'Kallocain' is a celebrated Swedish dystopia, nominated for the Prometheus Book Prize. The novel is compared to such works as George Orwell's '1984' and Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World.'
The World State is a perfect empire of the future. Here, people are openly monitored to maintain total control, and denunciation is the duty of every decent citizen.
Chemist Leo Kahl is a staunch supporter of the ruling regime. He develops a truth serum, 'kallocain,' which can reveal people's feelings and innermost thoughts. Now the traitors will be exposed one by one—the protagonist embodies Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor's ideas about control.
Very soon, Leo begins to suspect his wife of infidelity and decides to use the serum to discover the truth. But isn't it amazing that everything in the world, even the truth, loses its value as soon as it becomes forced?
