Iain Reid always writes the weirdest little stories and this one was no exception. I finished it in a single sitting, and I'm already excited to read it again.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-copy.

After the death of her long-term partner, Penny is all alone in the world. She continues living in the apartment they once shared, her world shrinking smaller and smaller with the perhaps inevitable loss of her mobility as she ages. When she has a fall one day, her landlord Mike sets into motion a plan he assures her that she and her late partner had agreed upon long ago.

Penny has no recollection of arranging to move to Six Cedars, a secluded long-term care facility surrounded by cliff and forest. The staff seems to consist of only two people, confident Shelley and the more furtive Jack. To Penny’s surprise, there are only three other residents. She finds herself drawn to the dapper mathematician Hilbert, even as she finds linguist Ruth far too familiar. And Pete… well, Pete only rouses from his seeming catatonia in order to eat or play the violin, which doesn’t really lend itself to forming meaningful new relationships.

While Penny is disoriented by the move, she does welcome having company again. It’s especially refreshing for her to be surrounded by people who see her as more than the helpmeet and shadow of the charismatic artist she’d spent her life with. Soon, she’s inspired to take up painting again herself, finding an unexpected late in life contentment.

But then strange things start happening to her. Everyone at Six Cedars feels a little too intimate, both with her and with each other, and Shelley’s preoccupation with biology soon begins to feel sinister. Unnerved, Penny asks Jack:

QUOTE
“But why am I hearing noises I’ve never heard before?”

“Because you were alone before.”

“And now?” I ask.

“And now we live here together. The headphones will help. That’s exactly what they’re for. You’ll be able to paint and focus for as long as you want.”

“Those headphones will help with how I feel?”

“They’ll help with the sounds you’re hearing. It’s an old house. Thin walls. It took you a long time to get used to the creaky floors, too, Penny.”

A long time? I just got here.
END QUOTE

With time slipping away from her, Penny’s fear and paranoia begin to escalate as she wonders if something nefarious is being done to loosen her grip on reality. Shelley and Jack are quick to reassure her that everything is fine, but look to be at odds themselves. As the terror of losing both her freedom and her sanity descend, Penny must search for allies and a way out of the nightmare that’s slowly taking over what’s left of her life.

The most poignant part of this psychological thriller, that also serves as a powerful metaphor for aging, is how cognizant Penny is of what she’s losing even as she’s fighting so hard against what seems to be inevitable. Contemporary mystery novels are (awesomely) filled with spry elderly characters solving crimes and dispensing acerbic advice: rarer are the books written from the viewpoint of elderly victims trying to keep coherent their unraveling senses of identity. What’s worse for Penny is that Six Cedars felt like a second chance for her. Even before she arrived, she had looked back on her life – one in which she essentially sacrificed her own career and feelings for her partner’s – with regret:

QUOTE
It’s sad how I live. Isn’t clarity supposed to come with age and experience? If I had more time, I could make changes. I could learn more. I could work more, paint more. Knowing I could have been a better, more accomplished painter, but now it’s too late. It all comes down to not having enough time. I wish I could go back.
END QUOTE

Six Cedars does initially offer Penny the time and space she needs to pursue her own passions again. But as the days go by, her desires begin to commingle with her reality in a pressure cooker of anxiety that Iain Reid deftly, heartbreakingly conveys with spare prose that both welcomes and rewards re-reading.

We Spread is beautifully written, with a haunting tension that leads to its ambivalent ending. It treads into speculative fiction territory the further Penny stumbles through the nightmare of Six Cedars, but never quite commits to being anything besides a moving, often terrifying meditation on what it means to age.

That was., well, something... It's a hard one to describe and you won't know if it's for you until you start to read it. And even then you still may not be sure. I know I'm not making a lot of sense, but honestly I have no idea how to describe the experience of this book. Much of the writing is absolutely phenomenal. It is lyrical and lovely and evocative and disturbing. Ditto the story. At least, what I take it to have meant. And that's where things start to get confusing - I'm really not entirely sure what I read although I enjoyed the experience of it.

I was not familiar with the author before this book but was intrigued by the descriptions and the reviews so decided to give it a go. It's very short and reads very fast. The writing is excellent and there are about 10,000 possible interpretations of it - much like one of the paintings Penny describes throughout the course of the narrative - but I don't really know what to make of any of them.. (To be fair, that is much the reaction I have to abstract modern painting also.)

