Iain Reid

A taut, psychological mind-bender from the bestselling author of I’m Thinking of Ending Things. We don’t get visitors. Not out here. We never have. In Iain Reid’s second haunting, philosophical puzzle of a novel, set in the near-future, Junior and Henrietta live a comfortable, solitary life on their farm, far from the city lights, but in close quarters with each other. One day, a stranger from the city arrives with alarming news: Junior has been randomly selected to travel far away from the farm...very far away. The most unusual part? Arrangements have already been made so that when he leaves, Henrietta won't have a chance to miss him, because she won't be left alone—not even for a moment. Henrietta will have company. Familiar company. Told in Reid’s sharp and evocative style, Foe examines the nature of domestic relationships, self-determination, and what it means to be (or not to be) a person. An eerily entrancing page-turner, it churns with unease and suspense from the first words to its shocking finale.

A Novel

plantdad

"But I'm not talking about giving up when things are hard. I'm talking about forced survival when things are rotten."

When things are rotten, I repeat in my mind.

The privilege of being human is that our brains are big enough to decide the fate of other creatures.

Sybil

I’ve become more aware of myself. Because of the situation. Now that I know I’m leaving, I see things differently. I’ve been aware of little things that I would’ve missed before.

Like seeing the sun shine off the roof of our old barn. I saw that this morning and stood there, looking at it. I found it moving. It was beautiful—it really was. I don’t usually think about if a landscape is beautiful or not, but I couldn’t control this feeling. I saw it and recognized that it was beautiful. But you know what? It made me sad.

“Sad?” I can hear him typing. He’s trying to do it quietly, but I can hear. “Why?”

say. It’s the opposite. Beauty isn’t fleeting. Beauty is eternal. But…I’m not. I’m fleeting. That’s more the point.

“I had a nightmare last night,” she says several minutes later. “It felt so real. This one was especially bad. I was terrified right from the start. I knew it was a dream. I was lucid dreaming, I could do whatever I wanted, I could control it, supposedly. But that didn’t make it any better. I was in this big room. I could see all the walls, I was aware of its size, but I also knew the space went on forever. The space was limitless, but I couldn’t go anywhere else.”

“And the worst part—I want you to understand this—I wasn’t alone. That’s the worst part: I wasn’t alone.”

There are so many things, Hen, so many things—objects, stuff, and so many people. Just think about the canola fields and all those flowers and everything living in there. The grain at the mill. And think about the city and everything there, the stores and apartments and vehicles. Think about all the screens people have. For almost everything, any object you can think of, there are too many. There’s only one you, and it’s miraculous. 

“Why do people stay together?” she asks a few minutes later.

Because they love each other, I say. They’re committed to each other. They depend on each other. There’s comfort there, security.

“No. They stay together because it’s expected, because it’s what they know. They try to make it work, to endure it, and end up living under some kind of spiritual anesthetic. They go on, but they are numb. And the more I think about, the more I think there’s nothing worse than to live your life this way. Detached, but abiding. It’s immoral.”

I’m not numb, I think. I’m not detached.

Marriage is hard, I say. Living with another person for years takes work and effort. You can’t just give up when things are hard.

“I know you think what you’re saying makes sense. And it might in theory. But I’m not talking about giving up when things are hard. I’m talking about forced survival when things are rotten.”

What if it never comes? The storm. The rain. We act like it has to come, like it’s inevitable because it has always come before, but what if a storm doesn’t come this time and things just keep going on and on like this forever? What then? I’m not sure I can keep going on and on like this, even though I’m supposed to. I don’t think I can.

I’m going to tell you something: It’s not really for me. Did you know that? I don’t play for myself. I play because…because you want me to. I play for you. You like my playing. And like so many things, you think it’s good for me, but it isn’t. It doesn’t help me feel better. I don’t even like sitting down here. And you can be completely oblivious about this kind of thing, whether you realize it or not. There are so many instances when I’ve expected you to understand how I’m feeling, and it just doesn’t happen. It’s so discouraging, draining. It’s like as long as we’re here, moving from day to day, you’re convinced that I’m happy. Honestly, I rarely feel happy. And I don’t want to have to tell you everything. I shouldn’t have to. Not if you’re paying attention, even just a bit, considering me in a way that’s not just superficial. I want my own identity separate from being your wife. It’s just how it should be.

