You likely don’t know Justin Cronin by name. I didn’t, when I first caught wind of his absurd, multi-million dollar publishing deal (in place before the book was even done, but the upcoming release of The Passage looks to change that. Early reviews have been glowing, and Ballantine Books has been pushing the release. Hard. The video above, from Ballantine Books’ website, gives some background on the novel.

Will it be the next big thing? Crush Twilight? Grind James Patterson into the ground? Is the second coming of The Stand just around the corner? Who knows, but there are few novels given such an opportunity to do so.