Liz Loves Books.Com.

Publication Date: January 1st 2015

Source: Netgalley

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 …

So another Dystopian tale then, one that takes as its premise a future world where the "criminal" gene has been identified and all male children who have it are put into the care of the government - within a "GoodHouse" and "trained" to be model citizens. An intriguing idea for sure and one that is not that far beyond the realms of possibility.

I really enjoyed this one, James is an interesting main protagonist, trying his best to keep his head down and "graduate" without incident - but the GoodHouse is a melting pot of teen angst with no real outlet, added to that not everyone has their best interests at heart and so the scene is set for a great tale.

This has a great flow to it and keeps you involved all the way and there are some interesting and thought provoking themes explored here - not only of nature v nurture but also the gender divide - in this world it is only the boys who are separated out, not the girls. When James meets a girl, Bethany, during a trip to the "outside" this sets off a chain of events that is fascinating and very addictive.

There are several plot strands - what is going on within the house itself, the relationships the boys form and their secret ways of communicating and letting off steam. My favourite part of the story involved James and his relationship with room mate Owen, who was himself a rather enigmatic character who was very appealing. Then there is the outside and how the "Inmates" are viewed, the political shenanigans that keep people informed without actually telling them anything and, of course, the religious fanatics who believe that if you have the gene you should simply burn...

Overall then, a lot going on but Peyton Marshall manages to hold it all together in a very gripping way, there are some very exciting moments and some very emotional ones, overall a most terrific read.

If I had one small bugbear it was that I felt the ending was slightly rushed -  a lot of information in a small part of the book - it felt like perhaps there was meant to be a sequel but then it changed to a standalone, so I will be interested to find out if there are or were any more books planned in this world.

Some great writing and a very intelligent take on the idea of genetic make up influencing how we are treated, I would definitely recommend it for fans of Dystopian reads.

Happy Reading Folks!