NOVEMBER 2018 - AudioFile
This masterful work of psychological suspense is all the more riveting with Jacques Roy narrating. In the near future, husband-and-wife Junior and Hen have a simple life together on an isolated farm. However, Junior is randomly chosen as a candidate for a journey that will take him far from home, away from earth itself. Though nothing is final, yet, the possibility works its way between Junior and Hen, unearthing hidden tension in their marriage. Narrating from Junior's first-person perspective, Roy immerses listeners in the character’s ponderings about his life, work, and relationships. Sparse, tantalizing details creep in and lead to an unsettling final twist. However, Roy sounds keenest when exploring the story’s philosophical musings about human nature and consciousness. A.T.N. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
07/09/2018
In the beginning of the latest nerve-wracking novel from Reid (I’m Thinking of Ending Things), Junior and Henrietta lead a peaceful, solitary life on their farm in the near future. They wake up, drink coffee, go to work, and come home. Sometimes Henrietta plays the piano they found in their house. All of that is interrupted one day by the arrival of the mysterious Terrance, sent on behalf of the space research organization OuterMore to inform Junior he’s been longlisted in a lottery for a temporary resettlement expedition into space called the Installation. Junior never applied for the program, and Terrance’s appearance knocks them off-kilter, but Junior and Henrietta are able to eventually put it out of their minds—that is, until Terrance returns two years later to congratulate Junior on being selected for the Installation. When Junior expresses worries about being separated from Henrietta and leaving her alone, Terrance unveils the other side of the plan: while Junior is in space, a synthetic duplicate will come to take his place, working his job and keeping Henrietta company. In order to collect data for this duplicate, Terrance moves in with Junior and Henrietta, but as the days go on, Junior starts to believe there is something more sinister at play that Terrance is not telling him. Though the ending falls a little short, Reid proves once again that he is a master of atmosphere and suspense. Readers won’t be able to put this one down. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
"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 (starred review)
“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
"Reid is remarkable for delivering hypnotic, twisty plots and taut prose in a short novel." –New York Journal of Books
NOVEMBER 2018 - AudioFile
This masterful work of psychological suspense is all the more riveting with Jacques Roy narrating. In the near future, husband-and-wife Junior and Hen have a simple life together on an isolated farm. However, Junior is randomly chosen as a candidate for a journey that will take him far from home, away from earth itself. Though nothing is final, yet, the possibility works its way between Junior and Hen, unearthing hidden tension in their marriage. Narrating from Junior's first-person perspective, Roy immerses listeners in the character’s ponderings about his life, work, and relationships. Sparse, tantalizing details creep in and lead to an unsettling final twist. However, Roy sounds keenest when exploring the story’s philosophical musings about human nature and consciousness. A.T.N. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2018-07-02
In the near future, a man and his wife are visited by a mysterious stranger offering a chance for previously unimagined adventure, though the true exploration—and danger—might be closer to home.Junior and Henrietta live in a dilapidated but cozy rural farmhouse, deep in a sea of canola fields, with only a few chickens for company. Their isolation is both comforting and eerie, a combination Reid pulled off exceptionally well in I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2016). Then a man named Terrance arrives with an outlandish prospect: Junior is on the long list of lottery participants chosen to take part in the Installation, a temporary space resettlement project run by OuterMore. Though Terrance's enthusiasm is palpable, and unnerving, Junior and Hen are understandably leery. With all the cheer of a traveling Bible salesman, Terrance departs, promising to be back if Junior moves up the list. Two years pass in a flash, with Junior going about his job at the mill and Hen sinking into a minor depression of sorts. Like the warning of potential yet probable future disease, dread over Terrance's return settles over the narrative, and Junior and Hen's relationship, which at first seems strong, wobbles. As Junior moves up the list and his departure becomes more certainty than possibility, cracks appear in the marriage; Junior struggles with memories of his past, and Hen confronts her husband with feelings she's kept hidden for years. Terrance's role as observer and cataloger as he prepares the couple for the Installation is claustrophobic yet revealing, and 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.
