Set in a future England which is under a totalitarian regime with LGBTQ+ people being forced into camps for ‘re-purification’ or are executed. Gabe falls in love with a new boy in his class, Eric, who is also the son of the Chief Inspector at Degenerate Investigations. Gabe’s childhood friend, Albert, is also holding onto a secret. This book reminds us that LGBTQ+ rights have only recently become law in the UK, and still don’t exist in other parts of the world. It also provokes thought on the political world we live in currently and how possible it could be to slip into this dystopian future.

Imagine a world where to be gay or trans is a crime. You’re a degenerate and treated as sub-human by members of The Protectorate, the leaders of this new world charged with keeping order and keeping everyone safe. This is the awful world in which Gabe lives.
Our main character is forthright, angry and prone to making some really stupid choices. But he’s also loyal and loving, and determined to stick up for what he believes is right - no matter the cost.
Gabe and his friends - who charmingly call themselves The Rebels - know they are different, and that people are threatened by them. They want nothing more than to be themselves, to be proud of who they are and to live their lives.
Unfortunately, Gabe is also in love with Eric Dufresne, the son of someone high in the ranks of The Protectorate. When they are caught trying to remove a banned disc, showing that dangerous movie ‘Love, Simon’, things quickly escalate and what became an idealistic aim becomes a fight for survival.
Hussey creates a truly shocking environment-strangely not at all incredible given some of the situations and events we see happening around us. While the representation may not please everyone, it’s an evolving process to encourage people to consider their place, their personal beliefs and their role in history.
I’m looking forward to seeing what people make of this, and I’m so grateful to NetGalley for granting me early access.

Thank you Netgalley and Usborne publishers for the arc of this book. I didn't have any expectation going into this but the premise seemed intriguing enough to make me start. I read the first 40% in one sitting because it was so intriguing and i loved how the story kept unfolding.

The outrage emphasizes the importance of staying true to yourself as it follows the lives of Gabe and Eric two queer teenagers who live in a protectorate state and in this book, it is illegal to be queer and the homophobia is REAL. It follows the lives of mainly Gabe and Eric as they navigate the world as they know it knowing there’s more to life but they make do with the restrictions and still try to live their best lives but that comes to an abrupt end and life as they know it changed forever.

This story shows the power in fighting discrimination and oppression. William was able to write such wonderful characters that you can't help but like. The hope, resilience, survival, love, friendships! whew!

I know this might be very triggering for a lot of LGBTQ+ readers who are still being discriminated against in their various countries and although this book had a dystopian setting, it is the reality of so many people. I particularly did not see the need for the graphic details of how queer people were tortured.

Overall, It was a decent read. It was fast paced and easy to read. I rated this 3.5 stars.

I have been a fan of William's work for a very long time now, since 2010's Witchfinder: Dawn of the Demontide was released and I have loved seeing his career and talents flourish year after year. Last years Hideous Beauty was a stunning read and at some points I wondered how Will could ever top himself, but with The Outrage, he goes above and beyond and I couldn't be happier to have been able to read this book! Right from the start I was sucked into the world of a Britain where we have regressed far further than many could ever imagine possible. A totalitarian state where people are in a constant state of suspicion, looking out for those who may be different.

I fell in love with the characters. Gabe himself is boyfriend goals and I loved him right from the very start. He isn't perfect and he doesn't pretend to be. He has anger issues, but he loves so fiercely and so protectively regardless of what people do to him in return and I loved this about him. I'm glad he was the narrator because he was a my favourite of the lot and I really enjoyed getting into his head and seeing how he saw the world. I also liked Eric because he is flawed too. He wants to be open and honest, he wants to live the life he knows that he truly desires, but also doesn't want to do anything to upset his father, a high ranking officer within the Protectorate itself.

