From Tom Rob Smith—author of the phenomenal Child 44 trilogy—comes one of the most anticipated novels of 2014…
The Farm
Until the moment he receives a frantic call from his father, Daniel believed his parents were headed into a peaceful, well-deserved retirement. They had sold their home and business in London and
bid farewell to England, setting off to begin life anew on a remote, bucolic farm in rural Sweden.
But with that phone call, everything changes. Your mother's not well, his father tells him. She's been imagining things—terrible, terrible things. She has had a psychotic breakdown
and been committed to a mental hospital.
Daniel prepares to rush to Sweden on the first available flight. Before he can board the plane, his father contacts him with even more frightening news: his mother has discharged herself from
hospital, and he doesn't know where she is.
Then his mother calls:
"I'm sure your father has spoken to you. Everything that man has told you is a lie. I'm not mad. I don't need a doctor. I need the police. I'm about to board a flight to London. Meet me at
Heathrow."
Caught between his parents and unsure of who to believe or trust, Daniel becomes his mother's unwilling judge and jury as she tells him an urgent tale of secrets, lies, a horrible crime, and a
conspiracy that implicates his own father.
Editorial Reviews
Editorial Reviews
“On rare occasions, an
author pulls off the high-wire act of writing a crime-oriented novel that
easily transcends the genre. The Farm is one of these…[Smith’s] skills
are as finely honed as ever, with this tale that’s both a page-turner and a
searing examination of the lives of our protagonist, his lover, and his family.
Structurally innovative and stylistically resonant, The Farm is a
remarkable achievement.” —Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author
“I read this book in two
greedy sittings, absolutely and joyfully clueless as to where it was leading.
Tom Rob Smith has created a truly original and chilling thriller, which makes
you ask yourself, ‘Who would I believe?’” —Jojo Moyes, New York Times bestselling author
“A pacey page-turner with
an ending you’ll be dying to talk about.” —Good Housekeeping (UK), Thriller of the Month
“Is there anything more unnerving than the realization that you can’t trust your own mother? Maybe the realization that you can’t trust your father either. That’s the killer premise of The Farm.” —New York Times Book Review
“This is a neatly plotted
book full of stories within stories, which gradually unravel to confound our
expectations…Smith’s twisting, turning novel shows that Scandi crime also retains
the ability to surprise and thrill.” —Guardian (UK)
“A mind-blowing,
addictive plot that will have you on the edge of your seat, tearing through the
pages as the truth—involving a missing teenage girl, Swedish folklore, and some
sinister neighbors—slowly leaks out.” —Stylist (UK)
“Tom Rob Smith breathes
new life into the landscape, transcending the traditional crime fiction genre
with an intricately knitted thriller steeped in mythology…[Smith] demonstrates
the same craftsmanship that saw his highly acclaimed novel Child 44
claim the Galaxy Book Award for Best New Writer…Meticulously weaving together
literary themes of revenge and madness…this latest offering is a tapestry of
fairytales old and new; so unsettling and oppressive that it blurs the
distinctions between sanity and madness, reality and fantasy, leaving the
reader guessing until the bitter end.” —Independent (UK)
“Superior…Smith keeps the reader guessing up to the powerfully effective resolution that’s refreshingly devoid of contrivances.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“The author’s first stand-alone novel after his wildly successful
Soviet-era trilogy hits the
ground running…The unreliability of Tilde’s narration—is she telling the truth about
this sinister scheme or is she crazy?—provides the novel with a constant
tension…A worthy addition to the growing canon of Scandinavian crime thrillers.” —Library Journal
“Smith has skipped over from Stalin’s Russia to the idyllic Swedish countryside for his latest thriller…Smith does creepy very well, setting scenes that slowly build in
intensity, and he keeps readers guessing about who can and cannot be
trusted…A satisfying mystery on ground
that, though familiar, manages to yield surprises in Smith’s skillful
telling.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Chilling, hypnotic, and
thoroughly compelling. You will not read a better thriller this year.” —Mark Billingham, international bestselling author of Sleepyhead
“Narrators Suzanne Toren and James
Langton team up for this new thriller. As a mother tells her son the story that
landed her in a psychiatric hospital, Toren’s delivery of her desperation and
paranoia is so convincing that listeners will likely want to institutionalize
her themselves. As the son, Langton hones in on his character’s internal
conflict: Should he believe his pleading mother with her satchel of ‘evidence’ or
trust his father’s judgment that she’s lost her grip on reality. Langton deftly
juggles the son’s unwavering love and impatient frustration. The story itself
has weaknesses that cannot be overcome. Those who manage to weather the
mother’s entire bizarre story will likely be disappointed with the anticlimactic
ending. Nonetheless, the narrations are outstanding.” —AudioFile
Tom Rob Smith graduated from Cambridge University in 2001 and lives in London. His first novel, Child 44, was a New York Timesbestseller
and an international success. Among its many honors, Child 44won the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He wrote the follow
up to Child 44, The Secret Speech, in 2009, and the third installment in the series, Agent 6, was released in 2011. Smith lives in Central London.
Titles by Author
Details
Details
Format:
Library CD
Available Formats :
Library CD
Category:
Fiction/Thrillers
Publisher:
Hachette Book Group
CDs:
8
Runtime:
9.40
ISBN:
9781478901341
Audience:
Adult
Language:
English
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