The Farm

"This is easily the novel I talked about the most this year and most adamantly pressed into other people’s hands. British author Tom Rob Smith is a thriller writer, but of the literary, fiercely smart variety. Here, he found inspiration in real life — his life. In 2009, Smith received a startling phone call from his father in Sweden, where his parents had retired to a small, remote farm. His father said he had put his wife, Smith’s mother, in a psychiatric hospital. Smith’s mother called soon after, saying that his father was lying and was involved in a criminal conspiracy. She would fly back to London to tell her son everything. Which parent to believe? He had no cause to doubt either, and his mother had never shown any sign of mental illness before. From this beginning, Smith spins a novel of doubt and secrets set in a bleak yet beautiful Swedish landscape."