Horror Fiction: Foe by Iain Reid

Both horror and science fiction are two categories I always struggle to find books that I am interested in, so with today's selection, I went for a little of both. Iain Reid's Foe takes place in a not so distant future, where humanity is getting ready for its first settlement away from planet Earth. However, the actual action of the story never takes place in space, and has everything to do with how people relate to each other on our own planet.

The Situation: Junior and Henrietta, or Hen, live a quiet life in an unnamed city. And when I say quiet, I am not just using the word as an idle descriptor. Junior and Hen live away from the city, away from people, on a plot of land where they rarely get any visitors, until one day they do. When Terrance shows up as a representative of OuterMore, a company that is working on setting up a habitat for human beings somewhere far away from Earth, the quiet life that Junior and Hen have built themselves shifts. Even before it is a guarantee that Junior will be selected for the first phase of the "transition," his and Hen's relationship is altered, causing her to be distant and anxious, and him simply wishing things would stay as they were before Terrance showed up. And when it becomes certain that Junior will be leaving, the couple receives the news that Hen will not be left alone in the house.

The Problem: Junior did not sign up to be part of the project, but there does not seem to be any getting out of it. After his departure becomes a guarantee, Terrance returns to the house to begin preparing. And while the work is being done to prepare Junior for his trip, there is even more focus on preparing his replacement. His identical replacement. OuterMore will be supplying Hen with what they assure the couple will be an exact replica of Junior. Technology has advanced far enough to where artificial humans can look, act, and even think and feel like real human beings. Naturally, Junior is not exactly okay with the idea, and neither is Hen, but again,  they do not have a choice. And as Terrance's tests and interviews, as well as his presence, become more intrusive, Junior gets more suspicious and paranoid that things are not as the OuterMore employee says. Why is Hen acting so strange? What does Terrance need to talk with her alone so much? Why does anything have to change?

Genre, Themes, History: This is a book I have designated as horror, but has also been designated by others as science fiction, or even thriller/suspense. Set in an unknown city and in a year not mentioned, it is a time when self-driving cars dominate the road, people spend more time on their tablets than anything else, most farmland has been taken by big corporations, and human beings moving to outer space has become a reality. That is most of the science fiction stuff. The horror comes into play the moment Terrance first shows up, because with him comes an immediate sense of unease and tension, a sense that something is not right and could in fact prove to be dangerous. Add in Terrance's announcement that Hen will be left with an exact replica of her husband once the real Junior leaves, and things get turned up a bit. The only thing more unsettling to Junior than Terrance's presence is Hen's behavior and reactions to everything that has happened. This is not the Hen he knows, and he desperately wants it to be.

My Verdict: This book is more fascinating than it is scary. Yes, it is tense and suspenseful, and Terrance's presence and methods made me uneasy. But ultimately, I just really wanted to know what was going to happen, and if Junior's suspicions were going to be unfounded. With only three real characters throughout the story, Reid managed to make all three if them incredibly interesting, while keeping Junior just clueless enough to where the reader would not be sure if his worries were unfounded or not. It would be easy for the almost constant setting of the house that Junior and Hen share together to become stale or boring, but Reid pulls it off, instead making the setting almost like a fourth character. I would not necessarily recommend this book as a horror title, or even science fiction. But it is certainly a study in human behavior and relationships.

Favorite Moment: When Hen confronts Junior with the truth behind why she plays the piano. 

Favorite Character: It is hard to get at Hen's true character when everything is being told through Junior's point of view, but that may be the point. 

Recommended Reading: Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty is a different sort of science fiction/suspense novel, instead taking place in the space between planets as opposed to here on Earth.