On the whole I enjoyed it. It's quite evocative, with a tension pervading the pages that is palpable. I'm intrigued by the meandering and obtuse wat the author presented the story, and will pick up another title of his to see if that is indicative of his writing style or unique to this book.

I feel like this story started out so strong. We meet Penny, a woman living out her final days in an apartment full of stuff, but empty of life. After a fall, she is moved to an assisted living facility which she’s told she picked out with her late partner, a gifted an enigmatic painter. Penny’s own painting has stopped as she ages and loses the passion she once felt. But the house she’s living in seems to have a life of its own. The caretaker is odd, and Penny begins to worry that something sinister is happening to her and the other residents. How can she take back the life she thought she was ready to give up? And does she have time?

I was completely engrossed in Penny’s inner life and loved being an internal witness to the vagueries of old age. This is a perspective we rarely get to see in fiction, and I loved it. The eery reality of the facility became more and more tense and I was looking forward to finding out more about the possible underbelly of the place with our heroine.

However, this part of the narrative fell off abruptly and with too little exploration, as if the author simply ran out of steam. The ending was relatively satisfying, but that gaping hole in the climax was disappointing.

Well written, but ultimately a bit shallow.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my free copy. These opinions are my own.

Thanks to Netgalley and Gallery Books for the ARC of this!

This was so creepy and engaging, I read this in one sitting and couldn’t put it down. I find the concept of memory loss to be uniquely terrifying, and this played strongly on that, as the main character’s memory and sense of time slip away.

I love a book that has me constantly at the edge of my seat, and Iain Reid nails that feeling in We Spread.

Penny, an elderly woman whose longtime partner passed away, lives in an apartment by herself until she has a fall. Deemed unsuitable to live alone, she moves into a remote assisted living facility that was arranged by her partner years earlier. She doesn't have any recollection of this. Confused by the circumstances but still curious, Penny makes the best of her new situation. She rediscovers past activities she disregarded in her advanced age - painting, chatting with people her own age, and eating a full meal.

All seems well at first, but things quickly start feeling off. Is her memory slipping? Is she being paranoid? Or is there something more sinister happening in her new home?

The haunting atmosphere of this book made me excited to learn how events would unravel. The aging process is already a terrifying prospect. When you add in an untrustworthy caretaker that infantilizes you and an old house in the middle of nowhere, it creates a story that's truly ominous and unexpected.

Similar to the writer's earlier book, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, there's uncertainty at the end that allows the reader to fill in the blanks. Sometimes I wish I had all the answers, but I enjoyed the ride enough to read it in one day.

I think We Spread is one of those books that's best enjoyed with little context so I'm not going to say much. Our narrator Penny is an aging artist who has recently found herself at a unique long-term care residence, but she's unsure whether she's found a utopia or something more sinister.

I've read all of Iain Reid's novels, <i>We Spread</i> being his third. His writing style is uniquely enchanting: suspenseful, mysterious, dark, and dream like. I always feel as though I'm stumbling about his stories, confused, but captivated, alert for any hints for where we'll end up, confident in Reid's ability to guide me on our journey. This is probably my least favorite of Reid's books, but I still thought it a brilliant and consuming read.

I loved this but it did hit a bit hard. We are all aging every day and it is one thing we cannot escape. Six Cedars was terrifying in a subtle way. This is not horror in the usual sense, but it’s definitely horror.

I read the author's previous book I'm Thinking of Ending Things, so going into it I knew that you can't take everything you read at face value. This is a book that captures the anxiety and loneliness of growing old alone. Penny is a widower, living by herself in an apartment she been in for 50 years. After she starts hearing things and then has a bad fall, the building's caretaker Mike, takes her to an assisted living home that her and her partner arranged for before he passed away.

The story is chilling and creepy. It's hard to tell if ominous things are going on at the home or if it's just Penny's memory failing her. The fear of death lingers among everyone there, but for the most part they seem to make the best of their life there. However, Penny constantly feels like the homeowner Shelly is odd and sometimes controlling... but maybe it's just her annoyance of living with these new people?

It's a thought-provoking book that leaves a lot unanswered. It's one of those books that you remember but aren't exactly sure what to think about it after finishing it.

I really loved Iain Reid’s first book, Foe, so I was really excited to read his newest work. This is such a quirky and interesting story. I honestly don’t understand what even happened, but I really enjoyed it. Penny was a fascinating character and there is so much that be taken from this story. It is a commentary on growing old, community, and loneliness.

The feeling you get reading any of Reid's novels is that you just know that something is a little off and We Spread is no exception. I really enjoyed this book but wish the creepiness that I was getting from the beginning of the book world have continued though the story.

The ultimate "what did I just read???" experience. This is the kind of book where I leave with more questions than answers, but that seems to be what Iain Reid does so well. The unsettling atmosphere thoroughout the story was done perfectly and I love the exploration of aging and the ways in which our society devalues the elderly. I would absolutely reccomend this one to fans of the authors previous work.

Recieved the e-arc today and devoured the book in a matter of hours on my couch during this lovely workbreak Covid has given me. While not as a mind bending as Reid's first novel, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, it still messes with the mind quite nicely, and leaves us asking ourselves what in the fuck did we just read?!?

Turning his attention to the elderly, he pokes a finger at some of our biggest fears - what happens when we start to outlive our loved ones? Who can we trust to look after us, care for us, do right by us? And what happens when we can no longer trust our own memories?

Apparently, Penny's longtime partner set her up for this exact situation, preparing a home for her at Six Cedars - a very small, very isolated retirement community that she doesn't recall discussing with him - in the event that he dies, which he has, and she's no longer able to care for herself on her own, which her landlord Mike believes after she takes a spill off a chair and gives him a scare.

Though Penny is moved into Six Cedars against her will, she quickly acclimates to the kindness of others, until things start seeming just a little bit... off. The owner Shelley and the sole staff member Jack talk to her as though she's been there a while, reminding her of things she's told them that she has no memory of sharing, and she swears she's only been there a few days. Mornings and evenings seem to pass interchangably, the other residents are starting to act strange... and Penny is determined to figure out what the heck is happening to them all.

This book reminded me so much of a movie I watched not too long ago with my husband, called The Manor, where an elderly woman is sent to a rehabilitation center and quickly determines some evil activies are taking place... only here, in We Spread, we don't really get the answers Penny is seeking. And I think we're kind of ok with it?

I don’t know how I feel about this. It dragged a lot for such a short book. I loved I’m Thinking of Ending Things and Foe. This one not so much. The mystery wasn’t much of a mystery but it did make you think about what it might be like as you get older.

Penny is left alone after the death of her long time partner. Surrounded by his things and the memories they made together she goes through her daily routine until she has an accident. Penny is unable to take care of herself after the fall and is moved to an assisted living facility. She is informed these arrangements were made years prior by her partner. Penny does not remember this arrangement.

Penny acclimates to her new surroundings despite the various strange occurrences. She becomes friends with a resident who was a former math teacher. They bond over shared experiences and Penny becomes so comfortable with her new friend she decides to dust off her paint brushes and paint his portrait. They make a pact to watch each others backs.

Penny’s memory is not what it used to be. She increasingly has gaps in her memory and can’t figure out if it’s a normal part of aging or if something more is going on. Penny is labeled paranoid as she believes she’s being watched and has no concept of time. As the story winds to a close you being to wonder as the reader is Penny going through the normal stages of aging or is something more sinister happening?

We Spread is available September 27, 2022.

Thank you to Netgalley and Gallery Books for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

a haunting and surprisingly beautiful exploration of age and what it means to die in peace…it’s best to go into this relatively blind but if you enjoyed Reid’s other books (especially Foe) you’ll probably like this one as well!

Penny, an aging artist who has been living on her own for years, finds it getting harder to keep track of things and do for herself. After taking a bad fall, her landlord Mike takes her to a place called Six Cedars Residence. There she meets Shelley who tells her that she and her partner picked Six Cedars together several years ago for the time when it was no longer viable for them to continue to live at home. Penny remembers nothing about it, but figures Shelley would have no reason to lie.

She settles into her new rooms, meets the other three residents, and Jack, a young man who helps Shelley run the place. There is a daily routine that she becomes accustomed to, but the longer she is there, the more things just don't seem right. Are her questions and fears due to her aging mind, or is there something more devious taking place?

Reid captures a myriad of issues associated with aging (loss of personal agency, mental and physical decline, isolation, anxiety, depression, loss of independence, societal invisibility, and a loss of voice among them) and blends them into a finely plotted and executed dark tale. An excellant read!

My thanks to Gallery/Scout Press for allowing me to read an e-ARC of this novel via NetGalley. It is scheduled for publication 9/27/22. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and are freely given.

