The Knife of Never Letting Go

Todd Hewitt is the only boy left in Prentisstown, a small settlement on 'New World' – an alien planet only recently colonized by humanity. Todd is within days of his thirteenth birthday, the age in Prentisstown at which all boys 'become men'.

Todd has been told that all the women and nearly all the men on New World were killed in a war with the Spackle that occurred around the time of his birth. The Spackle are New World's native inhabitants and are blamed for the release of the 'germ' that caused the majority of deaths and was particularly fatal to females. The inhabitants of Prentisstown claim that every Spackle was wiped out during the war and Todd has no reason to believe otherwise. As a side effect of the virus, the remaining men in Prentisstown can hear each other's (and animals') thoughts, described as an ever-present cascade of 'Noise'.

The men of Prentisstown make up the last surviving settlement on New World - at least according to Mayor Prentiss, after whom the town is named.

At the beginning of the book, Todd and his dog, Manchee, discover a lone patch of silence (a 'hole in the Noise') in a local swamp. Bewildered, Todd and Manchee make their way back into town.

When Todd explains the silence to Ben and Cillian, his adoptive parents, his Noise accidentally projects the discovery to the entire town. Ben and Cillian suddenly reveal they have been planning Todd's escape from Prentisstown for his entire life. The two men immediately force him to leave Prentisstown, with just a satchel of supplies and Manchee to accompany him. Todd unwillingly obeys. Cillian fights off Davy Prentiss (the Mayor's son) and other men from the town, while Ben gives Todd his own hunting knife and Todd’s deceased mother’s diary.

Todd escapes into the swamp with Manchee, and discovers a girl, who lacks Noise. She is the first girl Todd has ever seen, except in videos and photographs. The girl says nothing at all.

Todd, Manchee and the girl are suddenly attacked by the town preacher, Aaron, who has recently been provoking Todd in physical and mental fights. Todd and Manchee force him into the swamp's lake, where he is attacked by crocodiles. The girl silently leads Todd through the swamp to her scout ship, where her parents’ bodies lie dead. She has crash-landed on New World, Todd realizes. With aid from a map inside Todd's mother's diary, the three begin traveling together towards Farbranch, a settlement marked on the map. Todd hopes that the settlement still exists and that, if so, it can protect them from Prentisstown.

Todd realises that he, infected with the germ, might transmit the germ to the girl and kill her. She hears this in his Noise and flees, but he pursues her along with Manchee until they both encounter Aaron and Prentisstown men who are tracking them at a bridge. The girl manages to save the three by soaking part of the bridge in lighter fluid and setting it on fire with her campfire pack. After this incident, she works up the courage to speak and finally tells Todd her name: Viola.

Todd and Viola are found by a woman, Hildy, at the nearest town, Farbranch. She tells Todd that the Noise germ is in fact not fatal for women and does not affect them at all - none of the women have Noise. She takes the three to her settlement. At nightfall, an army of men from Prentisstown arrives and burns down the town, killing all those who will not join them. Todd, Viola, and Manchee escape and flee for Haven, where it is rumoured there may be a cure for Noise. They also hope to find a transmitter tower to contact Viola's people, who are a second wave of planetary settlers, to warn them.

After a few days on the road, Davy finds them. Viola manages to electrocute Davy, and Todd moves to kill him, but finds himself unable to kill. Instead, Todd ties Davy up before heading off for Haven with Viola. During the trip, Todd, Viola and Manchee find a live Spackle. Todd is shocked, believing that all Spackle had been killed in the war. Worried at an attack and frustrated with his 'cowardice' of keeping Davy alive, Todd leaps at the Spackle and kills it, but faces instant regret.

Aaron appears, stabbing Todd, and kidnaps Viola. Todd wakes and hurriedly pursues Aaron, but as his stab wound becomes infected he quickly weakens. Todd finds Viola and Aaron, using Manchee as a distraction while he rescues Viola. When the plan is unsuccessful, Todd and Viola manage to get away but are compelled to leave Manchee behind with Aaron, who kills the dog in a fit of rage. The pair flee on a boat, and Todd passes out from his wounds.

