The Twelve (novel)
Cover of the 2012 first edition hardback
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| Author | Justin Cronin |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, horror, science fiction, vampire fiction, fantasy, dystopian fiction |
| Publisher | Ballantine Books |
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Publication date
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October 16, 2012 |
| Media type | Hardcover |
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| Preceded by | The Passage |
| Followed by | The City of Mirrors |
The Twelve is a 2012 horror novel by Justin Cronin and is the second novel in The Passage trilogy, following the novel The Passage. The Twelve was published on October 16, 2012 by Ballantine Books. The trilogy was concluded with the publishing of The City of Mirrors, which was released in 2016.The Twelve has been optioned by director Ridley Scott along with the other two books in the trilogy for a planned series of film adaptations.
After briefly revisiting some of the surviving characters from the first book, the novel jumps back to the start of the plague. Four plot lines emerge: an autistic young school bus driver named Danny decides to take his bus on his rounds one more time, a military sniper named Kittridge holes up on a high floor of a Denver apartment building and begins shooting virals; Lawrence Grey, a janitor from the complex that Project Noah began in, wakes up in a hotel only to find himself younger and slimmer than he used to be; and Horace Guilder (a dying federal government functionary) copes with the country falling apart around him.
Danny happens across two children, 18-year-old April Donadio and Tim, her younger brother, and picks them up. Meanwhile, Grey encounters a disoriented pregnant woman, who does not realize the dissolution of society around her, shopping for paint for her baby's bedroom in an abandoned Home Depot. She is Lila Beatrice Kyle, Brad Wolgast's divorced wife. Subsequently, Grey is mistaken as one of the workers and ends up helping Lila paint her house, and a bond is forged between the two. Danny and company drive to a stadium outside of Denver that was designated as a rescue site, only to discover it full of thousands of dead bodies. Soon after, Danny and April meet Kittridge, who successfully escaped the virals and military at Denver. After traveling several miles together, they stumble upon a FEMA semi-trailer full of survivors. Grey (who is being tracked by satellite) and Kyle are captured by Guilder and taken to a research center. Kittridge and company, with the help of Major Frances Porcheki, arrive at a refugee site just outside the research center. It emerges that the government is expecting the virals to attack the refugee camp, and, rather than moving the refugees, is going to wait until that happens in order to bomb it. While Danny and April escape in the bus, Kittridge and Tim do not, and they are killed by the bomb. Grey manages to escape after apparently killing Suresh, a medical examiner, and Nelson, then takes Guilder hostage. As Grey, Guilder, and Lila try to escape in a helicopter, the bombs fall and the helicopter crashes. Guilder knocks Grey out with a chunk of concrete.
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