I've seen first hand a lot of unwarranted abuse thrown at Will online because of the premise of this book. Telling him that he is too privileged to have written a book like this. Being gay isn't illegal in Britain anymore. It used to be. Yeah, we have progressed, we have made leaps and strides that just seem natural. Why shouldn't LGBTQ+ people have the same rights that straight people do? Yes, we are lucky in that sense, lucky in ways that some can only dream of, where their sexuality can get them imprisoned, or worse, killed. But given things going in within the country today, the governments lack of action against conversion therapy, constant backpedaling now saying that they won't condemn religious groups. As it says in the book, sometimes we take this progress for granted and stop fighting for it. That is what the book is about. It isn't about how horrible it is that you can be persecuted for who you love in some parts of the world. It is about the fact that we all deserve complete and total equality, regardless of which country you come from, what religion you are. We should not be deemed lesser just because some people think that we are. This book is about keeping the fight alive. Not being complacent and allowing those who would seek to take our rights away from us win. It does make me laugh that a lot of these people making these statements haven't read the book and may never read it. They seem to have made their mind up but gladly they are in the minority and I for one cannot wait to shout my love for this book from the rooftops and spread the word that it is a cracking read that will help show people just what our life could be. We need to keep fighting to be equal and we need to fight for that equality to spread all the way around the world and stay there!

I am so proud of Will for this book and know that a book like this would have made 14 year old me swell with self-worth and it would definitely have helped me in ways that I hope it will teens today! So beautifully written, it was a page turner of epic proportions. I just had to keep going!

I absolutely loved Hideous Beauty so I was excited to be approved for this one...unfortunately I didn't really enjoy it and ended up giving up on it. It had all the elements of a great story but I found the writing a little over-wrought and repetitive, the characters were two dimensional and I just didn't buy into it.

This is a really interesting look into how the world could or could have looked if we'd taken a slightly different path.

The characterisation of both main characters is dynamic and interesting, and I felt myself really invested in what they had to say and the situations they had to deal with. Gabe's situation in particular was so gripping and you felt yourself really rooting for every character you came across.

I had some issues with pacing and thought that the ending was perhaps a little rushed, but that doesn't detract from the story overall.

I would definitely recommend getting a copy of this one for the school library. It tackles a lot of important topics in an accessible and interesting manner.

Read March 2021

This was a powerful book. Set in a dystopian future England - unknown year but a 2038 car is mentioned as vintage - where anything to do with being LGBT+ or having free will is completely outlawed and many books including 'The Wizard of Oz' (the man behind the curtain) are banned.

Gabe is gay and he begins an illicit relationship with Eric, son of the chief inspector at Degenerate (gay) Investigations, and a very troubled young man. The pair stumble upon an old destroyed library by chance and find a hidden cache of old DVDs - that miraculously still work? A scratch tends to kill them - such as 'Star Wars', 'Love, Simon' and 'Indiana Jones' that inspire Gabe in particular. He then fosters an ambition to become a movie director.

A chance encounter means that their relationship is discovered and the pair are arrested. Eric's father forces him to lie that it was non-consensual in exchange for a role on the force and "freedom". Gabe meanwhile is tortured and worries about his future. Forced to work the degrading and dirty jobs marked as 'degenerate' by a pink cross, or an unknown alternative...

It soon comes to pass that there is an underground resistance that Gabe's parents were part of when they met. Gabe is given help to escape but is soon given information that may help...

I loved the characters and thought that they were well-developed, I especially loved Gabe and his childhood best friend Albert's friendship, and their heart to heart later was beautiful! However the explanation for the initial "Outrage" was a little too brief and I thought the ending was very abrupt. Did anything change? How did their life go?

Another amazing LGBT+ read from William Hussey. Yet again he has managed to artfully weave multiple hard hitting themes together in a masterful way. From grief and self harm to hiding who you are and coming to accept yourself all on a dystopian backdrop of persecution. With current events in various countries this is a must read and very much a cautionary tale. So scary in how easily we could fall into this situation.

The friendships and relationships were beautiful to read, as was Gabe’s relationship with his father and the references to pop culture were little happy moments for me. I will promise to be that librarian that rebels and hides treasures for the next generation to find.

