The Farm Toils Perception And Paranoia

When Daniel first received word from his father that his mother had been hospitalized, he suddenly felt dizzy, a wave of nausea overcoming him as he dropped his grocery bag. He immediately knew something was wrong, but as his father continued to cry into the phone, hardly making sense, the details grew even darker.

His father recounted how his mother had been imagining things, terrible things, for several months until she had finally suffered a psychic break. He had no choice, he continued. For his safety and hers, she had to be committed.

A psychological stint into perception and paranoia.

The news was especially shocking to Daniel as his parents had just recently retired to a farm in Sweden. Everyone had considered the move the adventure of a lifetime, especially because his mother had been born there. She had told him so herself, sending him emails rather regularly.

She did, that is, until the last email. All it had said was "Daniel!" and nothing else. Daniel had explained it as a glitch. He had even sent her a quick response back, asking her to resend it. She never did, but he assumed she was too busy with whatever one might expect on a farm.

He was wrong. And when he had finally come to terms that he was wrong and booked his flight to join his father in Sweden, he turned out to be wrong again. His mother wasn't at the hospital, but on a flight from Sweden to London. She called to tell him and warned him not to believe his father before the call cut off.

Unsure of what else to do, he did the only thing he could do. He met her at the airport, brought het back to his apartment home, and listened to her as she began to outline a conspiracy to cover up a crime, one that his father had been complicit in and, if not, an active participant.

The initial accusation was almost more than he could believe, compounded by her insistence that he listen to her story not as a summation but in sequential order while she produced scraps of evidence and her own journal entires to corroborate not only her story, but also her sanity. Even more pressing, she needed him to listen before his father and the men who had coerced him found her again.

Her story titters back and forth between plausibility and paranoia. But even as those odd and inexplicable details give Daniel reason to doubt his mother, evidence and events provide enough proof that he is compelled to believe — much like the doctors at the hospital she had fled.

While the conclusion may leave more than one reader wondering why Tom Rob Smith would end on whimper compared to the terse and gripping tale told by an untrustworthy narrator, The Farm revives the author's gift at bringing anxiety to life. As a study into how much perception plays in the reality we make, Smith also entertains with a slow burn story that swirls between trust and disbelief.

A couple graphs about the author Tom Rob Smith. 

After his sensational breakout novel Child 44, based on a real Russian serial killer known as the Rostov Ripper as seen through the eyes of his fictional MGB officer Leo Stephanovich Demidov, Tom Rob Smith delivered two more novels that took readers deep inside Russia. While the sequels were welcome, the trilogy sometimes suffered as reviewers continued to hold each book up to Smith's smashing near-perfect debut.

Where The Farm becomes an exceptional win for the author is when it treads some new ground, shaking off the trappings of the trilogy. While some similarities remain — Smith's vividness in describing the bleak wilderness of the mind as well as the landscape — the subtlety of this Cambridge graduate's craft has grown tenfold.

The Farm By Tom Rob Smith Steals 8.7 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale. 

As long as readers are willing to forgive the whimper of an end in advance of starting the book, they will discover that the ride can indeed be better than the destination. This is an amazing portrait of justifiable paranoia that resurrects the old saying — it's not paranoia if it's true.

The Farm by Tom Rob Smith is available from Amazon. The book can also be downloaded for iBooks or ordered as an audiobook. You can also search for The Farm at independent bookseller Alibis and take free shipping on select titles.

Child 44 Is As Relevant Now As 2008

Two years after its initial debut, Child 44 reads as an even more relevant reminder that Aldous Huxley was right: "Hell isn't merely paved with good intentions; it is walled and roofed with them. Yes, and furnished too."

As the United States continues to struggle with the concept of whether its people need to be compelled to do good for the good of the state, Child 44 gives readers a glimpse of the future by sharing the past of another country that once held such a pursuit in high regard. And it does so with frightening clarity.

Set in 1953 under the backdrop of Stalin's Soviet Union, Child 44 is frequently described as a serial killer thriller, mystery, or historical fiction since the murders are based on real Russian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, also known as the Rostov Ripper. However, those quick descriptors sometimes put off readers who don't appreciate those genres. It's a real mistake to miss this book for lack of an accurate moniker.

Why Child 44 Still Makes The Cut After Two Years.

It's not the serial killer story that keeps readers turning the page or thumbing the screen; it's the tenuous suspense created by following Leo Stepanovich Demidov, an MGB officer who eventually comes to terms with the knowledge that he has spent his entire life protecting the illusion of a perfect society.

After all, in a country where everyone is provided health care, food, shelter, security; with everyone working for the good of the state; with everyone assigned jobs that they are the most capable to perform; there can be no crime. Even the mere suspicion of believing anything contrary to the idea of utopia — including a murder by anyone other than someone mentally deficient — can cost you, your friends, and your family their lives.

The rules are simple enough. The only crime worth pursuing is espionage. And if you are suspected, a case file will be opened. If there is a case file open, you are guilty. And if you are guilty, anyone associated with you is a possible suspect.

For Leo Demidov, this is how he vested his life with the power to denounce, torture, and execute thousands of people who are unwilling or unable to maintain the charade. Their crimes are disgraceful. The veterinarian who treats the dog of a Western embassy employee. The woman who accepts an unsanctioned gift of literature. The family who suspects their son was murdered.

They must all be guilty against the infallibility of the state. If not, there is little left to conclude other than that people being protected by the state are thugs, villains, and killers who everyone pretends do not exist, despite the worst of them being entitled and empowered by the state.

Written by Tom Rob Smith, a 2001 Cambridge graduate and working screenwriter, Child 44 continues to earn awards and has already captured the attention of visionary filmmaker Ridley Scott. It was optioned before the book even hit the shelves.

Originally, Child 44 was anticipated to be complete and released in 2010 with Scott directing. But given his long list of projects "in development," it is anybody's guess where Child 44 might fit. Sooner would possibly provide a lift for the sequel, which is frequently described as less suspenseful.

Child 44 Earns A 9.5 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale.

Overall, Child 44 is near flawless. And while some readers might be taken aback by the plot twist toward the end, the minor distraction does little to curb the haunting power of how easily tyranny can denounce anyone for what they say. And what makes that especially chilling in the United States nowadays is that denouncements seem to be occurring with steady regularity.

The book was recently discounted Child 44 on Amazon. The audio version of Child 44 is read by Dennis Boutsikaris, who does the story outstanding justice by enhancing every line with engaging inflections. You can also find Tom Rob Smith on Facebook. You can find it for iBooks too.