Happy Sun Farm: Behind the Façade

by

Deven Greene

Riveting agricultural thriller!

In the final semester of her senior year at Purdue, Strawberry "Berry" Fields looks forward to graduating with a degree in agricultural finance and accounting, and returning to her parents' farm near Bakersfield, California, where she plans to apply her education to improve its operations and, eventually, its profits. However, her father's sudden death has her going home much sooner than planned, where she learns her mother has sold up to the local, foreign corporate farm conglomerate, Happy Sun Farm, a move her father had been completely against. Her mother immediately embarks on a new life, free of the farm, leaving Berry to wrap up all the loose ends of their life in the two weeks before she must vacate her childhood home. As she prepares to bury her father, Berry questions the lack of an investigation into his suspicious death and soon finds herself a target when she shares her concerns with a former childhood acquaintance. Suddenly, Happy Sun Farm's strong-arm tactics appear to be only the tip of the iceberg as to how far they'll go to continue with their plans and in silencing any opposition. 

Happy Sun Farm: Behind the Façade by Deven Greene is a fast-paced and shocking murder mystery combined with a political thriller with an unusual and alarming agricultural storyline. With stories about foreign investments in real estate and large corporate farming operations putting generational farms out of business appearing regularly in the news, this is fertile ground for this thrilling tale, and the plot has a frightening and realistic feel. 

Berry Fields is a genuinely likable protagonist, and I was immediately behind her in her efforts to discover what was going on behind the façade of Happy Sun Farm’s successful image. She is joined by her childhood crush, CJ, as she seeks answers and justice, not only for her father, but also for the many others who've been affected by the mysterious corporate giant. She keeps a pretty cool head while things go squirrelly, and as they encounter the many twists and turns in the plot. Besides the thriller aspect, Berry's story also explores the impact of a war veteran's unchecked PTSD on his mental health and his family, and there is the depiction of an unsuccessful attempted suicide midway through the book, so readers sensitive to these topics should take note. 

With its engaging main characters and page-turner of a story, I recommend HAPPY SUN FARM to readers of mysteries and thrillers. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours.