WOW WOW WOW. What did I just read! I read this in one single sitting and was gripped from start to finish. If we are lucky enough, old age is coming for all of us. A blessing and also a terrifying reality. Our main character has newly moved into a home for the elderly. Is she losing her grasp on reality or is something more sinister at play? This work of philosphical suspense got under my skin and is still there. We Spread is an unsettling reflection on the terror that comes with the mundane, the fragility, and the monotony that can be end of life. This would be a perfect book club selection.

Penny, an elderly artist who never finished anything, is uniquely relatable almost immediately. Loneliness and regret plague her but not to the cost of her independence and identity, which are challenged when she’s admitted into a care home. I loved the sparse prose, the quick pace, and the exploration of control and meaning in old age (and in general.)

Each time I read something of Iain’s I always feel so haunted. They pick apart culture’s deepest fears and get to the tiniest of horrors. This look on aging and even the way we treat our elderly near the end is so scary and refreshing.

3.5/5 stars. This book was haunting, but not because it was traditionally spooky; because of the stark realities of aging and the harsh, spare first person descriptions of what the process is like. The pure loneliness, the sadness, the confusion, and the influx of living through memories, plus the strange situation at the elite 4-person old age home she ends up at. Is she losing time due to memory issues, or is it something more? Reminiscent of "Requiem for a Dream," in the elements of sad loneliness.

Wow, this story was filled with deep conversations, propulsive writing, and the kind of mystery and "WHAT IS HAPPENING?!" that we all expect from an Iain Reid novel. I devoured this in a couple of sittings and think if you love philosophical conversations and fiction that falls a little on the weird side, you should pick this one up!

A short but wise book drawing the reader into the world of an elderly widow without a safety net except for arrangements made by her partner prior to his death for her to live out her days in a quiet, caring, forest surrounded home. Assuming Iain Reid does not have dementia (or how could he write such compelling books) - he nails the experience and attends to details most of us would gloss over or simply not see. The book will - and should - shake you. Those caring for the elderly directly - or considering moving someone into a care facility - should consider carefully whether this is a good time to read this (trigger warning)

I was a big fan of Iain Reid’s 2016 debut 𝘐’𝘮 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. It was a little strange at the start and 𝖉𝖆𝖓𝖌 𝖘𝖈𝖆𝖗𝖞 by the end! (In fact, if you’re looking for 𝖊𝖊𝖗𝖎𝖊 𝕺𝖈𝖙𝖔𝖇𝖊𝖗 books, add it to your TBR.) His next book, 𝘍𝘰𝘦, wasn’t quite as scary, but equally well done and also frightening, but more in a sci-fi sort of way. Based on those two books, I was really excited to read his newest book, 𝗪𝗘 𝗦𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗. Unfortunately, this slim book turned out to be the one that didn’t work as well for me.⁣
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The story centers on Penny, an elderly artist who has lived alone for a very long time and after a fall finds herself in a “very special” assisted living facility. Nothing there is quite as it seems and Penny grows more and more confused…as did I. The publisher’s blurb ends by saying “...𝘐𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘙𝘦𝘪𝘥’𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘳𝘦-𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘳𝘵, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺, 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘭𝘥.” I use that direct quote because I never could have come up with it on my own. I can see that all those elements were contained in his story, but I didn’t truly feel like they were explored. For me, it was more like they were all tangled in a knot that I didn’t even want to try to untie!⁣ (Rounded up from 2.5 stars)
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Thanks to @gallerybooks for an ARC of #WeSpread, which releases today.

Iain Reid has a gift for writing the most compelling stories that leave you wondering what you’ve just read.

In We Spread, we are introduced to Penny. Penny lives alone in her house surrounded by memories of a life lived with her dead partner. Everything is a memory and Penny’s memories are fading.

After a fall, Penny is placed in a long term care facility. Apparently it all been arranged many years ago by her partner, so that if he was not around, Penny would have someone to take care of her.

The first thing Penny notices is that it is a very unique care facility, with only 3 other residents. At first, Penny is lulled by how easy it is to sleep, how nice it is to have food placed in front of you to eat and how enjoyable it is to talk and carry on conversations with people.

But then she starts wondering about things. Her memory is fading and at times it feels like she is losing her grasp with reality. Is something going on at the care facility? Are they there for a reason? Are they really trying to help her?

