9 books for Black Mirror lovers photo: HBO

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Reading lists

9 books to read if you love Black Mirror

Peyton Marshall

A marvel - a glorious combination of page-turning literary thriller and challenging examination of freedom, destiny, and the thorny ideals of faith and science

Eleanor Brown, NYT-bestselling author of THE WEIRD SISTERS

GOODHOUSE is thrilling and wonderful and dark

Mark Childress, author of CRAZY IN ALABAMA

A page-turning account of one boy's journey through a vivid and dangerous world.

Karen Joy Fowler, author of WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY BESIDE OURSELVES

Peyton Marshall's debut is a page-turner of the highest order, the kind of book you don't want to finish but cannot stop reading.

This is one of the most intellectually thrilling and beautifully unsettling novels I've read in years.

Bret Anthony Johnston, author of Remember Me Like This and Corpus Christi

Like Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, Goodhouse is a gripping excursion to a vividly imagined and profoundly disturbing future. Peyton Marshall has written an unforgettable first novel, a work of striking originality, empathy and skill.

Goodhouse is a debut of extraordinary power and vision, and Peyton Marshall is a new voice for the ages.

Laura van den Berg, author of The Isle of Youth

Goodhouse grabbed me by the throat and lifted me off the ground and held me suspended there until its final sentence. Then the book began its real work on me: haunting my waking thoughts, invading my dreams. (...) This is an astonishing novel.

Antoine Wilson, author of Panorama City, and The Interloper

A fantastic cautionary tale that will leave you muttering "one more chapter" as the night stretches on. We highly recommend it

Minority Report meets Never Let Me Go

A terrifying, yet grimly realistic portrait of near-future America

Thought-provoking, and at times brutal, this thriller will surely be the basis of many discussions about the nature of society and the times we live in

Peyton Marshall is a writer of intelligence and keen observation with a great future. GOODHOUSE is a startling debut. In James, she has created a compelling and convincing hero for the all-too-probable dark times ahead

'Page-turning' KAREN JAY FOWLER 
'Powerful NEW YORK TIMES 
 
Goodhouse 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.

Peyton Marshall

Articles featuring Peyton Marshall

9 books to read if you love Black Mirror

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