Bliss by Lisa Henry and Heidi Belleau
This review is from 2014 and is kept here for reference. Check the link for updates.
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Recommendation
I know when I get into a Lisa Henry book I have to steel myself. I have trouble with non-con at the best of times, and she doesn’t pull any punches. It’s true in this Henry-Belleau collaboration, and while I had to remind myself there would be a happy ending eventually more than once, I couldn’t stop reading. The story is as compelling as it’s frightening, it dives into the dark end of the human soul, and I had to ask myself more than once, how will they get through this? If you are looking for a dark read, this is the book for you. ~ Solange [September 2014]
Publisher synopsis
They're always happy.
Rory James has worked hard all his life to become a citizen of the idyllic city-state of Beulah. Like every other kid born in the neighboring country of Tophet, he’s heard the stories: No crime or pollution. A house and food for everyone. It’s perfect, and Rory is finally getting a piece of it.
So is Tate Patterson. He’s from Tophet, too, but he’s not a legal immigrant; he snuck in as a thief. A city without crime seems like an easy score, until he crashes into Rory during a getaway and is arrested for assaulting a citizen. Instead of jail, Tate is enrolled in Beulah’s Rehabilitation through Restitution program. By living with and serving his victim for seven years, Tate will learn the human face of his crimes.
If it seems too good to be true, that’s because it is. Tate is fitted with a behavior-modifying chip that leaves him unable to disobey orders—any orders, no matter how dehumanizing. Worse, the chip prevents him from telling Rory, the one man in all of Beulah who might care about him, the truth: in a country without prisons, Tate is locked inside his own mind.
Review published September 17, 2014