This book really makes you feel what Penny is going through. What old age can feel like. How you could easily doubt yourself. Perhaps it resonated with me even more because of my age, knowing that this stage of life is coming up fast. Beautiful, sparse writing, and the perfect length. I received an ARC of the book.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Gallery Books/Scout Press for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest novel by Iain Reid - 5 stars!

Penny lives by herself after her long-time partner died and has surrounded herself with the trappings of their lives, both artists. She begins getting paranoid and hearing things from surrounding apartments, so after a fall, plans that her partner had set up before his death were put into motion. Penny was swept away by the building landlord and taken to a long-term care residence. Initially she thrives being with people her own age and being cared for, but soon begins wondering if something is wrong at the home.

I loved this book - it is creepy, suspenseful, and so beautifully written so that you will question things along with Penny. It will make you think about things that we don't like to think about - aging, death, the human need for purpose, contact, touch, art, beauty. Since as a society we don't seem to treasure our elderly like we should, this is a book that will make you pause. Old age comes to the lucky and death comes to all. Highly recommended!

Iain Reid always has a way of creating quiet and intense stories that leave you feeling a growing sense of unease. Reid’s latest effort, We Spread, is no exception!

Penny spent decades of her life with her lover, a fellow artist, in the same apartment. Little did Penny know that her partner, who has since passed away, has made provisions for her to have a room in a long-term care residence when the time comes.
As old age creeps in, Penny spends her days in the apartment surrounded by the art she’s made throughout her life, rarely leaving. When a particularly concerning incident happens, Penny has no choice but to move in to the unique residence she didn’t know a thing about. Her trepidation soon turns to happiness as she finds herself sleeping soundly, eating well, and having wonderful conversations with peers — she’s even painting again! But as the passage of time seems to strangely warp, Penny is beginning to distrust the facility.
Is Penny succumbing to time/aging …or is something far more sinister happening in her care residence?

This short novel packs a huge punch of compassion as it explores the uncertainty of relationships and aging with Reid’s trademark spare writing that lends itself to the growing dread that something is not quite right.

Thanks to Gallery/Scout Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. We Spread was released September 27, 2022.

First off, thank you so much to #Netgalley, the publisher and especially the author for this ARC!

I love this author, I loved I'm thinking of ending things. This book was no exception… it’s as atmospheric and creepy as ever. I would say to go in as blind as you can because his books are best read like that but know you won’t be disappointed!

I'm not exactly sure what I thought of this, but I think it's best to go in without expectation. The story is very well written and you'll feel uncomfortable. Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery/Source Press.

I’ve always had a really good relationship with the older people in my life. When I was a child, I got along better with my grandma and great aunts better than I got along with my cousins. I used to go to the local convalescent hospital and visit with elderly patients who had no one to visit them. When I was a teenager I’d rather spend the day with my grandma than my mom, because I was way more like my grandma than I was my mom. So you would think I wouldn’t mind the idea of aging. After all, I’d been around it all my life. You’d be wrong. I don’t fear death one bit. But aging? Aging is something that scares the beejesus out of me. The slow, inexorable loss of everything you were and everything you had until there is nothing left but the days waiting for the end. No thanks. Do not want.

Yet aging isn’t what’s so scary and insidious when it comes to “We Spread”. It’s memory and time; or, rather, the lack of both and the way it can be messed with and we would never know it once our minds start to close certain pathways down in order to conserve power so we can live just that much longer. I may not even be 50 yet, but some of this is deeply familiar to me, since I have a form of epilepsy where I lose chunks of time. At its worst, I lost months at a time. My greatest fear was (and still is) that someone in my life will gaslight me and start telling me I did things and just start telling me, “Oh, you just don’t remember.” Can you imagine? Not having enough control over your memories that someone could tell you something and because of your memory you believe them because you trust them? (Yes, I have major trust issues.)

This book is, in a way, deeply touching in the way it practically begs us to look at the elderly not as a group, but as individual people who still have something to give to the world. Not people who should just be put into a home and forgotten, but people who still have stories to tell, wisdom to spread, beauty to show, affection to give, and memories to share (even when they’re fragmented). The elderly aren’t to be dismissed or underestimated. They are still people with hearts and minds. It’s a lesson most of the western world has forgotten.

