of the first book. However, now it starts to become more of a fantasy setting, with super humans and sorceresses and fairy tale loyal horses and what have you. At the same time it's a 1984 Big Brother setting with a V for Vendetta coating, or perhaps it is a concentration camp story. The characters that seemed interesting have become caricatures of despotic leaders and their actions and motifs are very much a cliché. Again ther rule change. Suddenly humans can assimilate some of the vampire powers, and become dictators. The vampires are not that much of a threat really and they can all be easily wiped out. Humans are the true threat to humanity. Whaaat?

In this book Scott Brick's over-dramatic narration felt more at home, or perhaps the constant change of story line made me oversee the narration.

Why did I listen to the second book of a series I apparently do not like very much. Well, there is still something to it, so I have to give it a pass with three out of five.

Brilliant

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Twelve?

All of it

Which scene was your favorite?

Book Two

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Amy, but cant say why, it may ruin the read for someone

Any additional comments?

No

An Awesome Continuation!!!

Great continuation to the story. There is no way to know where the story is going to take you which is wonderful. I simply can not wait for the third and final book of the trilogy.