Goodhouse

'Page-turning' KAREN JAY FOWLER'Powerful NEW YORK TIMESGoodhouse is not supposed to be a prison. Despite the guard dogs, the tracking devices, and the fact that the boys are mandated to attend and unable to leave, it s supposed to be a second - and final -chance.Across the country, sixty thousand boys are locked into Goodhouse campuses until they turn 18. What they all have in common are the genetic markers that indicate a predisposition towards violent and criminal behavior. Every lesson taught at Goodhouse is meant to be an honest effort to correct their inherent wrong-thinking, to train them for a future when they might join the civilian world. Goodhouse tells the story of James, a boy condemned to the system at the age of three. With no memory of his parents or even his real name, James thrives at the La Pine campus where he s grown up, following the (many) rules, making friends, singing in the choir, all the while practicing right-thinking - until the school is violently attacked by Zeros, a group of people who think Goodhouse boys should simply be eliminated, much like rabid dogs.James is the only survivor. Traumatised, he is transferred to a larger and more terrifying school. There he realizes that whatever its intentions, the Goodhouse system has created a culture of good-seeming boys that aspire to do wrong, to be the meanest and strongest no matter the stakes. A morning beating is more common than a decent breakfast; the boys are used as guinea pigs to test dangerous new drugs; some disappear without warning, never to be seen again. Goodhouse has come to be a world that thrives on fear and division - where hatred and hopelessness are the heartbeat of a population on the verge of chaos. In order to survive, James must forge new alliances and break every rule he s been conditioned to follow for his entire life.