Come Clean

In the 1980s in the USA Paddock’s sister was sent to a private rehabilitation centre for young drug users. This facility misapplied philosophies borrowed from Alcoholics Anonymous and mixed them with extreme forms of peer group pressure including public humiliations. Such institutions inflicted terrible harm on the young people in their care in the name of ‘tough love’.

In her powerful novel Paddock draws on this experience to recreate the abusive environment she witnessed. Twins Joshua and Justine are both sent, at different times, to the same facility and as the story, told by Justine, unfolds we come to realise that her brother has killed himself. The real reasons for this – homophobic bullying and sexual abuse – emerge gradually as the story unfolds. This is a gripping and disturbing novel as the reader experiences how vulnerable and powerless Justine is in this warped environment in which telling the truth counts against you. Will she too be destroyed by it? Interwoven into this theme are Justine’s memories of the childhood she shared with her twin and the bond between them that can never be broken. This is Paddock’s first novel for teenagers and she shoots from the hip – as well she might given her personal connection to her subject matter.