Monsters of Men

Monsters of Men is a young adult science fiction novel by Patrick Ness, published in 2010. It is the third book of the Chaos Walking trilogy, which began with The Knife of Never Letting Go, and it won the Carnegie Medal.

The series is set on a planet settled by humans, where a germ has made the thoughts of men audible to everyone nearby. A war that has been building through the first two books arrives here from two directions at once: an army of the native Spackle, and the settlers who call themselves the Answer and who have their own plans for the town.

Todd and Viola are at the centre of it. Todd has released Mayor Prentiss because the city needs a commander, and Viola is trying to reach the incoming settlers before the fighting spreads to them. The title comes from a line spoken earlier in the trilogy, that war makes monsters of men, and the novel puts both of its young leads in positions where every choice available to them is a bad one.