I'd never before thought there was a continuum between Jeff Long and Stephen King. Unfortunately The Passage sits in a spot along the continuum that just doesn't quite work for me. The book never quite clicked the way I'd hoped, even though it has stuff I like: epic scope, no fear of upsetting its own status quo, lots of detail and texture.

After an intense and gripping start the story kind of took off in a direction that wasn't compelling, the characters didn't make me feel anything, and the plot felt just like things that were happening. I was not so much annoyed or disgusted by The Passage as I was unmoved - just interested enough to keep reading to see where the story went, but not really feeling it.