The Farm

By: Tom Rob Smith

Narrated by: James Langton, Suzanne Toren

Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

The new international bestseller from the author of phenomenal Child 44 trilogy...

The Farm

If you refuse to believe me, I will no longer consider you my son.

Daniel believed that his parents were enjoying a peaceful retirement on a remote farm in Sweden. But with a single phone call, everything changes.

Your mother...she's not well, his father tells him. She's been imagining things - terrible, terrible things. She's had a psychotic breakdown, and been committed to a mental hospital.

Before Daniel can board a plane to Sweden, his mother calls: Everything that man has told you is a lie. I'm not mad... I need the police... Meet me at Heathrow.

Caught between his parents, and unsure of who to believe or trust, Daniel becomes his mother's unwilling judge and jury as she tells him an urgent tale of secrets, of lies, of a crime and a conspiracy that implicates his own father.

©2014 Julia Dahl (P)2014 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"His mastery of suspense will make any reader's heart pound." ( Financial Times)

Good commuter listen/sad story

What did you like best about The Farm? What did you like least?

I liked the main character's relationship with Mia. The book was an easy listen/read. I enjoyed Suzanne's voice more than James' though he did a fine job.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I assumed early on that was the likely outcome.

Have you listened to any of James Langton and Suzanne Toren ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Have not

Do you think The Farm needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No, the story has been told.

Any additional comments?

I think the author brought up some issues that need to be addressed. I've known people like the main character. The acts perpetrated on her are life altering. Overall, it was sad. Her story is real. If you read it, know that it's not an exaggeration. This happens to real people. Can't say more without adding spoilers.

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wow it has been awile since I had a book that caused me to drive home very slowly . suspensrful...excellent narration.

A good listen

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes but it a little thin on plot. The details at times are very rich and interesting. The story is unique

Excellent Story

This was a complete joy to listen to. Excellent narrative and wonderful story. Highly recommend listening.

What is really going on?

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. I never really figured out who was telling the truth, or what the truth really was. I liked the setting and the characters.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The son. He was trying so hard to be fair to both of his parents. It is hard to know what to think when people you love are saying different things and both seem crazy.

Which character – as performed by James Langton and Suzanne Toren – was your favorite?

I loved the son. And also the role of the mom.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I really liked it all the way through.

Any additional comments?

Some of the locals were particularly unappealing. They just seemed unreal. Still, if they were in some kind of cult, I would imagine that it could actually happen. I have seen parents make really bad decisions late in life and how surprising it can be for grown kids. I think the book was believable.

Great read!!

This was a great read. The story was interesting and the performance was very good.

No Child 44

Had high hopes having just finished the brilliant Child 44. This was a huge letdown.

good plot twist

good plot twist at the end but slow to get there overall. still worth a listen!

Bring on the Crazy...

I made it to the end, is about all I can say. Thanks to a recommendation from a source I can usually trust, (Books on the Nightstand) I tried this book. There are a lot of twists and turns, all of which are incredibly predictable. And there is no subtext - everything is text. In case you miss some of the subtext, the author restates it on several occasions.

The readers capture the earnestness of the prose with breathless pronouncements. It's not their fault - the author wrote it this way. I kept thinking to myself, "Is she really that crazy?" , "Is he really that gullible"? Yes, yes they are.

I won't spoil it for you...though it's really hard to spoil. You'll see the ending coming a mile away.

Clever narration, unusual story

After hearing about this audio book on the Books on the Nightstand podcast and knowing that Smith’s Child 44 books received high praise, I decided to check it out. First I have to talk about the two-person narration. It’s really effective and I think that’s because of the way it was done - it’s not a straightforward narration where each person has a set piece of the story, instead it’s interwoven together as mother and son have conversations. Each has large sections of text, but then they come together when Daniel asks a question and mom answers.

Anyway, it’s no secret that Tilde is a classic unreliable narrator. Her use of emotional blackmail is calculated and unattractive. She’s also a classic paranoid personality and her story is wild and crazy, but you wonder if it doesn’t have a kernel of truth. As a reader, you know it must, but where does the kernel lie? In which part of her story? Just don’t be in a hurry to find out. The pace is slow and because Tilde tells the story in the present, we know she survives to get to Daniel, and that takes some of the dread out of the story. A few of the current time scenes made up for that though. The ending, while totally conventional, explained her actions satisfactorily enough.

Smith’s execution is good, but a few things bugged me. Both mother and son make very stupid decisions which they tell you they made and wish they hadn’t. They also regret certain actions and second guess themselves a lot. When they tell you these things, it’s supposed to ratchet up the tension, but it was also faintly ridiculous and that worked against the intent. It’s laid on a bit thick.

Overall though, it’s engaging and different enough to make for a good story. Diverting and creepy with a touch of the villagers with pitchforks thing going on.