It is a true story, the monster said. Many things that are true feel like a cheat.

There is not always a good guy. Nor is there always a bad one. Most people are somewhere in between.

The monster showed up just after midnight. As they do.

We are the choices we make. And have to make. We aren’t anything else.

I am Todd Hewitt, I think to myself with my eyes closed. I am twelve years and twelve months old. I live in Prentisstown on New World. I will be a man in one month’s time exactly.

In this world of numbness and information overload, the ability to feel, my boy, is a rare gift indeed.

We run down the right fork, Manchee at our heels, the night and a dusty road stretching out in front of us, an army and a disaster behind us, me and Viola, running side by side.