This novel tells the tale of Todd Hewitt who, in the previous book, has recently escaped to try and save his dying friend from the evil clutches of the mayor.

This is a truly captivating read and is filled with suspense that will twist and turn the reader's mind until they don’t know the difference between right and wrong. For example in the first book the mayor is the most sinisterly-portrayed character through and through. By being all-powerful he manages to get what he wants, and effectively dominates. It would be very simple for Patrick Ness to keep this personage and have a definite enemy for the reader to hate, whereas in this novel the mayor is far more evil. In the first novel every male in the world emits Noise, their thoughts amplified into a sometimes inaudible sequence. In this novel the mayor has found the cure to this. So without being able to be read he can deceive anyone. He even deceives the main character, after shooting his companion, and convinces him to do what he wants.

“In the chair, in the room of coloured glass, he brought me to the edge of defeat, he brought me to the edge of death, and he made me know it would come-

And the he put the bandage on me. And that’s when I did what he wanted.”

This novel is excellently written with a very surprising ending and an intriguing plot. But it would be an even more enjoyable read had I read the previous book and hadn’t spent a lot of time rereading chapters to work out what would happen. Ness writes it with such suspense that when you think “that’s the main character, nothing could happen to them” he makes somebody run round a corner and blow their head off.

The sheer unexpectedness of this novel makes it a joy to read, and Ness a celebrated author.