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The Insect Farm by Stuart Prebble
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The Insect Farm (edition 2015)

by Stuart Prebble (Author)

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807332,907 (3.57)None
When twenty-year-old Jonathan Maguire wakes up in a pool of blood and with a dead body beside him, his shock and grief quickly turn to panic. Being arrested for murder will prevent him from fulfilling the promise he made to his parents - that after their death he would take care of Roger, his mentally handicapped older brother. Roger lives in a strange and complex world of his own creation - populated by millions of tiny insects - his insect farm. As the police move in, it emerges that Roger may know far more than he has revealed...… (more)
Member:barrybaker
Title:The Insect Farm
Authors:Stuart Prebble (Author)
Info:Mulholland Books (2015), 320 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:thriller

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The Insect Farm by Stuart Prebble

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Showing 1-5 of 7 (next | show all)
Got this out the library, got it home, started reading it, finished it about 8 hours later. Great book! ( )
  theBookDevourer211 | Jan 27, 2023 |
I enjoyed reading this book but would not classify it as a psychological thriller. I liked the straight forward writing approach throughout. Was a fast read and one I may pick up again in a few years time. ( )
  BWendt | Dec 3, 2017 |
Review: The Insect Farm by Stuart Prebble. This is a psychological suspense thriller that keeps the reader mystified throughout the book. I thought it was great surprising story to the end. The characters were well developed and justified the crime committed. The only flaw I thought was the writing style was so straight, low-keyed, with an even tone from the characters in the story but perhaps that’s the way the author kept his audience compelled to the subject matter and followed through with keeping all the characters in a subdued behavior. No matter the manner of the writing, as I read, I seemed to not notice anymore, it grew on me because the story was still amazing and it didn’t take anything away from the book. It was still captivating and mysterious. The story began with two brothers, Jonathan and his older brother, Roger who bonded closely as they grew older. Roger was the one that their parents worried about because he had a learning disability. Their concern was who would take care of Roger after they were gone. As the boys grew into men Jonathan was preparing to go away to college with his teenage love, Harriet who would later become a good musician. However, Roger was a real concern to their parents. He grew up interested in the life of insects so his parents let him turn the shed out back of their home into an “Insect Farm”. This kept Roger occupied growing up and continued to keep his interest even as a man. While Jonathan was away at college his parent’s home caught fire and his parents died from inhaling the smoke but they found Roger scrunched down in the back of the shed unharmed. Jonathan now has to leave college and take care of his brother like he told his parents he would do if anything happened to them. However, the love of his life, Harriet will continue college to get her degree in music. They decided to get married before she went back and she would travel once a month to stay a week-end or Holiday with Jonathan and Roger. This is a hardship they both struggled with because someone they knew from home also went to that collage who was obsessed with Harriet, which brought on a jealousy attitude from Jonathan. Meanwhile, with the insurance money from their parents death Jonathan found them another home and Roger was still obsessed with his insects that Jonathan buys him a bigger shed and places it on an allotment close to where they were living. Jonathan is truly caring and loyal to taking care of his brother. Plus, Roger is capable in his own way of caring and being loyal to Jonathan. The story goes on with Jonathan drinking a little to much, Harriet being pressured to leave her husband, Roger going to his day center and telling about his dead cockroaches, the case of the fire still left opened, and than a missing wife for years, Jonathan turning fifty-seven years old still taking care of Roger to the very end of the story that started at the beginning of the book…..great masterminding….. ( )
  Juan-banjo | May 31, 2016 |
Meh. There's not much there there. The limited plot may have been better served as a short story or novella. ( )
  BillieBook | Mar 1, 2016 |
The Insect Farm by Stuart Prebble is another book that proves how important a synopsis is in finding the right audience. When a reader goes into The Insect Farm one might expect a psychological thriller or something of the sort. The description does mention two brothers who are obsessed, what I wish that I knew going in is that the dysfunctional relationships are the mainstay. The murder and suspense take a backseat and only appears towards the end.

There are a lot of pointless scenes that I kept waiting to show purpose, but they never happened. The majority of the book was spent with Jonathan and his annoying girlfriend, and there was less time spent on the equally non important scenes with Roger. There were small amounts of important insight that added to the outcome, and it was only much later in the story that it became more conducive to what I expected based on the synopsis, a thriller...But it was still none too thrilling.

The conclusion felt like an attempt at two big twists, one predictable, and one so out of left field that it wasn't believable. I don't wish to give anything away to those who haven't read it, so I will just ask those who have read the book: What was up with that letter that Jonathan received near the end? Did that seem like any kind of believable? As if!

The Insect Farm, had it been culled of all of the pointless dribble, could have had a Hitchcock feel and would have been better written as a thirty minute television screenplay. Now that would have been worth my time. ( )
  StephLaymon | Jan 26, 2016 |
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Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Stuart Prebbleprimary authorall editionscalculated
Degas, RupertNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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When twenty-year-old Jonathan Maguire wakes up in a pool of blood and with a dead body beside him, his shock and grief quickly turn to panic. Being arrested for murder will prevent him from fulfilling the promise he made to his parents - that after their death he would take care of Roger, his mentally handicapped older brother. Roger lives in a strange and complex world of his own creation - populated by millions of tiny insects - his insect farm. As the police move in, it emerges that Roger may know far more than he has revealed...

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