Foe by Iain Reid -- Kirkus Review

Foe by Iain Reid is a melancholic story of a young couple who must face the question, “Can I be replaced in a marriage?” 

Junior and Henrietta are a young couple living in the countryside and leading a quiet rural life. When a man pulls into the driveway in the middle of the night in a black car, they suspect trouble. The man, Terrance, tells Junior that he has been specially selected to be sent into space for a progressive expedition – creating living bases on planets previously thought uninhabitable. The couple is told that Henrietta will be kept company by someone very familiar while Junior is away. As Junior prepares to leave for the expedition, he notices Henrietta is withdrawn and fidgety. He had always assumed that this rural life was what she wanted, but the closer to leaving he gets, the more strained the couple becomes. As the tension grows, Terrance is sent to live with them and interview them extensively in order to gather data for the program. Junior begins to question just who exactly will be living with his wife while he is gone – will it be this agent? The near-future setting is disorienting at times to understand, and Junior’s thoughts regarding his wife (“This is what she says she wants,” “this is how it has always been with Hen”) often become repetitive. Reid’s prose is intimate and draws the reader into close proximity to Junior, the narrator’s, mind: “The arguing is over now. Stasis has set in, and I’m fine with that. The quiet is not so bad. I’ll always take silence over bickering and shouting. Neither of us has the energy for that anymore. Hen has her ups and downs, but who doesn’t? Nobody’s perfect. And no relationship is perfect” (Reid, 2018, p. 249). Readers form a bond with Junior, getting to see the thought process he goes through during the breakdown of his marriage.

The climax that Reid so meticulously builds up will leave readers feeling satisfied yet heartbroken. This existential love story is a thrilling must-read.