The way in which Reid chooses to put a big, red pin on this issue is by setting this book inside a private long-term residence care home, where there are only four elderly residents: two females, two males, and all four have very distinctive areas of specialty. A musician. A mathematician. A linguist. An artist. A holistic education for any young mind. But these minds aren’t young. Their caregiver is obsessed with keeping them productive, making sure they eat, making sure they’re clean, making sure they sleep. Normally, these would all be the hallmarks of the very best kind of caregiver, if it didn’t come with hefty doses of gaslighting (but is it?), undercurrents of malice (or are we imagining it?), casual dismissals of patient concerns, the mistreatment of other patients (or have we just forgotten what happened to them?).

The prose is beautiful even when sad or reflective. It’s downright striking when the scenes are awkward, malevolent, or downright frightening.

What was the most surprising thing about this book for me is how fast it moves. I was reading a 250 page book yesterday and it took me all day. I read this book in less than five hours. That’s how engrossing, compelling, and simply fantastic this book is. It’s absolutely a psychological thriller at its finest.

Thanks to NetGalley, Gallery Books, and Scout Press for granting me access to this title in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I read and loved I'm Thinking of Ending Things and was so very excited to read this!

Although much different from his previous books, it still has a great ominous tone; spreading the feeling of a nearing doom, throughout.
I did find this to be somewhat confusing, at times. Maybe that was the point, as you feel as confused as the MC, Penny, as she tries to makes sense of what's happening.

There was a lot that went unanswered-which I didn't mind. Its thought provoking and makes you really wonder - would we really want to live forever?

Iain Reid returns following Foe and I'm Thinking of Ending Things —with his latest and my favorite of the three —WE SPREAD. As with the other two books, a movie adaption and the novel has been acquired by Anonymous Content, with Baig set to direct from a screenplay she will co-write with Reid.

This novel is deeply thought-provoking —a meditation on aging and mortality.

WE SPREAD proposes many questions underneath the exterior of a psychological thriller that comes off more of philosophical suspense and literary thriller, which I am a big fan of.

Penny is a great character. She reminds me a little of Elizabeth Strout's Lucy Barton. She is old and set in her ways (much like myself), and her partner, who was an artist, has died.

Penny is also an artist. A surrealist, unlike her late partner, who painted landscapes. Her choice of artistic mode is deliberate. She did not really show her work professionally, living behind her partner.

She is still living alone in the same apartment all these years. She lives a dull life, thinking someone is watching. She has not been in the mood to paint lately. She also does not really trust the management at the apartment (who does).

She likes living independently, and rather than calling maintenance to help, she stands on a chair to change out a light bulb, falls, and is knocked out while something is/was cooking on the stove. We get to hear her innermost thoughts.

When she comes to, the apartment manager is there and gets her in the car. The destination is her new home which she is totally unaware of. Now, I do not blame Penny, I would not like this. She now is not in control. This is where things get claustrophobic.

The landlord is taking her to Six Cedars Retirement Home, a small Assisted Living or eldercare facility. Her apartment was in the city, and now she is out in the country among a forest of cedar trees. What is going on at this place?

She is told that her partner made the arrangements in advance for her to come here. All is taken care of when she is unable to care for herself. However, she recalls nothing about this.

Are they telling the truth, or is something more sinister going on? his novel is like a mystery/puzzle to be solved.

Upon arrival, she learns her things are in storage, and her other things are here, along with her paintings. The room is nice and completely furnished, and surrounded by woods.

She then learns there are only four residents and two staff in total, including herself. They said they had been waiting for her to round out the four. What is that about?

The staff consists of Shelly, the owner, and Jack, the staff member. Trust me, they hover, are nosy, and controlling, and she has no privacy. They have no locks on the doors to the apartments or the bathroom. You may be asleep, and they are sitting in a chair at the foot of your bed! CREEPY!

Besides Penny, there is Hilbert, a mathematician (whom Penny enjoys talking with and spending time with); Peter, a violinist who sleeps a lot and is not much of a conversationalist; and Ruth, a French-language expert who talks and laughs a lot.

Penny, along with the other residents, has a strict routine. They must go eat at a certain time in the dining room with the other four, and Shelly is always around listening to conversations.

At first, Penny likes talking to other people, and she even begins painting again. The food is good, and the place is pleasant and attentive. They even bathe you and help you with walking, etc. This place may not be so bad... UNTIL

However, soon she realizes Jack, whom she likes, always seems to be hiding something or afraid of Shelly. Shelly is over the top in her thinking, making them work, engage, and have meetings every day, and the big one is that NO one is allowed to go outside. NEVER. No fresh air.