Todd wakes up under a care of a doctor in another settlement. Insisting on a walk, he encounters Ben hiding in the outskirts of town. He reveals that Cillian died in Todd's escape from Prentisstown. The people of the new town label Ben as a murderer due to his Prentisstown origins. However, Ben and Todd convince the townsfolk to help them fight the approaching Prentisstown army. As the army approaches, Ben, Todd, and Viola use the confusion to escape.

After gaining some distance, Ben explains the truth: the Noise germ is a natural contagion of the planet, not an attack by the Spackle. The men of Prentisstown, driven mad by Noise and resenting the women's ability to remain silent, killed all the women and were subsequently banished from the rest of New World for their crimes. The boys were supposed to learn a 'version of the truth' from the Mayor on their thirteenth birthday. This is why Todd has been sent away prior to his 'becoming a man' - he could only be accepted by the rest of the world if his thoughts were wholly innocent.

Ben, Todd, and Viola continue toward Haven, but Davy finds them again. Ben distracts him to allow Todd and Viola to run, but then the two are cornered by the deranged Aaron in a cavern near a waterfall by Haven. Todd suddenly realizes that the boys of Prentisstown become 'men' by killing someone upon turning thirteen. Aaron thinks of himself as a symbolic sacrifice for the 'last boy' in Prentisstown and tries to provoke Todd into killing him. Attempting to stop Aaron from succeeding, Viola grabs the knife and stabs Aaron in the neck. He falls into the waterfall and dies.

Davy again intercepts the pair on their way to Haven, shooting Viola. Todd subdues Davy, escapes, and carries a dying Viola to Haven to get help. However, Mayor Prentiss is already there to greet them. After Haven surrendered without a fight, the Mayor declares himself President of New World. Through his despair, Todd realizes that he can not hear the Mayor's Noise. With no other choice, Todd surrenders to the Mayor to save Viola.

The Knife of Never Letting Go is set on a planet that has been colonised by a small group of Christian settlers from 'Old World', in a town nearby a swamp. Although the settlers have some high technology, they are mostly subsistence farmers. The rural setting has been compared to the worlds of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Night of the Hunter.[3]

The Knife of Never Letting Go has received greatly positive reviews. Ian Chipman from Booklist gave the novel a starred review, praising the 'pure inventiveness and excitement' of Ness’ narrative, and supporting the book’s characters, adding that 'the cliffhanger ending is as effective as a shot to the gut'.[4]

Frank Cottrell-Boyce, writing for The Guardian, praised the novel's opening, and added that the rest of the book 'lives up to the thrill of that first sentence'.[3] The Sunday Telegraph also praised the book, describing it as 'furiously paced, terrifying, exhilarating and heartbreaking' and calling it a book that 'haunts your imagination'. The Times called it 'a stunning debut” and “as compelling as it is original'.[5]

Similarly, Nicholas Tucker of The Independent wrote that The Knife of Never Letting Go 'sets a high standard',[6] while the Chicago Tribune labelled the novel as 'a read-alone, stay-up-way-too-late book'.[7]

In 2011, Lionsgate Entertainment bought the rights to adapt the Chaos Walking trilogy for film. The president of Lionsgate, Joe Drake, said the decision was made because 'a sense of urgency and momentum permeates these stories- it makes the books ones you can't put down, and will make the movies ones you can't miss on the big screen.'[13]

Chaos Walking: The Knife of Never Letting Go will be produced by Doug Davison[14] while Jamie Linden will be writing and Doug Liman is in negotiations to direct the film.[15][16] On August 5, 2016 it was announced that Star Wars & Spider-Man stars Daisy Ridley and Tom Holland will both star in the adaptation.[17]

The screenplay will be written by Ness, Charlie Kaufman and John Lee Hancock, will be directed by Doug Liman. Shooting started in August 2017. [18] The release date was March 1, 2020, but it has since been delayed because of both COVID-19 and reshoots. At the time of writing (Friday 8th May) all the reshoots have been completed. It is predicted that the film is being released January 22, 2021.

• Patrick Ness at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database