The Passenger

ByCormac McCarthy

Release Date: 2022-10-25
Genre: Fiction & Literature

Score: 3.5

3.5

From 409 Ratings

Description

The best-selling, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Road returns with the first of a two-volume masterpiece: The Passenger is the story of a salvage diver, haunted by loss, afraid of the watery deep, pursued for a conspiracy beyond his understanding, and longing for a death he cannot reconcile with God.

Look for Stella Maris, the second volume in The Passenger series, on sale December 6th, 2022

1980, PASS CHRISTIAN, MISSISSIPPI: It is three in the morning when Bobby Western zips the jacket of his wet suit and plunges from the Coast Guard tender into darkness. His dive light illuminates the sunken jet, nine bodies still buckled in their seats, hair floating, eyes devoid of speculation. Missing from the crash site are the pilot’s flight bag, the plane’s black box, and the tenth passenger. But how? A collateral witness to machinations that can only bring him harm, Western is shadowed in body and spirit—by men with badges; by the ghost of his father, inventor of the bomb that melted glass and flesh in Hiroshima; and by his sister, the love and ruin of his soul.

Traversing the American South, from the garrulous barrooms of New Orleans to an abandoned oil rig off the Florida coast, The Passenger is a breathtaking novel of morality and science, the legacy of sin, and the madness that is human consciousness.

Reviews

Amazing
5
By silas henljne
Loved that ending. Heavy twin peaks influence, TP!
Tough to follow
1
By jtp987321
One of my favorite writers in the world, but this book was a hard one to read. In the end I guess it’s more of a character study than an actual story- but even the character of the protagonist was hard to decipher beyond his inability to accept the death of a loved one.
Strangely Unsatisfying
4
By TheGreatMangini
Beautiful prose, like a poem. Interesting facts and plots that never materialize. Missing pieces throughout. Left me tired.
I’m going to miss Cormac
5
By Grandfather50
An incredible book by a great American author
Depressing
2
By Grandma Sel
Long and tiresome. So not my favorite.
The weight of things
5
By Scott's take on things
This is a story about love and death.
The Passenger
5
By CraigDash
Both books are fantastic!
Excruciatingly bad
1
By Heat500
This book was, by far, the worst gargantuan word salad ever printed. While I get what the author was probably trying to say, the “story” read like he was copying a vast ocean of rarely used words, mixing them up in a giant verbal blender, and puking them onto a page. Even I could do that. The word processor had to have been hacked by extraterrestrials. I thoroughly enjoyed the author’s “The Road”. What happened? I wish I could get a refund for this dog’s breakfast.
Amazing
5
By Chris Shinn
Just finished both books. — Amazing.
Not just dark but confusing
2
By redhead2115
I can’t say I really understood this book. The main character who, still in love with his dead sister, Wanders aimlessly among his many and varied acquaintances while seemingly being hunted by some unknown government entity. Perhaps it was just over my head, but I found it tedious and uninspiring. And I am usually a huge fan of Cormac McCarthy.disappointed