Doesn’t life have to be determined by each individual, and be involved to be legitimate? Doesn’t there have to be an element of challenge and progression?

I know you so well. I really do. Things have changed over the course of our relationship. We’ve both changed. You probably feel the same about me. Change in relationships is normal. But, even as things changed for us, after we got married and moved here, I still feel like I know you so well. I know you better than ever. I think that’s part of the problem. When you start a relationship, you just have to go all in, and it’s based on a mix of hope and belief that you do know who you’re marrying and what it’s going to be like. But you can’t really know how it will work out. Not until you live it. At some point the hope turns into constancy and comprehension and then repetition. It’s so…severe. The predictability of everything we’ve done. It’s become the new truth for us. Which for me isn’t comforting. It’s the opposite. You have these traits, a way of being that’s fundamental to you, and it can be exhausting. I wonder if that’s just an inherent part of who you are or if it’s part of us in this relationship. And maybe I shouldn’t be sensitive about this, or even wonder if it’s unique to our relationship. I know you think you’re being nice when you say that you don’t know what you’d be without me, but I feel like I’m not here only to help you feel secure in your life, or to offer you support so you can then do whatever it is you want to do. I don’t know if you understand any of this, but I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. Sometimes I feel drained. Sometimes I feel trapped.

The thought of ever going somewhere new is scary, but isn’t it good to scare yourself from time to time? It’s so easy to get stuck in your own narrow rut. We convince ourselves they’re paths to something else, contentment, but really they’re just ruts going on forever.

Despair is never satisfied on its own. Despair does not want to be alone. Despair wants company.

My youth was unremarkable, unmemorable. We all occupy a social district, and I had my place: middling, undistinguished, irrelevant. I was the physical embodiment of the numerical mean.

Habitual, comfortable activity is the worst kind of prison, because the bars are concealed.

How many people live day to day in a kind of haze, moving from one thing to the next without ever feeling anything? Being busy without ever being absorbed or excited or renewed?

Are some things meant to be, meant to happen? There are some things we can’t explain. Some call it fate. Maybe that’s okay. Maybe we don’t have to know more than that. Maybe the orbit we inhabit is preordained. I’m okay with it even if I don’t really believe in that kind of thing. You can hold beliefs and not always believe in them.

That’s what time does. It ushers a return to equilibrium. Unease becomes ease. A shock, no matter how potent, always wears off with time.

'Reads like a house on fire' - the extraordinary new novel by Iain Reid, the acclaimed author of I'm Thinking of Ending Things You think you know everything about your life. Long-married couple Junior and Henrietta live a quiet, solitary life on their farm, where they work at the local feed mill and raise chickens. Their lives are simple, straightforward, uncomplicated. Until everything you think you know collapses. Until the day a stranger arrives at their door with alarming news: Junior has been chosen to take an extraordinary journey, a journey across both time and distance, while Hen remains at home. Junior will be gone for years. But Hen won't be left alone. Who can you trust if you can't even trust yourself? As the time for his departure draws nearer, Junior finds himself questioning everything about his life - even whether it's really his life at all. An eerily entrancing page-turner, Foe churns with unease and suspense from the first words to its shocking finale. Perfect for fans of Humans, Westworld and Black Mirror, Foe is a book you will never forget. *** Praise for FOE *** 'I couldn't put it down. It infected my dreams. A creepy and brilliant book' Zoe Whittall, author of The Best Kind of People 'From the opening page, you'll have an uneasy feeling as you settle into Iain Reid's brilliant new novel.. A masterful and breathtakingly unique read. I can't stop thinking about it ' Amy Stuart, author of 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 unknown 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 'Movie producers are simply confirming what the literary community already knows: Iain Reid just might be the most exciting and excitingly unclassifiable author working in Canadian fiction today' - The Globe and Mail (Canada) 'Foe reads like a house on fire, and is almost impossible not to finish in one sitting...an otherworldly hothouse of introversion and fantasy' - The Toronto Star

Tina ok

isn’t it good to scare yourself from time to time? It’s so easy to get stuck in your own narrow rut. We convince ourselves they’re paths to something else, contentment, but really they’re just ruts going on forever.

