03 January 2015

The Farm ~ Tom Rob Smith

*** LIKE ***

The very best of "unreliable narrator"
Secrets, lies & the psyche

Is this a brooding crime novel or study of a mental breakdown?
Is Tilde a delusional conspiracy theorist? 
Are there dark secrets being covered up by the community?

The Farm keeps you guessing and keeps you turning the pages even when the voice becomes a little stilted and a little contrived and a little long winded.   Tilde's "evidence" seemed a lame, not really supported by hard evidence, but more the suppositions and imaginings of the unreliable narrator.   While I wanted to believe her, it was too easy to see her as delusional.

There is great sense of location.  The bleakness of the farm in Sweden and the liveliness of the social events were well written.  The characters and plot have a flatness that fits the retelling of events that Tilde is reconstructing with her items of evidence. 

I didn't mind the ending - I thought it was a wrap up that fitted and was fair to the characters and storyline.