Deven Greene
Medical Crime Fiction
She comes home to mourn her father. She stays to uncover the shocking truth.
When college student Berry returns to her family’s small Southern California farm after her father’s sudden death, she believes she’s coming home to grieve and reassure her mother that she’ll soon be back for good to run the farm. She is eager to bring new life to the failing farm through modernization and sound financial management after receiving her degree in agricultural economics.
It doesn’t take long for Berry’s plans to collapse. Upon her arrival home, she is shocked to discover her mother just sold the farm to a foreign-owned agribusiness, Happy Sun Farm, which has been taking over all the small farms in the area. Her father had resisted pressure to sell his land to them while he was alive.
As she delves into the company’s campaign of coercing farm sales, Berry suspects they may have been responsible for her father’s death. She learns that Happy Sun Farm is far from a happy place. Their strange farming practice of removing healthy, productive crops, doesn’t make sense to her. The secrecy surrounding the farm leaves many questions unanswered, especially after unexplained deaths surface.
With help from law enforcement not forthcoming, Berry sets out to explore what she can, but soon finds her own life in danger. Not knowing whom she can trust, she uncovers a diabolical plan of mass proportions no one could have imagined.
Readers' Favorite Review
In Happy Sun Farm: Behind the Facade by Deven Greene, Berry had planned to move back home permanently after graduation to help her parents with their small Southern California farm, but now she has to return early. Her father just died of a heart attack. Once home, Berry learns from a friend that a large Chinese agricultural conglomerate, Happy Sun Farm, is buying the farms one by one. Unfortunately, she soon discovers that her mother has also sold their farm. Heartbroken and in shock, Berry begins to suspect that something sinister is afoot, and she must stay to uncover it. She knows her father would never have sold the farm if he were alive. Yet the more she learns about Happy Sun Farm, the more she believes that they played a role in his death and that they have a diabolical plan in action.
Happy Sun Farm: Behind the Facade by Deven Greene is the perfect thriller, featuring a high-stakes murder mystery and characters you hope will make it to the end. As the clever, persevering protagonist seeks to uncover the truth surrounding Happy Sun Farm and its interest in taking over the farms in the area, the reader is taken on a journey of non-stop suspense, intrigue, twists, and a touch of romance they won't expect. It's so well-written and intense that I got lost in it for hours without even realizing it. I haven't read a thriller so brilliant, creepy, and compelling in years. If you enjoy mysteries and thrillers, be sure to set aside at least three hours before starting to read this page-turner.
Indies Today Review
An unputdownable read packed with realism and high-stakes intrigue.
Happy Sun Farm: Behind the Facade by Deven Greene is a gripping rural thriller grounded in corporate intrigue, grief, and personal reckoning. Readers are invited into the world of college student Berry, who returns to her Southern California farm following her father’s unexpected death, hoping to mourn, support her mother, and prepare to take over the family land. But her hopes are quickly dashed when she begins to uncover disturbing truths: her father had resisted selling the farm to a massive agribusiness, Happy Sun Farm, which now seems intent on consuming the region one property at a time. Berry investigates further, only to uncover inconsistencies in the official story of her father’s death. And then there are the strange, possibly unethical farming practices that are going on behind closed doors. Stonewalled by authorities and facing a tightening net of danger, Berry is ready to risk everything to expose a conspiracy that’s much bigger and darker than she could ever have expected.
Deven Greene has crafted a deeply engaging story that readers are sure to feel immediately connected to, and a huge part of that is down to Berry, a protagonist who is refreshingly capable, intelligent, and emotionally grounded. As the journey unfolds, the emotional weight of Berry’s grief is handled with nuance and credibility. There is a confident but gentle sense of empathy that pervades the narrative with relatable moments that never overwhelm the reader in a way that might derail the story. The pacing is also as tightly controlled as the plot, with suspense mounting organically in quiet moments, while Greene creates atmosphere as even sunlit fields hide creeping dread, keeping you on edge at every turn. Her depiction of farming life and agribusiness feels authentic and thoroughly researched, with appropriate levels of detail and context to make the industry interesting and relevant to the story. The author taps into broader themes of corporate exploitation without losing narrative focus, allowing the mystery to unfold in compelling layers, each one more disturbing than the last as we learn more about this world and how ruthless the people in it can truly be. I was also impressed by the dialogue work in the novel, which is naturally penned and reveals character depth with efficiency, while the novel presents a strong feminist perspective without preachiness. Happy Sun Farm is an unputdownable read packed with realism and high-stakes intrigue.