The Knife of Never Letting Go

　　故事發生在一個叫做新世界的遙遠星球上。陶德是普倫提司鎮上唯一的男孩，再過一個月，滿十三歲的他便將步入成年，從男孩變成男人。

　　普倫提司鎮，據說是新世界僅剩下的人類小鎮，是一個不尋常的小鎮，一個被噪音包圍的世界。

　　在這裡，人人都能在「噪音」中聽到別人的心思，
　　這些噪音源源不絕、壓倒一切、永無止境。
　　在這裡，既不存在祕密，也沒有隱私。

　　然而這天，陶德在這充滿噪音的世界裡，發現一個「安靜」的角落。
　　這件大事猶如冰面裂縫，迅速瓦解他對這世界的認知。
　　他所不知的是，這最新出現的「安靜」，將讓他陷入致命危機，
　　他更將發現，不但之前12年所學到的一切全是謊言，
　　就連即將到來的成年之日，也藏著牽動世界安危的巨大祕密……
　　他必須逃離！

　　於是陶德和他忠誠的狗滿奇從這個充斥著可怕噪音的小鎮逃走了。
　　在逃亡的路上，陶德和他忠誠的狗遇到了一種奇怪，詭祕，沉默的生物：薇拉──一個女孩，來自地球的女孩！

　　兩人按著陶德媽媽留下的日記裡的地圖一路摸索，逃避追捕，尋找通往「天堂」的道路……

　　新銳小說家派崔克．奈斯的「噪反三部曲」，是近年來青少年文學中最具原創性與最驚人的作品。他的文筆看似平易近人但技巧高超，以平鋪直敘而扣人心弦的方式處理諸如恐怖主義、女性主義、種族滅絕與人類情感等現實世界中的棘手主題。在越來越多作家投身的青少年小說領域中，「噪反三部曲」無疑將為其他作家設下難以超越的高標。

　　Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him -- something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn’t she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? Propelled by Todd’s gritty narration, readers are in for a white-knuckle journey in which a boy on the cusp of manhood must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he truly is.

　　★本書中譯版《噪反 I：鬧與靜》由聯經出版公司出版。

作者簡介

派崔克．奈斯（Patrick Ness）

　　1971年生於美國維吉尼亞州貝爾沃堡陸軍基地，六歲之前在夏威夷度過。從小最大的嗜好就是編故事。大學就讀美國南加大英語文學系，1999年遷往倫敦，曾在牛津大學教授創意寫作三年，學生通常比他這位老師年紀還大，並為《每日電訊報》、《泰晤士報文學增刊》、《週日電訊報》與《衛報》等媒體撰寫書評。在「噪反三部曲」之前，曾出版過兩部成人作品，分別為長篇小說《The Crash of Hennington》與短篇小說集《Topics About Which I Know Nothing》。噪反三部曲是他首次嘗試青少年小說，2008年推出後隨即大受好評，《出版家週刊》稱之為「近年來最重要的青少年科幻小說」，衛報譽為「本系列小說未來必將進入本世紀最出色的文學成就之林」。此外，這三部曲已獲得衛報童書獎、圖書信託基金會青少年小說獎、柯斯達文學獎最佳童書與卡內基童書獎，並入圍亞瑟．克拉克獎決選名單，是史上第二部入圍此獎決選的青少年小說。

　　Patrick Ness is the author of the critically acclaimed and best-selling Chaos Walking trilogy. He has won numerous awards, including the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the Booktrust Teenage Prize, and the Costa Children's Book Award. Born in Virginia, he lives in London.

　　Siobhan Dowd spent twenty years as a human rights campaigner for PEN and Amnesty International before her first novel, A SWIFT PURE CRY, was published in 2006. She won the Carnegie Medal posthumously in 2009 after her death at the age of forty-seven.

　　Jim Kay studied illustration and worked in the archives of the Tate Gallery and the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, two experiences that heavily influence his work. His images for A MONSTER CALLS use everything from beetles to breadboards to create interesting marks and textures. Jim Kay lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.