The Knife of Never Letting Go

Patrick Ness

Oct 2010 · Candlewick Press

About this ebook

A dystopian thriller follows a boy and girl on the run from a town where all thoughts can be heard – and the passage to manhood embodies a horrible secret.

Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him -- something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn't she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? Propelled by Todd's gritty narration, readers are in for a white-knuckle journey in which a boy on the cusp of manhood must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he truly is.

Ratings and reviews

I couldn't put this book down. Every chapter end has a teaser, some new knowledge just around the bend, and some new conflict rising up to meet the protagonists. The author seems to like repetition as if hammering a thought into your head. It gets annoying. Also, there are a ton of run on sentences strung together by 'and'. Once again it's a style thing that can be really annoying to grammar Nazis. Overall, this was a great book. I highly recommend it.

Don`t let the fact that this book is listed as a Sci-Fi deter you. A great storyline and pulls you in within the first few pages. I have read the first and second books in this series and I am hooked.

This book is really, really, amazing. Even better than the description makes it out to be. I'm waiting anxiously for the next book to arrive in the mail! It looks like there will be a movie sometime in the future. Just please, please, make it good and PICK A GOOD DIRECTOR.

About the author

Patrick Ness is the author of the critically acclaimed and best-selling Chaos Walking trilogy, as well as the Carnegie Medal–winning A Monster Calls, inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd. Among the numerous awards he has received are the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, the Booktrust Teenage Prize, and the Costa Children’s Book Award. Born in Virginia, he lives in London.