Walking is nonverbal communication. Like I can tell if [she's] mad by her footsteps. Walking isn't as overt as other signals, like the way someone smells, their voice, their laugh, their facial expressions. Steps can be frivolous, but they're often distinct from person to person. Familiarity grows over time, slowly, inadvertently. I never tried to get to know her walk deliberately. This stuff happens unwittingly... Living with someone can't be simulated or rehearsed. It has to be experienced, in real time. There is no substitute for shared involvement, for creating actual memories. Like, I know how [she] blows her nose. I've never thought about it until now, but I do. I know the cadence, the rhythm. She does it in the same tempo every time. These observations - her footsteps, how she blows her nose - they're like little secrets.

the second book from iain reid — more slow paced than his first to really set the scene, a bit of a lull during the middle but really picks up in the last 40 pages or so

love the plot twist/s 🫡 would definitely recommend his first book (i'm thinking of ending things)

the second book from iain reid — more slow paced than his first to really set the scene, a bit of a lull during the middle but really picks up in the last 40 pages or so

love the plot twist/s 🫡 would definitely recommend his first book (i'm thinking of ending things)

Jasmine Ghartey

we love short chapters over here 👏🏾 

the plot twist was really good but I was so bored in the middle. definitely want to pick up his first book though

'Reads like a house on fire' - the extraordinary new novel by Iain Reid, the acclaimed author of I’m Thinking of Ending Things You think you know everything about your life. Long-married couple Junior and Henrietta live a quiet, solitary life on their farm, where they work at the local feed mill and raise chickens. Their lives are simple, straightforward, uncomplicated. Until everything you think you know collapses. Until the day a stranger arrives at their door with alarming news: Junior has been chosen to take an extraordinary journey, a journey across both time and distance, while Hen remains at home. Junior will be gone for years. But Hen won't be left alone. Who can you trust if you can't even trust yourself? As the time for his departure draws nearer, Junior finds himself questioning everything about his life - even whether it's really his life at all. An eerily entrancing page-turner, Foe churns with unease and suspense from the first words to its shocking finale. Perfect for fans of Humans, Westworld and Black Mirror, Foe is a book you will never forget. *** Praise for FOE *** ‘I couldn’t put it down. It infected my dreams. A creepy and brilliant book’ Zoe Whittall, author of The Best Kind of People 'The narrative is so eerie and disturbing… fuelling the reader’s unease; Reid pulls off a wonderful twist in the tail’ Guardian ‘From the opening page, you’ll have an uneasy feeling as you settle into Iain Reid’s brilliant new novel.. A masterful and breathtakingly unique read. I can’t stop thinking about it ‘ Amy Stuart, author of 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 unknown 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 ‘Movie producers are simply confirming what the literary community already knows: Iain Reid just might be the most exciting and excitingly unclassifiable author working in Canadian fiction today’ - The Globe and Mail (Canada) ‘Foe reads like a house on fire, and is almost impossible not to finish in one sitting...an otherworldly hothouse of introversion and fantasy’ – The Toronto Star

azliana aziz

the titular foe is most definitely the burden of expectations, whether external or internal, to our own self. a microscopic look at the inside workings of a relationship.

A masterful, tension filled work. Reid is a little too talented when it comes to creating eerie, ominous atmospheres for his readers. I went into this playing detective and figured out the twist pretty quickly but that didn’t hinder my enjoyment of experiencing this story. Foe still had plenty of surprises in store and left me with many questions and even more theories. 

Grace M

Savannah Ostrowski

“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 A taut, psychological mind-bender from the bestselling author of I’m Thinking of Ending Things. We don’t get visitors. Not out here. We never have. In Iain Reid’s second haunting, philosophical puzzle of a novel, set in the near-future, Junior and Henrietta live a comfortable, solitary life on their farm, far from the city lights, but in close quarters with each other. One day, a stranger from the city arrives with alarming news: Junior has been randomly selected to travel far away from the farm...very far away. The most unusual part? Arrangements have already been made so that when he leaves, Henrietta won’t have a chance to miss him, because she won't be left alone—not even for a moment. Henrietta will have company. Familiar company. Told in Reid’s sharp and evocative style, Foe examines the nature of domestic relationships, self-determination, and what it means to be (or not to be) a person. An eerily entrancing page-turner, it churns with unease and suspense from the first words to its shocking finale.

aisha

this book is so damn good and smart, it managed to trick 90% of its readers. reid never misses, truly.

sin h.

sophia n

i wish i hadn't guessed how this would end halfway through. it really took a lot of the tension out of it, and in general i think this whole story was missing an edge of tension i expected from it, and honestly kept waiting for. the concept was really interesting and i liked a lot of parts, the scenes were really vivid and i felt a lot of the character's emotional beats, but it was just missing the bite for me. still i probably will always pick up stuff iain reid writes, he is so good at throwing you into the head of a unreliable narrator and keeping you in that grip, and i have to give him props for that.

