The Farm by Tom Rob Smith

review by Maryom

Daniel's parents have sold up their garden centre business and retired to a remote farm in his mother's native Sweden. For one reason or another, he keeps putting off visiting them, but believes them to be happily settled and enjoying their new life. Then out of the blue he gets a phone call from his father to tell him his mother is ill - in a psychiatric hospital. She's been imagining things, making all sorts of allegations against her new neighbours and eventually it was decided she should be hospitalised for her own good. This is shocking enough news on its own but then Dan gets a phone call from his mother - she's out of the hospital, on her way to London and everything his father said is a lie! As he listens to his mother's side of events, Dan doesn't know who to believe. One of his parents must be lying..but which..

You might have encountered Tom Rob Smith's Soviet Russia based thrillers featuring secret police officer Leo Demidov, the first of which Child 44 is currently being filmed with Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman and Noomi Rapace. Well, The Farm is a rather different sort of read; a psychological thriller of words rather than action. The tale is told mainly from Dan's mother point of view, from a series of notes that she has ready prepared almost as if giving a lecture. The style is rather formal too and I found the start a little slow so it took me a while to really get involved. His mother has a dreadful tale to tell, but should we believe her? That's the question at the heart of this story; who is telling the truth? As I read, I first believed the mother, then doubted her, went back to believing and so on. As is to be expected with a thriller, the twists and turns are saved till the very end, so, if you're wondering where the story is going, hang on in there.

Maryom's review - 4 stars

Publisher - Simon & Schuster

Genre - psychological thriller,  adult fiction,  

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