The Ask and the Answer - Patrick Ness
It is important to read the first book in this trilogy, THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO.May contain spoilers from THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO.Patrick Ness doesn’t leave anything out when he begins book two of the Chaos Walking trilogy. THE ASK AND THE ANSWER picks up exactly where THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO leaves off. Todd, after being captured by Mayor Prentiss’ men, wakes up with thoughts of Viola. He is beside himself with worry since Viola was dying in his arms when they were captured. Is she dead or alive? No one will tell him and it is consuming his thoughts. Thoughts that everyone around him can hear. While everyone around Todd can hear what he is thinking, he can’t hear the thoughts around him. It seems Mayor Prentiss has found a way to stop his Noise and the Noise of his men, thus explaining how Todd and Viola were lured into Haven and captured.Mayor Prentiss, now calling himself President Prentiss, uses Todd’s concern for Viola to control him and force him into working with Prentiss’ son, Davy, the one who shot Viola in the first place. Todd can’t stand the people around him and feels the tasks assigned to him are barbaric and inhumane. Fear for Viola’s safety prevents him from going against Prentiss and he suffers along with the other townspeople as security gets tighter and more strict every day because of a rebel uprising by a group calling themselves The Answer. Then … bombs … begin … to … explode.Patrick Ness has done it again. THE ASK AND THE ANSWER contains the same heart-pounding excitement as THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO. The reader will experience Todd’s internal struggle with every decision he is forced to make in order to survive under Prentiss’ control. You won’t be able to stop reading and you’ll be disappointed when you get to the end. The third installment in this fantastic trilogy can’t come soon enough.