Amr Khater 

How well do you know yourself? How well do you know anyone?
Are you really you?!

Bonita

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up! Super interesting premise & I loved the writing style of this one!

Aditi

(3.5 out of 5 stars) 

This started out good but slowed down about halfway through and didn't pick up again until the very end. There was a sense of unease present throughout the book which kept my interest. I think it could've done without 50 or so pages because I'd already guessed the ending and was waiting for the mc to catch up.

A taut, psychological mind-bender from the bestselling author of I’m Thinking of Ending Things. We don’t get visitors. Not out here. We never have. Junior and Hen are a quiet married couple. They live a comfortable, solitary life on their farm, far from the city lights, but in close quarters with each other. One day, a stranger from the city arrives with surprising news: Junior has been randomly selected to travel far away from the farm...very far away. The most unusual part? Arrangements have already been made so that when he leaves, Hen won’t have a chance to miss him at all, because she won’t be left alone—not even for a moment. Hen will have company. Familiar company. Foe examines the nature of domestic relationships, self-determination, and what it means to be (or not to be) a person. An eerily entrancing page-turner, it churns with unease and suspense from the first words to its shocking finale.

I like how Ian Reid construct conversations. It doesn’t feel natural, it sounded like having conversations inside your head but it doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy it. It’s great that it’s a short book with a simple to catch premise and hook. It actually makes you think more about one of the character when it ended. A nice weekend read.

Nate

Lauren Tabor

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I loved that it was a quick read, I think if it was any longer it would have been a snooze fest. A major flaw with this book that I found out AFTER reading it, is that grammar is a SUPER big plot point in this book and I listened to the audiobook so I think I missed important details in this. I came to the end not understanding it at all. oops. I had to look up many reviews and find spoiler-y discussions to get what happened. 
I think overall the idea of this was great but my first shortcoming with this is that I do not enjoy books that have anything to do with space (couldn't tell you why), and that is the main idea that is talked about especially at the beginning, so that was strike number one against it though in the end it shouldn't have affected my rating at all. 
I think I subconsciously/kind of consciously figured out plot twist #1 so when it happened I didn't feel this huge shock. Then when I got to the end I absolutely had no idea what I had just listened to and had to listen to the ending again to see if I missed something. I do enjoy the "what the heck just happened" feeling a book can leave me feeling. But this one I genuinely felt like I had missed something important so I was just confused. 
I was going back and forth between a 3 and a 4 star rating for this one because it made me want to keep reading, it had me on the edge of my seat wondering how it was going to come together in the end and I think the twist was really good, and the ending made me question everything, but then on the other hand some parts were kind of boring, I felt nothing for the characters by the end, and they were such boring people, plus I missed out on some important elements the physical book provided which the audiobook did not which led to utter confusion at the end. I think I am going to stick with my 3 star rating. I will probably read everything Iain Reid has to offer though because his books are so weird and I'm Thinking of Ending Things left me feeling a weird type of way that I loved and this one was weird too, just a little lack-luster in my opinion. 

***SPOILERS***

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I'm not sure how much of a spoiler this actually is, but I felt that Junior and Hen both had zero personality. There was nothing that had me rooting for either one of them and also there was nothing that made me believe that they were actually in love. And even the 'relationship' between the fake Junior and Hen felt so off. (I mean obviously it was very off since it wasn't actually Junior, I know that). I guess that's what I really didn't understand....that Hen started feeling bad for the other Junior, but yet when he was there I never saw anything between them to make me see that Hen had any types of feelings towards him except that she didn't like him at all. It never even seemed like she liked the real Junior at all. The whole thing was weird. And then Terrance?? I don't know, that whole book just gave me weird vibes. Sometimes in a good way and sometimes in a confused way. That's why I don't really know how to feel about this in the end because I like Iain Reid's writing and his way of making things feel weird. His books make me feel trippy.