I found #TheOutrage by William Hussey an engrossing, quite terrifying but very necessary read. The description of life under The Protectorate is grim, real and unfortunately all too easy to imagine. Every detail is well thought-out and I really liked the glimpses of technology giving clues to what came before . We also have those truly awful suggestions of the treatment of pets, which says everything about what has become of humanity. The novel's real strength is in the character depictions. Even characters that you think are quite peripheral are given backgrounds and their own stories, such as Gabe's parents. I particularly loved the relationships between Gabe and Eric, and Gabe and Albert.. It's what kept me reading, to see how things would turn out for all of them, It's a dark read at times but there's love and hope and the reader is left wrung out but not crushed. I'd highly recommend this book for all ages. Thanks to #Usborne and #Netgalley.

Wow. Finished The Outrage on #NetGalley (publishes in May, thanks @Usborne). With trigger warnings for homophobia, violence, & self harm, it is a difficult read - it doesn't feel an unlikely future at all. Powerful & angry, @WHusseyAuthor writes *brilliant* characters. https://t.co/xukNsb7GyS

TRIGGER WARNINGS: HOMOPHOBIA, SELF HARM, VIOLENCE

Pay attention to those triggers, guys, they're not messing around.


In the country that was once England (and possibly Wales, but explicitly not Scotland and probably not Northern Ireland) the Protectorate hold absolute power. (No mention made of what's happened to the royal family, if anything.) They take a hard line, traditional stance; anything other than healthy, hetero normative people are Not Allowed, and there are frequents searches and punishments and camps. Food is rationed and there is no medical care. The Protectorate Loves You!

Gabe and Eric happen on a box of old movies, carefully hidden away by a librarian against the Protectorate's raids. These movies show unbelievable things; boys kissing boys, girls kissing girls, people seeing movies and learning history and a hundred other things that they've never even imagined. Seeing those movies gives them the strength to keep fighting back against the horrific abuses of the Protectorate. And there are some pretty horrific abuses here.

There's a lovely point made here, that without seeing something it's hard to imagine that it's possible. That's the basic argument about representation, of course, but for some reason it really hit home here. Maybe it was the list of movies, many of which I've seen and most of which I've loved.

This is a heavy, difficult, but worthwhile and important read. I think it'll do well, and I'd love to see it in schools - I think there are some good lessons here. Brilliant.

Omg!! What a powerful book! Absolutely mind blown. I requested this book because I’m a part of the LGBTQ+ community & was very intrigued. I’m so glad I did it ticks all the boxes & definitely a book that should be read whilst in school to teach kids a thing or two! Amazing!!

Yet, again, a book I would not have picked up before becoming hooked on Usborne fiction, but my goodness William Hussey, what an amazing book! I was hooked from the beginning but it took a while to get my head around the fact that it is set in England but in the future. However, the future has become warped and creates a dystopian setting, one where only “normal” people are accepted, which at our time of living, although many prejudices remain, there has been a huge change during our lifetime of the education, acceptance and acknowledgement of LBGTQ+ community. It’s scary to think that, due to environmental and climate factors happening in today’s world, plus a pandemic and other political references, that England could fall apart so completely and resemble the past. Nazi Germany springs very much to mind, especially concentration camps, underground groups and hatred for all things different.

The Outrage is not a political book, but one of survival, friendship, family, love and fighting for rights within a community on the fringes of survival.

The pace of the story is fast, with twists and turns throughout. It has an absolutely fantastic ending, but my heart was racing in the last quarter of the book as I was so afraid for all the characters.

An absolute genius read with a fantastic array of characters and plot throughout.

