I have never really dabbled in crime or thriller fiction before. I started The Shining by Stephen King, and freaky though it was, for some reason or another, I never got to the end (nothing against Stephen King, if anything, it might just have been 1) the fact that it's a HUGE book and 2) it gave me nightmares). I certainly didn't have that problem with The Insect Farm. The plot is so brilliantly strange, that it kept me eagerly reading as fast as possible so I could find out what happens.
Two brothers, Jonathan and Roger each have an obsession; for Jonathan it is his talented and beautiful girlfriend, Harriet. For Roger, it is the ecosystem of butterflies, beetles and creepy crawlies that he has collected which inhabit the shed at the bottom of the garden. Tragedy strikes in the family, leaving Jonathan to look after Roger on his own. However the circumstances of the tragedy are curious, and Jonathan is left to try and understand what really went on. The story tells the tale of how far we go to protect those we love.
I was gripped from the very beginning of this novel. It starts: "If you have been lucky enough to be able to tell the truth for most of your life, you probably cannot imagine how exhausting it is to spend forever living a lie". I love this line as an opening sentence because right away it forces you to reflect and look inwards. In some ways I think the way it does this to start with, then allows us to almost understand how the strange and horrifying events which subsequently occur could actually really happen.
For me, as the plot unfolded, I was more and more horrified at the uncovered truth, but it is like looking at something really foul but being too intrigued and mystified to look away. I had to carry on reading!
Buy The Insect Farm by Stuart Prebble from Amazon
Published by Alma Books
This was 5/5 for me!! Let me know what you think!
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