Craig Davidson (aka Nick Cutter)
Here are some near-certainties about I’m Thinking of Ending Things. Number One: You’re going to read it fast. Over the course of an afternoon or an evening. The momentum is unstoppable—once you start, you won’t be able to stop. And Two: once you race to the end and understand the significance of those final pages, you won’t be able to stop thinking about I’m Thinking of Ending Things. It will find a spot in your heart and head and it will live there—for days, weeks, months, or (in my case) the rest of your life. Yes. It really is that good.
The Maine Edge - Allen Adams
[Foe] is a thought-provoking thriller, the sort of book whose secrets hover just beneath the surface awaiting discovery.
Scott Smith
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.
Canadian Living
Touching on themes of love, isolation, mental illness and fear, this is a terrifying and totally engrossing psychological thriller.
LIZ NUGENT
I’m not sure that humans have hackles, but something was creeping up my spine as I read this book, and I welcomed the shivers of shock and delight. A mind-bending and genre-defying work of genius.
The Walrus
An existential whodunit.
Larry King
"I'm Thinking of Ending Things is haunting me long long after I've read it."
Zoe Whittall
I couldn’t put it down. It infected my dreams. A creepy and brilliant book.
Amy Stuart
From the opening page, you’ll have an uneasy feeling as you settle in to Iain’s Reid’s brilliant new novel, Foe. . . . A masterful and breathtakingly unique read. I can’t stop thinking about it.
Heather O'Neill
An addictive metaphysical investigation into the nature of identity, one which seduces and horrifies in equal measure. Reid masterfully explores the perversity of loneliness and somehow also creates a very entertaining thriller. I found myself yelling at the characters to put their feet on the pedal and drive.
Literary Review of Canada
“Foe . . . [is] one of the most unsettling novels of the year.
Booklist (starred review)
Reid is at it again, exploiting readers with plot twists, narrative unease, and explosive conclusions in his second novel . . . [he] has the rare ability to make readers both uncomfortable and engaged, and this drama will surely send them back to the beginning pages to track the clues he left to the surprise ending.
Nathan Ripley
Reid draws his suspense from the same places where we find it in our lives: not knowing what's going to happen next, not truly knowing the people we love, and not even really knowing ourselves.
Claudia Dey
"Spare, consuming, unforgettable. Foe is a dark arrow from a truly original mind. Page by eerie page, Iain Reid pulls the known 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."
The Columbus Dispatch - Margaret Quamme
Reid is expert at evoking a sense of dread from the most ordinary objects and experiences. . . . A subtly disturbing horror novel, Foe lets the questions it raises hover, unresolved, in the reader’s mind.
Maclean's
Reid has written a superbly crafted psychological thriller, with forays into the metaphysical, which promises to keep you up at night on both counts.
Charlie Kaufman
Praise for I'm Thinking of Ending Things
“An ingeniously twisted nightmare road trip through the fragile psyches of two young lovers. My kind of fun!
Los Angeles Review of Books
Reid is a master storyteller with a knack for absorbing prose. Most of the action takes place in the microcosm of the couple’s house, but Reid writes about the relationship so well that it becomes a universe full of questions and possibilities.”
Vancouver Sun
As a reader, it’s impossible to tell if you’re reading a horror story, a love story, or even perhaps a vampire story. This is a genre-twisting novel, and one that is delightfully confusing. It’s smart and it will keep readers guessing until the very end.
The Globe and Mail
An unnerving exploration of identity, regret and longing. Delightfully frightening.
Chicago Tribune
The boldest and most original literary thriller to appear in some time. . . . In addition to Cronenberg, the ghost of Stephen King hovers over these pages.
Toronto Star
Praise for Foe
“Foe reads like a house on fire, and is almost impossible not to finish in one sitting...an otherworldly hothouse of introversion and fantasy.”
From the Publisher
"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
“Reid is a master storyteller with a knack for absorbing prose. Most of the action takes place in the microcosm of the couple’s house, but Reid writes about the relationship so well that it becomes a universe full of questions and possibilities.” –Los Angeles Review of Books
"Reid is remarkable for delivering hypnotic, twisty plots and taut prose in a short novel." –New York Journal of Books
"Reid builds to a deeply unsettling climax. As much a surgical dissection of what makes a marriage as an expertly paced, sparsely detailed psychological thriller, this is one to read with the lights on." –Kirkus Reviews
"Reid proves once again that he is a master of atmosphere and suspense. Readers won’t be able to put this one down." –Publishers Weekly
“Reid is at it again, exploiting readers with plot twists, narrative unease, and explosive conclusions in his second novel... [he] has the rare ability to make readers both uncomfortable and engaged, and this drama will surely send them back to the beginning pages to track the clues he left to the surprise ending.” –Booklist (starred review)
"An ingenious work of psychological horror, Foe will disturb and shock you with its eerie blend of existential dread and atmospheric thriller." –Book Riot
“Such an ambitious work risks being muddied. Reid, however, brilliantly executes his vision... With Foe, Reid has written a page-turning novel that will entertain you and have you questioning the very foundation of your existence at the exact same time.” –BookPage
"I couldn’t put it down. It infected my dreams. A creepy and brilliant book." –Zoe Whittall, Giller shortlisted author of The Best Kind of People
"From the opening page, you’ll have an uneasy feeling as you settle in to Iain’s Reid’s brilliant new novel, Foe.... A masterful and breathtakingly unique read. I can’t stop thinking about it.” –Amy Stuart, author of the #1 bestseller 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 known 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
"I’m not sure that humans have hackles, but something was creeping up my spine as I read this book, and I welcomed the shivers of shock and delight.... A mind-bending and genre-defying work of genius." –Liz Nugent, author of Unraveling Oliver and Lying in Wait
Booklist
Reid is at it again, exploiting readers with plot twists, narrative unease, and explosive conclusions in his second novel . . . [he] has the rare ability to make readers both uncomfortable and engaged, and this drama will surely send them back to the beginning pages to track the clues he left to the surprise ending.
Chicago Tribune
The boldest and most original literary thriller to appear in some time. . . . In addition to Cronenberg, the ghost of Stephen King hovers over these pages.
Booklist
Reid is at it again, exploiting readers with plot twists, narrative unease, and explosive conclusions in his second novel . . . [he] has the rare ability to make readers both uncomfortable and engaged, and this drama will surely send them back to the beginning pages to track the clues he left to the surprise ending.
Chatelaine
Reid’s first novel, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, is being adapted for film by Charlie Kaufman, and rights have already been snapped up for Foe. . . . And it’s easy to see why; it’s a strange and affecting story about a couple who live on an isolated farm, which makes it all even more disturbing when a visitor arrives with a proposal that’s about to change their lives.