An interesting approach to LGBTQ+ issues. I'm sure students will enjoy this and some may well identity with the characters. I'm not the intended audience but will certainly recommend it to Year 9 and above

Wow such an incredible book that had me gripped from the start read in only a couple of days
This book will stay with me for a long time
An easy 5 star
Will be recommending this to everyone
Thank you so much to the publisher for letting me read this fantastic book early

William Hussey’s The Outrage is an LGBTQIA+ young adult novel that combines the genres of dystopian or speculative fiction with romance and thriller. In this face-paced, actioned-packed novel, Hussey imagines a Britain in which rights, in particular for the LGBTQIA+ community, have been rolled back. Following an event called ‘the outrage’, in this novel England is now ruled by the Protectorate who enforce the ‘Public Good’, governing what people eat, wear, say, read and think. Being LGBT+ in this Britain makes you a ‘degen’ (degenerate) and will result in you being sent to a ‘Repurification’ camp.

The book’s main character, Gabriel, is a natural-born rule breaker and his biggest crime in this world is, of course, being gay. Gabriel knows that to survive, he must keep his sexuality a secret not only to protect himself but also to protect his boyfriend, Eric, who also happens to be the son of the chief inspector at Degenerate Investigations, the one man who poses the biggest threat to Gabriel’s safety.

In his novel, William Hussey draws directly from history to paint a world in which LGBTQIA+ people have no rights and are in danger, a fact that is still true in many countries across the globe. Hussey references Section 28, a British law that banned any ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in local authorities such as schools. This law was not revoked until 2003 so many older readers may already be aware of it, however, for younger readers, this is a chance to understand the history of LGBTQIA+ education in schools.

Hussey also writes about chemical castration and aversion therapy that takes place in the ‘repurification camps’. These tortuous methods were meant to ‘straighten’ gay people out and although fictionalised in this YA novel, these were real methods used in Britain.

The Outrage also serves as a reminder of how gay people were treated in Britain’s past and it highlights the way that trans people are treated today, in particular in the media through negative representation. This novel is therefore a call to young LGBTQIA+ people and their allies to continue fighting for the rights trans people. What’s more, Hussey’s novel showcases the importance of representation and seeing yourself reflected in films, TV, books etc.

As well as exploring LGBTQIA+ lives, the novel also examines other issues in society that are currently already problematic but could potentially get worse in an extremist, post-Brexit Britain. Hussey writes a world where immigrants are also seen as degens, food is rationed, there’s no healthcare service, and libraries have been closed. Gabriel tells one of the other characters, “My dad once told that they came for the libraries first “not smashing and burning, not in the beginning,” he said, “but claiming no one used them and closing them down one by one… when they take away the places that help people think, sometimes they stop thinking altogether.” The Outrage is therefore a reminder that we cannot get complacent in the fight for rights, equality and freedom.

William Hussey’s The Outrage is a young adult novel that is reminiscent of other dystopian fiction that came before it including; The Handmaid’s Tale, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and The Hunger Games. This is a truly gripping novel that uses a narrative that darts back and forth in time to build tension and create a vivid back story for the characters. The action and fear for the characters begin in chapter one and hooks you in immediately.

Dystopian fiction is today’s world warped to an extent it could actually become possible and The Outrage is just this. In our world and our country today we are only just beginning to accept the gay and trans communities. In The Outrage this acceptance has been overruled by extremists who set off a reaction resulting in the persecution of anyone who does not conform to heterosexual black and white. England has cut itself off from the rest of the world – even staying away from the Olympics in case of racial contamination. Laws limit the Press, the internet and free speech, where elections are abolished as the country is ruled by The Protectorate. Those in charge are given officious sounding titles, while most people refer to them as the Filth Finders – flushing out anyone not condemning gays. The Lord Protector only protected his own whilst running a fearsome regime through brutality.
Gebe had manged to keep his head down, although his secret was known to his parents and a few friends. But when Eric, the Chief Inspector of Degenerate Investigators starts at Gebe’s school, both their worlds change. The on-side adults are great allies – with Gebe realising only too late that they too have a story to tell. Albert is the Neville Longbottom of this story and comes into their own when Gebe has to make decisions to protect his own life as well as that of his best friend.
The ending is a headlong rush to attempt to overthrow the Protectorate but comes at a cost, but this is the struggle many elsewhere in the world have still to come.

