" I had kind of a "meh" reaction to "The Passage," so I might not have read "The Twelve" if I hadn't gotten a free copy. My reaction to "The Twelve" is very similar to my reaction to "The Passage"; namely, Justin Cronin writes very well, but his science fiction/horror worldbuilding skills are not so good. I don't think his version of the vampire mythos is very consistent, coherent or satisfying (or original...most all of the vampire mechanics here feel like they're cut and pasted from King, Matheson, or someone other horror author), and his plotting relies pretty heavily on coincidence and various deux ex machinae (or whatever the plural of machina is). I do think his action scene writing has improved since "The Passage," in which I thought some of the action sequences were a bit bland...and some were even painful. And as I said, the writing itself, the descriptions and dialogue and characters, are all very well done. But I also think Cronin should probably stick to writing something other than horror, because (IMHO) it's just not his strength.
Oh, and I'm thinking I'm done with "vampire plague ends the world" novels from here on out. The subgenre is played. "
— Steve, 2/9/2014