The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking, Book 1)
by Patrick Ness
September 2008
Candlewick

"If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence."  ~George Eliot, Middlemarch

I recently read an article that outlined fifteen young adult books that could be the next big movie (that teens would willingly do chores to go see).  The Knife of Never Letting Go (which has an impressive collection of awards) was one of the books listed that I had never heard of.  This offended me on a very personal level.  How dare anyone consider making a book into an enterprise without me knowing about it?!  To correct this gross affront, I read the book.  (Whew!  Crisis adverted.)

From the very first sentence of this book I was completely engrossed in the strange new world where Todd lives.  A world where Todd's parents and their friends settled after leaving their homes on a former planet that was dying.  A world where you can hear everyone else's thoughts and the endless stream of internal chatter that accompanies it.  It's never quiet.  You always know what people think of you.  They will always know what you think of them.  And it is all but impossible to escape their plans for you.  How do you run from someone that knows your every move?

I'm surprised this book was listed in this article, as it is nothing like most of the other titles.  No one falls in love with any paranormal creatures (aliens included).  There is no love triangle.  (There go all the "team" t-shirt businesses.)  Have I mentioned the absence of romance?  That's not to say there isn't some potential for a cute romance in the future (there are three books, after all) but for the most part the relationships in this book are based on friendship and a mutual fear of the insane murderer who is chasing them.

Even without a "so hot it's practically flammable" love story, this book is thought-provoking and disturbing in a way that keeps you turning the pages.  There are no black and white characters here.  Everyone makes decisions in shades of gray.  But it is these choices that will ultimately shape the destiny of their new home on this alien planet.  Lionsgate has already purchased the rights to make the Chaos Walking Trilogy into a film series.  To claim full bragging rights, be sure to read these books now so you can snottily turn to your friends in a year or so and say "Oh that old thing?  Yeah, I read it before it was a movie."

If totally messed up societies are your thing, give these other books a try.

Chaos Walking
The Knife of Never Letting Go
The Ask and the Answer
Monsters of Men