Book Review: Foe by Iain Reid - More2Read
 

Foe by Iain Reid

 

A taut, psychological mind-bender from the bestselling author of I’m Thinking of Ending Things.

We don’t get visitors. Not out here. We never have.

In Iain Reid’s second haunting, philosophical puzzle of a novel, set in the near-future, Junior and Henrietta live a comfortable, solitary life on their farm, far from the city lights, but in close quarters with each other. One day, a stranger from the city arrives with alarming news: Junior has been randomly selected to travel far away from the farm…very far away. The most unusual part? Arrangements have already been made so that when he leaves, Henrietta won’t have a chance to miss him, because she won’t be left alone—not even for a moment. Henrietta will have company. Familiar company.

Told in Reid’s sharp and evocative style, Foe examines the nature of domestic relationships, self-determination, and what it means to be (or not to be) a person. An eerily entrancing page-turner, it churns with unease and suspense from the first words to its shocking finale.

Praise for Foe:

“Reid builds to a deeply unsettling climax. As much a surgical dissection of what makes a marriage as an expertly paced, sparsely detailed psychological thriller, this is one to read with the lights on.”
– Kirkus Reviews

“Reid proves once again that he is a master of atmosphere and suspense. Readers won’t be able to put this one down.”
– Publishers Weekly

“Reid is at it again, exploiting readers with plot twists, narrative unease, and explosive conclusions in his second novel… [he] has the rare ability to make readers both uncomfortable and engaged, and this drama will surely send them back to the beginning pages to track the clues he left to the surprise ending.”
–Booklist 

“Such an ambitious work risks being muddied. Reid, however, brilliantly executes his vision… With Foe, Reid has written a page-turning novel that will entertain you and have you questioning the very foundation of your existence at the exact same time.” 
–  BookPage

“Foe is a tale of implacably mounting peril that feels all the more terrifying for being told in such a quiet, elegantly stripped-down voice. Iain Reid knows how to do ‘ominous’ as well as anyone I’ve ever read.” – Scott Smith, author of The Ruins and A Simple Plan

“I couldn’t put it down. It infected my dreams. A creepy and brilliant book.”
– Zoe Whittall, Giller shortlisted author of The Best Kind of People 

“From the opening page, you’ll have an uneasy feeling as you settle in to Iain’s Reid’s brilliant new novel, Foe…. A masterful and breathtakingly unique read. I can’t stop thinking about it.”
– Amy Stuart, author of the #1 bestseller Still Mine and Still Water

“Spare, consuming, unforgettable. Foe is a dark arrow from a truly original mind. Page by eerie page, Iain Reid pulls the known world out from under you, and leaves you trapped inside a marriage’s most haunting question: can I be replaced? This is a book that seeps into your bloodstream––and crowns Iain Reid the king of deadpan, philosophical horror.”
– Claudia Dey, author of Heartbreaker 

“I’m not sure that humans have hackles, but something was creeping up my spine as I read this book, and I welcomed the shivers of shock and delight…. A mind-bending and genre-defying work of genius.”
– Liz Nugent, author of Unraveling Oliver and Lying in Wait

Review:

This guy turns up, unexpectedly, in his car and head lights beaming, Terrance, a Representative of OuterMore, an organization with branches in the government and work with aerospace, exploration and development.
He is offering the golden ticket out to an Installation, a fortunate conscription to a development in a future space life, it seems there is no turning this offer down.
Told with some great dialogue all in set out in a small farm home out in unknown canola fields with barn and chickens, in a future world with married couple and marriage dimensions in play of things incorporating one husband mill worker’s new fate.
You just don’t want to leave the page, the narrative just wheels you along with suspense, and psychologically enthralling reading with disquieting first person narration.
Timely writing in a world possibly steering towards technological takeover.
The world has changed, more humane in some areas of farming, no more driving lorries and vehicles, driverless vehicles the norm, 3d printing and technologies have advanced, all this new world and advancement, friend or foe.

 

Reviewed by Lou Pendergrast on 08 September 2018