Justin Cronin Books

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 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.

Survivors of a government-induced apocalypse endure their violent and disease-stricken world while protecting their loved ones; while a century into the future, members of a transformed society determinedly search for the original twelve virals.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Next to impossible to put down . . . exciting, mysterious, and totally satisfying.”—STEPHEN KING From the author of The Passage comes a riveting standalone novel about a group of survivors on a hidden island utopia—where the truth isn’t what it seems. A POLYGON BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 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. They are attended to by support staff who live on a cramped neighboring island, where whispers of revolt are brewing—but for the Prosperans, life is perfection. And when the end of life approaches, they’re sent to a mysterious third island, where their bodies are refreshed, their memories are wiped away, and they return to start life anew. Proctor Bennett is a ferryman, whose job it is to enforce the retirement process when necessary. He never questions his work, until the day he receives a cryptic message: “The world is not the world.” These simple words unlock something he has secretly suspected. They seep into strange dreams of the stars and the sea. They give him the unshakable feeling that someone is trying to tell him something important. Something no one could possibly imagine, something that could change the fate of humanity itself.

WINNER OF THE PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD • “An astonishingly good first novel . . . fully engaging from the first paragraph. What a to be able to live alongside these people for a while.”—Ann Patchett,  Chicago Tribune Mary and O’ They are like any other couple. They have survived loss and found love and managed the occasional hard-earned laugh as they move toward the future, hearts thick with hope. Each human life is ever changing, born of moments large and small—births and deaths and weddings, grave mistakes and chance encounters and acts of surprising courage—and in this unforgettable book, Justin Cronin makes vivid how those moments connect us all, making us more than we could ever be on our own.Alight with nuance, sly humor, and startling wisdom, Mary and O’Neil celebrates the uncommon grace to be found in common livesPraise for  Mary and O’Neil  “Admirably fearless.” — The New York Times Book Review“The kind of storytelling that goes down easy, and sticks to your ribs.” — The Philadelphia Inquirer“Cronin succeeds, touchingly and tenderly, in portraying life itself as a triumph of hope over experience.” — The Boston Globe

Als een Amerikaans echtpaar verongelukt, beïnvloedt dat het leven van hun net volwassen kinderen enorm.

De zesjarige Amy Harper Belafonte is de dertiende proefpersoon in een geheim project van de Amerikaanse overheid. Een experiment dat volledig misloopt wanneer de eerste twaalf proefpersonen, besmet met een dodelijk virus, uitbreken. Amy weet te ontsnappen en verschuilt zich in de bossen van Oregon, ver verwijderd van de menselijke beschaving die wordt vernietigd door de gevolgen van het experiment. Honderd jaar later weet een ommuurde kolonie zich staande te houden tegen de kwaadaardige wezens die het dorre Amerikaanse landschap bevolken. Dan verschijnt uit het niets een jonge vrouw, ze heeft geen stem, geen herinneringen. Ze raakt bevriend met een groep jonge overlevenden en samen maken zij de oversteek naar de plaats waar het ooit begon om het geheim van haar mysterieuze bestaan te ontdekken – een geheim met de kracht om de wereld te redden. ‘Voordat ze het Meisje zonder Verleden werd – Zij die uit het Niets Verscheen, de Eerste en Laatste en Enige, die duizend jaar leefde – was ze gewoon een klein meisje in Iowa dat Amy heette. Amy Harper Bellafonte.’