Helpful Score: 1
This is a clear departure from his Stalin era crime novels. In The Farm, Daniel receives a call from his father informing him that his mother has been having psychotic episodes, is imagining things, and could turn violent. While he is still reeling from this information, Daniel gets a call from his Mom warning Daniel that his father is lying, that she has evidence his father is involved in a heinous criminal cover up and is trying to silence her. Having his idyllic notion of family shattered, Daniel must try to make sense of allegations about parents he doesn't recognize. The layers of the story are peeled away piece by piece a deliberative manner. This would have been a compelling psychological mystery on its on but the revelation by Smith that this novel is based on actual events in his family made the novel even more fascinating.