Then strange things start happening, and Penny soon suspects there is definitely something sinister going on. This is where the novel takes a turn toward the paranormal.

Are they ginny pigs or a science project? Shelly cuts their hair and their nails, and then they grow back. Then the IVs. What is in the IVs? Also, what is in the food and the tea? She overhears conversations, and she does not like what she hears. Very disturbing.

Is she going mad, losing her mind, is it aging, dementia, or is it Shelly? If she could only escape, and if she could, what would she do? She must save the others before it is too late.

Lyrical. Evocative. Spine-chilling. Eerie. Unsetting!

I read this in one sitting. I was glued to the pages. I just turned 70 and am single, living in a state far away from my grown sons, so aging, living independent, and worry about the day which will come when I cannot do things for myself, dying with dignity, maintaining control and end of life are all viable concerns.

I think this is why this book resonated with me. Even though it is a thriller, wacky, and crazy, as I mentioned earlier, it is also soulful, meditative, and reflective.

Complex and multi-layered— think Elizabeth Strout meets Dean Koontz and Stephen King with Iain's brilliant signature style.

Iain is a superb writer. He is deep, and his books make you think and make you smarter. You may go back and re-read parts of his books to get the full understanding. I like how each of his books is different, from the janitor (teens), a married couple, to aging.

We all are going to die. Like in the book, some want to extend life, others want to enjoy their life day by day and live as independently as possible, some want solitude, and others want people around.

This book will make a great movie, and excited it was snatched up, which is not surprising. I cannot wait to see how it is played out. If you love thrillers with a strong literary flair, WE SPREAD is it.

There are many lovely metaphors, and you will be googling and researching many more things after reading. An ideal book club pick for further discussions.

I also loved the way the book was laid out with one sentence floating on a page, similar to the way Penny was thinking or feeling. Some may not like the ending, but I did! I think the way you interpret it is up to the reader.

Many thanks to #GalleryBooks and #NetGalley for the opportunity to read a gifted ARC digital copy.

Blog review posted @
www.JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: Sept 27, 2022
Sept 2022 Must-Read Books

WE SPREAD is a complex, multi-layered, vastly engrossing, Novel which centers its hooks in the reader's consciousness without ever letting go. Although the atmosphere, background, and environments are often hazy and subject to misperception and misinterpretation [and Gaslighting], Iain Reed's characters are, as always, as sharply defined as a whetted razor's edge, standing out against their backdrop with immense clarity, weaving their wiles into the reader's empathy and consciousness like trumpet vines. Against a backdrop of loneliness, Art, Music, Mathematics, Aging, Semantics, and Speculative Biology, Iain Reed delivers a novel that is sure to be one of the most outstanding titles of 2022.

I've been waiting basically since the moment I finished Foe for a new novel by Iain Reid, and let me tell you this: We Spread was worth the wait.

After the death of her partner, elderly artist Penny can no longer maintain the apartment where they lived together for decades. She's starting to forget things, she's falling more often, and living alone is no longer safe for her. She moves to an exclusive, isolated assisted living facility, and that's where the story really begins...but it's best to go into this one not knowing too much about the plot, so that's all I'll say.

Like Reid's previous novels, We Spread is a book that asks more questions than it answers, and the answers that the reader is able to glean don't come cheap. Everything in this novel -- from the intimate first person narration, to the sinister setting, to the strange behavior of the characters -- is set up to keep the reader off-balance, and it's so effective. Reading an Iain Reid book is like stumbling around uneasily in the dark and then coming out the other side like, "Ohhh, I see what you did there." I just love his ominous, captivating, thoroughly unique style.

What Reid does so successfully in We Spread is highlight the realities and indignities of aging, and it's incredibly thought-provoking and sobering. His approach to old age, that beast that's waiting for us all, feels both unsettling and compassionate. Through his portrayal of Penny, he explores themes of loneliness, the transitory nature of memory, longevity, and the importance of human connection.

I was in thrall to this narrative from its opening lines to its brilliant, if ambiguous, conclusion, which I think can be interpreted in several ways. Here's hoping we don't have to wait four more years for Reid's next novel.

