‘A Monster Calls’ by Patrick Ness is an interesting book that will keep you guessing and intrigued. At the centre of the story is a 13 year old boy named Connor, who ever since his mum fell ill, has had the same dream every night at exactly 12:07am. In the dream, something is calling him but he doesn’t know what it is until one night it reveals itself and exchanges stories with Connor. He has never told anyone about this dream, not even his mum as he thinks he will be ridiculed. At school Connor is lonely and is the target of bullying by other kids. Connor’s parents are divorced and his dad lives in America and only calls once a fortnight to check on Connor and his mum.
The book was first published in May 2011 and has a total of 237 pages. In 2016, the story was made into a movie starring Sigourney Weaver, Liam Neeson and Lewis MacDougall as Connor.
Patrick Ness is 46 and was born in the United States. He moved to London at the age of 28. He has won two Cilip Carnegie medals (one of them for ‘A Monster Calls’), one Guardian children’s fiction prize, one Costa children’s book award and also one James Tiptree junior award. He has been very successful over the 10 years he has been writing. His first book was called ‘The Knife Of Never Letting Go’. He has also written more stories including ‘More Than This’ and ‘The Rest Of Us Just Live Here’.
The genre of the book is a mixture of action, adventure, drama and mystery. The book takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions culminating in an extremely sad finish. As such, I would recommend this book for readers aged 10 and over. Overall I rate the book a 4 out of 5.