The Passage, by Justin Cronin

Wow -- just in time, a novel that jumps to the top of my top ten list for the year.   In fact, it is the only entry on the 2010 top ten list, and I'd just about given up hope of finding truly extraordinary books this year.   But that's what this novel is:  extraordinary.

Here's the net-net on this novel:   read it.

The longer view requires I remove a potential obstacle:   if you've heard that this is a vampire novel, forget it -- it is not, at least not in any way with which you are familiar.    It is a story, in the best sense of the word, about people and their relationships and personalities, and about things that happen over a long period.   The writing is captivating as is the character development.