I liked how at the start of the book it listed the trigger warnings - all books should have this! It’s not often that I go for dystopia fiction but I really enjoyed this one, it was intriguing and gripping. Reading about a world where all the progress that we’ve made over the last 60+ years has reversed was just incredible - and not in a good way, obviously. Though it was an interesting read, it’s not a world i’d want as a reality - which I guess is the whole point of the story!

Thank you to netgalley and Usborne Publishing for the advanced reader copy of this book.

There are some books that come and go from your head, the ones that you enjoy but that don't stick with you, and your only reminder is looking back through your Goodreads reading challenge. Then there are the books that you never want to end, the ones that stay with you, change how you think about the world, about writing and its power to affect you. The Outrage is one of the latter, a book so brilliant I wish I had written it, or at least that we were publishing it.

Prepare yourself to be heartbroken but also uplifted by this incredible story about queer protagonists just wanting to be themselves in a world that wants to eradicate them entirely. The author, Bill, touches on how close we are from our world becoming like that in The Outrage. We think we are safe now, that our newly given queer equality rights are ours now forever, but all it takes is a few events and the world could come crashing down around us. We've seen tremors of this in Trump's USA, and we're seeing it today in the transphobia of the UK. This book is just a few bad weeks away from being closer to non-fiction.

Buy The Outrage, read The Outrage, despair at the protagonists' pain, and then move on, uplifted. I will be buying this incredible novel for all my LGBTQ allies, but more importantly, for my LGBTQ+ friends, who need to remember how hard we've fought and must continue to fight to express ourselves, and love who we want to love.

I had high hopes going into this, like super high hopes. William Hussey’s debut LGBTQ+ YA novel is one of my all time favourite books, I read it early last year and have not stopped singing it’s praises but I’m afraid The Outrage just didn’t match the hype I had put on it in my own head. Don’t get me wrong, this is a powerful and important book but it suffers from a case of what I call ‘Adam Silvera Syndrome’ (more on this later). I will look at what I did enjoy first and then get into why I wont be adding this to my list of all time favourite books.

This book will be such an important tool for discussion amongst young people. It might be set in England where currently on the surface people who aren’t straight cisgender, able-bodied white people (mostly men) have equal rights and opportunities but there are so many countries in the world where all of the atrocious actions and damaging opinions that this book explores are part of every day life. I think young people, especially in more liberal countries need to understand that the freedoms that they are given today are only there because of brave communities who fought for them and continue to fight. Hopefully they will take inspiration from this.

I think what let me down the most in this book was the characters and romance. I loved Gabe as a character but Eric on the other hand I found to be bland and uninteresting. I couldn’t help but compare the characters and characterisation in this book compared to Hideous Beauty where the romance was heartbreaking and you were physically unable to fall in love with Dylan and Ellis. There was a moment where I was moved by an interaction between Gabe and Eric but it was quickly gone and I was like meh.

The world building was a bit off which was weird considering much of the world was inspired by real life events and places. This is where ‘Adam Silver Syndrome’ comes in. Just like with Adams first three solo published novels William’s first novel had so much heart, and it’s this that made the books so special to me. Once you start building a different world at the expense of your brilliant characters then you start to lose me. ‘Infinity Son’ by Adam Silvera had so much world and magic that I can’t even remember the character’s names and now a lot of this applies to ‘The Outrage’. There was a lot of effort put into explaining the government, the rules, the colours of people’s jackets etc. that I just got lost. I would have rather that energy be put into strong characters to root for and then if there just happened to be this amazing world crafted in the background then all the better. The action scenes were also not the best and time moved quite sporadically which then took me further out of the world.

There are trigger warnings homophobia, self harm, suicide, violence, addiction and gore. Doing some investigations I’ve also seen that a previous tag line was removed by request of reviewers and that certain references to problematic books and authors will be removed in the final printing of the book. This is a great example of authors and publishers working together with the wider bookish community to improve quality of content and I wish we’d see way more of this in the publishing world.