As I told in my introduction post, I love to read books. I just finished reading Tom Rob Smith's latest novel "The Farm" and felt I should share it here. I only read it now, because I try to read books in the language that has been written in, and here in Belgium there are not a lot of bookstores that carry titles in foreign languages (and if they do it's only of limited supply.)
Ever since I read "Child 44" some years ago (in Dutch - I only yesterday found it in English in De Sleghte, a second hand book store in Antwerp), and although his repertoire counts only 4 books I can tell you that I am a fan of Tom Rob Smith. The man knows how to get anguish on paper...
The story revolves around a farm in Sweden that Daniel's parents bought (his mother is/was Swedish) where they want to retire. Long story short, the couple has its problems but fail to contact Daniel, until he is called out of the blue by his dad. His mother isn't "very well" (as in not very mentally sane) and before we know it the reader is drawn in a story where his mother is trying to convince Daniel (and the reader) that she is very sane but that a crime is committed in which his father is involved. Daniel is left torn between his parents and unsure of whom to trust.
It takes a while before we get to know which crime has been committed and even then you are wondering if it has taken place or if it is a fabrication of a not so healthy mind. Like I said, i am not going to give away the end, but suffice to say that he ends the book in a way that easily makes for a sequel.
"The Farm" has some similarities with "Child 44." Both takes place in a snowy, cold place (one in Sweden, the other in Russia.) Both books are about child abuse. And both leave the reader lost in how the story will continue. While "Child 44" takes inspiration from the crimes of the Rostov Ripper (who was sentenced for committing 52 murders in the Soviet Union, "The Farm" was inspired by his own (also Swedish)mother's experience of psychosis, from which she has since fully recovered. Smith was surprised by his mother's lucidity when describing her paranoid delusions and ingested a lot of this in his book.
Smith has a fluent writing style and refrains from using difficult descriptions and lots of phrases if the story doesn't need it. However, his depiction of the set (here: Sweden) is such that you want to visit the place.
I am still deciding if "The Farm" is as good as "Child 44", but I think I have to re-read the latter to make up my mind. What I do know is that it is still an excellent book (although I suggest to read "Child 44" if you want to begin reading something of him.) It only takes a few pages to be drawn in the intens story and you're almost at the end of the book when you still wonder how it's going to end. It's the kind of thriller that I like to read and Smith masters it like no one else. For me, it is by far the best book that I read this year.
And now of to reading Child 44 (again, this time in English.)
