Billed as Hot Read for the Summer

Finished June 23
The Passage by Justin Cronin (Advance Readers' Edition)
Billed as the read for Summer 2010, this chunky (766 page) novel is gripping and has not only an interesting plot, but also interesting characters.
It begins by looking at a young single mother and her daughter Amy, struggling to survive and at a US Army project called NOAH, a secret project designed to weaponize the human body. The first twelve test subjects for this project turn into something other than human: deadly, hungry for blood and hard to kill.
The thirteenth test subject is the six-year-old girl named Amy and when the first twelve escape, an FBI agent named Wolgast rescues her.
We then jump ahead several decades to a small community in California, living mostly in a lighted compound and starting to encounter technical problems to their existence. Existing her are both First Families (the founders of the community, all of whom came as children) and Walkers (those that showed up at the community later looking for safe haven).
As the community begins to disintegrate we follow a group of young people looking for another haven: Peter, whose brother Theo was attacked and taken by the virals; Alicia a young woman raised by a Walker; Sara and Michael, brother and sister, engineer and nurse; Caleb, a young man eager to prove himself; and others.
Watching as the characters follow a faint lead, and grow into their adult selves keeps you glued to the page.
For a large book, I read this amazingly fast and enjoyed it thoroughly. Will have to keep an eye open for the next two in the trilogy.