Just like I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Reid’s newest novel, We Spread, will leave you scratching your head thinking, What did I just read?

From the very beginning, I felt a sense of disorientation, a sense of unease, a sense that every sentence had a layer deeper than one one I was reading. It’s a story both philosophical and darkly horrific, both introspective and deeply unsettling.

This isn’t a psychological thriller. It’s not fast-paced or action-packed. It’s slow-moving, chilling and eerie. It’s genre-bending, leaning more toward literary horror.

We follow Penny, an old woman whose partner has recently died. She starts to experience strange things: hearing people talk in an apartment that is supposed be empty, seeing strangers staring at her across the street. After an accident occurs, Penny goes to stay at a long-term care facility.

And that’s when things start to get really strange.

Amongst the strange and macabre and bizarre, Reid explores themes and ideas in ways I haven’t seen written about before. He writes about old age and the fear of growing older, about the autonomy and independence of the elderly and how that is often taken away, about memory and identity, about art and passion, and discussions around death.

Reid’s dialogue is witty and punchy. His sentences are sparse yet rich and powerful. The plot is meandering and the timeline can be a bit wonky. It’s a story that I will be thinking about for a very long time. I absolutely loved it!

I’d highly recommend this novel if you have enjoyed Reid’s other works, or if you love writing rich in symbolism and you enjoy literary horror.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for a digital arc. My opinions are my own.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)
Pub Date: 9/27
Genre: Horror/Psychological Thriller/Suspense

I recognized Iain Reid as the author of "I'm Thinking of Ending Things" (which I admit I did not read, but rather watched on Netflix ) but it intrigued me enough to request this book on NetGalley. Let's just say I'm glad I did.

"We Spread" is a complex read; one perspective presents a poignant story about the fears of aging, loneliness, loss of independence, vulnerability, dying, etc. while the other feels like an unnerving nightmare, one that the reader cannot wake up from. I found it to be a uniquely moving and equally disturbing reading experience.

Reid's writing style is hypnotic, I could not put this book down. Not much really "happens" in this book, and yet there is SO much going on. The narrative is sparse, yet meaningful, and perfectly captures the feeling of confusion and paranoia one may encounter as they begin to age and lose their sense of identity. I was consumed with Penny’s inner monologue. It was an interesting viewpoint we rarely see in fiction: an aging character fighting to remain coherent and fighting so hard against the inventible. Because of the POV, Penny's reality becomes our reality, it's hard to distinguish what is real or imagined and that is really the horror of it all sets in. This book was definitely thought-provoking and raises questions about fear and death, and the negative impacts of living for a long time.

I chose to interpret the story as one that shows us what is lost when age catches up to us and our minds break down, and how death sets an important ending that makes everything else meaningful.


**Thank you to Iain Reid, Gallery Books and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest review!**

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝘼𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙮, 𝙩𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚, 𝙝𝙮𝙥𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙚, 𝙄𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙍𝙚𝙞𝙙’𝙨 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙧𝙚-𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙨 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙖𝙧𝙩, 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩, 𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮, 𝙞𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬 𝙤𝙡𝙙.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I started this book, this is my first read from Ian Read and it was surprisingly really good.

I’ve heard that this author writes “weird” books and this was definitely on the weird side, but I enjoyed reading it and the writing style was so easy to follow. I felt emerged by the way this story was written and found myself flying through it. I was entertained the whole time and found myself super engaged with the characters and the story.

This story left me asking so many questions and when I finished it I asked myself “WTF did I just read”. It was so weird, but I understood what the author was doing.

Upon finishing it, I found the need to want to re-read it sometime again. I feel like I’ve missed so many important elements from early on, and now knowing how it ended I should pick it back up in the future.

Ian Read has a way of playing mind games with the reader - at least that’s how I felt - and I found myself trying to piece together a puzzle.

I was instantly hooked on the story with the amount of detail and suspense. I felt so many emotions reading about Penny, I felt so attached and wanted to know more about her story. I don’t normally care for characters in mysteries, but I found Penny to be so amusing.

Ian Reid knocked it out of the park with this book, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did - I’m glad I did though! The whole idea behind old age and caregiving was very well introduced. This is definitely a complex and weird book, but if you get emerged in the writing style and story then you’ll really enjoy it. I highly recommend this!

📍 Thank you so much Gallery Books and NetGalley for the e-arc, all thoughts are my own!