Well, this was… interesting.
Let me just start with saying that I’m a massive fan of Justin Cronin. His The Passage and the rest of that trilogy is large responsible for me finding back to my love of reading after not touching a single lick of fiction while I went to university. I spent so much time reading course material, article and text books that I just couldn’t stomach sitting down with a book for years.
It was a friend of me at that same university who actually handed me an excerpt from The Passage, just a couple of chapters printed on A4 paper (I think maybe someone handed them out in some reading/book society on campus) that first got me hooked.
When I was done studying, I rediscovered that pile of paper and remembered how intrigued I was, so I went out and bought the book. And I loved it. Loved The Passage, loved The Twelve, and loved The City of Mirrors. It’s a post-apocalyptic story, following destruction of society as we know it and the future that came after it, and it was absolutely breathtaking. All of them absolute tomes, massive books, but so, so good.
When I heard Cronin had written something new, I knew I wanted to read it. Didn’t matter what it was, what genre, what format, however long or short. I just remembered that feeling from way back when, and jumped at it.
And The Ferryman is really good. It’s a science fiction thriller (in my eyes) about a future society where people are shipped off somewhere when they die, and it’s all very mysterious.
Proctor Bennett is the protagonist, one of the infamous ferrymen who are responsible for helping people leave when it’s their time to go. Oh, and his mother famously (and very mysteriously) committed suicide when he was young, by rowing off out to sea and jumping in the ocean.
I liked the book, I really did. It’s mysterious, and intriguing, and…
Not as good as The Passage.
Honestly, to me it fell a bit flat. The build-up is great. The suspense is awesome. You really are on the edge of your seat for so much of it, at least to begin with. But the big reveal? The big, dirty, hidden secret that I was sitting there anxiously waiting for… It just didn’t do it for me. Maybe it’s because Cronin’s earlier work is so rose-tinted in my memory. Maybe The Passage was just too good and I’m too fond of it. But The Ferryman just didn’t do it for me. Not in the way I hoped.
I still recommend this book, if you find the premise above interesting. You’re not going to be disappointed, probably. But if you’re as big of a fan of The Passage as me, this isn’t going to live up to it. Because The Passage was great.
Have you read Justin Cronin’s work? Had similar experiences to me? What series was it that converted you? Let me know in the comments!
And as always, please check out all my books and stories below. If you’re into psychological horror, crime thrillers, or science-fiction and fantasy, you’ve come to the right place! Bye for now!
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