Iain Reid does it again with introducing isolation in to We Spread just like he did with his previous two novels. He takes the concept of aging and makes it incredibly claustrophobic.
The main character Penny finds herself in an exclusive nursing facility thriving in her new environment. Soon she becomes suspicious of the other residents and suspecting that things are not as they seem. She loses time and memories, (one of my biggest fears and one of the reasons I take lots of pictures)
Reid’s story telling weaves social commentary in short compelling chapters. Some topics hit close to home so I felt more attached to the characters.

If you’re a fan of physiological suspense, horror fiction this one is for you.


Thank you NetGalley / Scout Press for an e-ARC

Iain Reid will always impress me with his writing, his imagination, and his unique crafting of stories. They're made up of multiple threads woven together to make the most fascinating books that are difficult to put down and easy to get lost in.

We Spread is no different. The page count is just over 300 but it doesn't feel like that at all. Reid doesn't water down his words with scene setting or an overabundance of descriptions, so what you're left with are short sections that move the story along at a rapid pace.

There's always some sort of lesson or theme in each of Reid's books, which I think are left open to interpretation and for the reader to pick out. For me, it was the monotony of adulthood and getting stuck in the endless loop of work, home, bed, repeat. This is the thing that makes us old, that forces us to lose sight of the world and forget things over time. It's not just the passing of years. If you're not making new and lasting memories, the ones you have will slowly fade away and leave you with...nothing.

Reading this book and attaching onto that concept really messed with me. It also made me realize that I need to do different things throughout my days so that I don't get stagnant. I've read both of Reid's previous two novels, but for some reason this one affected me a bit differently. He captured the idea of loneliness, of paranoia, and the fear of aging so brilliantly that it felt more human, more honest, than the other two.

Iain Reid's books require more than one read in order to fully digest everything. Once you know the twists, reading through a second time is a very different experience. I can't wait to let We Spread settle in my stomach before going in for another taste.

Written in the quirky style Reid is known for, We Spread follows Penny as she traverses life both before and inside life at an assisted living home. But Penny is losing time, or at least, others are telling her she is. But she's not quite sure it's due to aging or even the dreaded Alzheimer's. While she is making friends amongst the other few residents, something is happening at Six Cedars, and she wants to get to the bottom of it.

Reid captures Penny perfectly. From being scared to the eery atmosphere of unknowing, we take a leisurely, sometimes frightening walk in Penny's shoes. One of the biggest problems facing the elderly is utter isolation, where people sometimes face days, weeks, or months entirely alone. Without companionship or human touch, it's a heartbreaking place to be. Reid captures that loneliness so well in Penny, who alternates between enjoying being pampered and thinking it's too much. Readers are in for a treat with this one. Thank you, Gallery Books, for sending this along.

Between this book and I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Iain Reid has proven that he has a great ability to make me feel uncomfortable and claustrophobic. I think this is also the first time I’ve read a horror book through perspective of a very elderly woman so that was a cool new experience.

We Spread follows Penny, a 92-year-old artist who is living in an apartment surrounded by the remnants of her and her deceased partner’s life together. As her health declines, Penny is transported to a long-term care facility, which she supposedly picked out with her life partner before he passed. “Supposedly” because she does not remember this at all, but as she gets settled into the facility, she quickly comes out of her shell and realizes why they would have chosen this particular facility.

Penny even begins painting and socializing again. She’s finally getting the care that was so long neglected after her partner’s death. She’s no longer slowly withering away. But shortly after arriving, Penny starts to lose her grip on time in the facility as they never go outdoors. All the days start to blend together and there is so much Penny can’t remember. She starts to wonder if it’s really her old age or if there’s something more sinister going on.

Honestly, I’m a fan of Iain Reid. I know a there were a lot of mixed feelings about ITOET, but I was absolutely transfixed from start to end of that book. I loved how weird and quirky the writing was, how uncomfortable the conversations were. I even loved the ending.

While this book pulled me in similarly and certainly held my attention throughout, this book is significantly more philosophical and leans heavily on vagueness rather than absurdity to build tension. I finished the book days ago and I’m still not sure what to make of it. I found it to be a suffocating vision of growing old, but somehow endearing at the same time.

That being said, this leans a little too far into the ambiguity to the extent that I don’t fully get the ending even after thinking about it for a while. Looking at other reviews, it seems that a lot of other readers felt similarly, but the haunting prose of the book was enough to make up for the, “wait, what” ending. Unfortunately, while I think Reid is a stellar writer, this one didn’t quite do it for me outside of being a realistic and uncomfortable viewpoint of the paranoia and loneliness of aging.

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery/Scout Press for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.