Sarah Crouse

“That’s what time does. It ushers a return to equilibrium. Unease becomes ease. A shock, no matter how potent, always wears off with time.” 

This book... wow.

I loved every second of this book, I really did. It had the same unease as I'm Thinking of Ending Things, but it's a bit more predictable. I knew exactly what was happening from the beginning (especially thanks to the brilliant use, or non-use, of punctuation). That being said, I still enjoyed every second of it. 

Although it was predictable, I DID NOT predict that last, final twist. 

As always, Iain Reid had some truly amazing quotes I absolutely loved. 

 “But isn’t it good to scare yourself from time to time? It’s so easy to get stuck in your own narrow rut. We convince ourselves they’re paths to something else, contentment, but really they’re just ruts going on forever.” 

“Ordinary is impossible. It’s more realistic to believe that we are all exceptional, that I, too, am singular, unique, that there has never been nor ever will be another me.” 

Foe truly dives into what it means to be a human, and what separates us from... other. The world building was great. There was no 'telling' how it is, and you pieced together how the world is throughout the book. 

This was a quick, great read that I would highly recommend. However, if you're expecting the same INTENSE gripping ending as I'm Thinking of Ending Things, you may be disappointed.

Fellowes Cynthia

I just love this author!!! First I read I'm Thinking of Ending Things and then Foe. I think he is amazing. I would recommend knowing as little as possible about both of these before you read them. I'm Thinking of Ending Things is a movie on Netflix, but I didn't care for it that much.

I think that Ian Reid is an absolutely amazing author!!! WOW!!! I adored this book as I also loved I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS. What an imagination!!! He has the ability to take you on a ride to someplace you never dreamed you were heading toward!!! I highly recommend his books, but I understand that they might not be everyone's cup of tea. 

This book is about a married couple who are surprised by the arrival of a stranger who tells them things about their future that will change their life.

That's all I will say. 

I personally prefer not to know a lot about the plots of books that I read.

daisy

the twist was really good, but i like im thinking of ending things better than this one.

Thea

**2.5 stars??? Maybe??

See, I really wanted to like this book, but I saw the twist(s) coming way too early and after that it just got a bit too repetitive🥲

Also there were so many details that I assumed meant something for the story (as in hints or symbols or anything), like the chickens and Hen, the beetles etc, but he just never explained any of them ??

Marlena Lang

This book was such an interesting read. It was very thought provoking and the twist ending I did not see coming. Very enjoyable!

Lennox Johnson 

This was such a head trip, and a different kind from I’m Thinking Of Ending things. A criticism I’ve seen of Foe is that the twist is predictable. Is it? Perhaps. Could I have seen it coming? Maybe. Probably, yeah, if I’d stopped to try and figure it out. 

The thing about predictable twists like that, though- it doesn’t automatically equate “badly written story”. A predictable twist is only the kiss of death when you’re so bored by what you’re reading that you actively pull yourself out of the story to try and pick it out. Yeah, I could have seen that twist coming, only I was so busy enjoying the story as it unfolded, and stewing in the creepy atmosphere, that it never even occurred to me to care.

The biggest thing I can say in favour of Foe is that I enjoyed a book that could technically fall under the Sci-fi umbrella. Sci-fi and I don’t really get along. It doesn’t hold my interest. I can do with elements of science fiction in a story firmly rooted in a different genre, but just straight sci-fi [especially if it has to do with space exploration]… I’ve tried. It’s just not a fit. Foe had the perfect amount of sci-fi for me to feel those elements were enhancing the basic plot, instead of making me zone out. 

Predictable or not, when that twist came, I was still dumbfounded, and it truly was a thrill. I was so satisfied with Foe. It’s left me eager to read Reid’s upcoming novel, We Spread… just like I’m Thinking Of Ending things made me trip over myself to order Foe.

Jordan Robinson

3.5⭐ 
Enjoyable and different. However, I enjoyed his first novel more.

Hannah E

This reminded me so much of a Black Mirror episode.

Casie Blevins

3.5 Kind of predictable. Interesting, but weird. A tad nonsensical.

Emma Myers

This book was pretty predictable. I was pretty disappointed l. After reading "I'm thinking about ending things" i feel this book drops the mark. I really missed the perplexity of the first book. It didn't provoke the same need to think about it over and over. Didn't give me the need to read it again. Its a good one time read.

Foe A Novel

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