My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Penguin Books, Penguin Classics for an advanced copy of this classic dystopian novel that asks the question what happens when the ability to lie is taken away. Does the truth set people free, or does it trap theme in a prison of oneself.

Government is all about control. In some ways this can be helpful, at one point government did make sure that food wasn't poisoned, that kids weren't working in dangerous jobs, and trains didn't contain chemicals that could contaminate ground water or blow up. This seems almost quaint, something from a different age. Power is control. And control is power. People can be difficult though. People will smile, say you are just like people, and vote to take the same people's rights away. Even vote against what the polls tell them, which is hard to control. Espousing something and doing the complete opposite, that's really the American way. However what if one could control the lies a person said, make them tell the truth. Would the truth set the people free, or would control be easier. Maybe even a third option could arise. Written in the years before the Second World War Kallocain by Swedish author Karin Boye is a dystopian novel about a totalitarian system, a wonder drug and a scientist who has to face a truth he did not expect.

Leo Kall is loyal to the World State. Happy with his occupation in life, thought he does start cleaning up a little earlier to get out of work sooner. Happy with his small apartment that is constantly monitored by the state. Happy with his family, thought his wife might have or had feelings with a higher up who is to monitor him. And really happy with his invention, a drug called Kallocain, that will make even the most reserved person tell the truth, making lies incapable of being told, which will help the World State. And for those hiding things, well there is death. Kall should be very happy, so why does he feel so bad.

Written during the rise of the Nazism in Europe with war on the horizon, and while living in a country that wanted to stay as below the radar as possible to Hitler's antagonism, Kallocain is a really stunning book of a world under oppression, and one that will look very familiar to readers today. The book starts strong and never really lets up. There is a mystery of what is going on with Kall, and why he is allowed to tell his story, and Kall does keep some secrets to the end. The plot will be familiar to readers of 1984 and others, but this was near the forefront of dystopian writing, and it is amazing how many saw the shadows that were coming, and how willing so many people would be to live under it. A feeling that continues today. The work is translated, but the reading never seemed awkward as sometimes translated books can be. To say there is a lot to think about is an understatement. Also this is a book that will stay with readers, as one can just look at the news and go, oh yeah there goes more of our rights. The introduction is quite good too, introducing a lot of ideas with explanations and events that Boye was drawing, on and a brief biography on Boye's short life. A book that I knew more of, than what it was and really quite enjoyed.

Recommended for readers of dystopian novels, or early science fiction stories that seem close to what is going on today. A very short novel, but one with a lot to think about, and a lot of sadness for what is happening today.