Sunday 8 February 2015

FICTION REVIEW: Goodhouse - Peyton Marshall

Release Date: 01/01/15
Publisher:  Doubleday

SYNOPSIS:

What would happen if you could see clearly into the genetic make-up of your friends and family? America at the end of the 21st century: 17-year-old James doesn't even know what his real name is, though he feels if someone uses it one day, he'll know it's his. Kindness to others is not an option at Goodhouse, a brutally run corrective school for boys with criminal genes. Awaiting him over the barbed wires of the school are the Zeros, a religious group who aim to rid the planet of impure boys like those at Goodhouse. But for James, his greatest threat is not the fundamentalists outside. His dream of walking through the gates as a civilian may yet be destroyed by the much deadlier threat from within...A bold, visionary tale of a forseeable future where genetic profiling is meant to prevent crime, but instead becomes a tool for oppression, Goodhouse poses urgent questions about freedom and slavery and what it means to be alive.


REVIEW:

A weird and wonderful read from an author that I’d not come across before and to be honest I loved not only the idea behind the title but one that delivered on the promise within the blurb. What comes across firstly is this stark futuristic world where whilst the traits of mankind are screened genetically. It’s a book that is well written, the prose is sharp and when added to the readers concept of nature vs nurture all round generates something that was a pure joy to read.

All round a book that not only delivered but had the reader asking questions which when backed with great characterisation alongside realistic dialogue made this a read that I’ll be passing on to a good many others. Cracking.

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