I was about 10% into this story before I really got interested, but don't let that scare you off. The setting, Prospéra, was different in many ways from our own world but not enough to pique my interest. At first. It teased me and dangled its originality in my peripheral, and then it came. What a payoff. I won’t say where that occurred. I’ll leave this story to you to take in. Suffice to say, this story comes from the same writer who gave us, The Passage, which was a brilliant take on the end of the world as we know it. A dystopian nightmare populated with the survivors of a scientific catastrophe that almost ended the world. And vampires.
Cronin’s words and imagery in The Ferryman are rich and lush, as are his characters. The world is multi-layered and fraught with mystery. There is a lot to process as this tale slips and slides and pulls the rug out from under you just when you think you are ‘getting it’.
“You know what your problem is?”
“I’m guessing you’re about to tell me.”
“It’s the same problem most people have, actually. You know a lot of things. You believe almost nothing.”
And Cronin's character is right. Believing in something is difficult, especially in today's world probably because the ability to acquire knowledge is remarkably easy. Probably too easy. And I'm no different. I'm going to take the easy way out and wrap this up by saying if you liked Logan’s Run and 1984, you will be thrilled with this one. And, if not thrilled, certainly chilled.
