The Knife of Never letting Go

Lies, lies and lies.  The Chaos Walking Series, by Patrick Ness, is made up of lies.  The moment the reader and the main character, Todd, begin the story, lies were already in place.  Todd is trying to find out the truth to all his questions.  Each answer brings on it's own set of lies that he has to figure out.  It seem hard to lie in a world where all mens' thoughts are broadcast out so anyone can listen in.  Still, Todd's reality is pulled from underneath him in so many ways.

Imagine a planet with two moos that was discovered and settled by humans.  Todd's world started out as depressing life on a farm in a town with a creepy mayor and abusive preacher.  He grew up knowing that the disease on the planet that made mens' thought's open to the public wiped out all the women including his mom.  That disease was unleashed as bio warfare from the spackle, a humanoid race that already was living on the planet.  For all Todd knew his town was the only one in the world.  One day, he finds the two people he considers dads rushing him out the door with a backpack and telling him to run.  Suddenly he hinds himself running.  From what?  He had no Idea except for the fact that the mayor showed up with a gun.  He didn't know the reason why, he just kept running.

As Todd ran, he learned more about reality.  Yes there were other settlements.  No the disease didn't kill the women, the mayor did.  The spacle didn't use bio warfare.  Finally when he reached the town that his map told him to find refuge in, the mayor had beat him to it.  Using Viola, a girl he met and fell in love with, the mayor manipulated him to to his dirty work.  It took two books and a lot of time of Todd to realize that things aren't true because someones says it's true.  

These books aren't just books where the main character is lied to.  The reader is lead off too.  Red herrings keep popping up everywhere.  The characters fall for the red herrings and then they end up suffering.  You can get really frustrated while reading the book.  Still, I enjoyed the plot twists a lot and the book is very engaging.