Irony of Travel
Although the unreliable narrator Adam believes he is on a risky, long-distance road trip by bicycle, in reality he is riding around and around the grounds of a mental institution.
Irony of Assistance
Brint, the "psychotherapist" who questions Adam at length about his parents and about Mr. Grey's connection to their deaths, appears to be trying to help him. Although Adam is initially suspicious of him, and suppresses his feelings of fear and mistrust to cooperate with his questioning, ironically Brint turns out to not be a therapist at all: he is with a sinister version of the Witness Protection Program, and recommends Adam's execution.
Irony of Paranoia
Adam spends most of the novel convinced that bad people are out to get him. By the time the author discovers that Adam is a deeply disturbed young man confined to a psychiatric hospital, it also starts to become evident that his "paranoia" has a strong basis in fact. Indeed, the supposedly insane young man has a perfectly sound grasp of the situation and of the danger that faces him.
Irony of Precautions
Adam's mother Louise, who refuses to change her first name and who insists on making regular phone calls to her sister despite the risk, takes fewer precautions than her husband. Her husband and father have both changed their first names and they are now known as the Farmer family. However despite the precautions the family is frequently betrayed by somebody close to them, who -- it is suggested -- turns out to be Mr. Grey, the agent responsible for protecting them.
Irony of a Name
The name Farmer, which suggests rugged self-reliance, does not suit Adam's family. His father is an insurance salesman (the name might be associated with the large, reputable, and well established Farmer's insurance company). Formerly, he was a journalist. Neither of these occupations have any relationship with raising crops.
People in the Witness Protection Program (WPP) have at least a little bit of say as to what their names and identities are, and the real WPP makes a genuine effort to place people in occupations and locations where they are far from physical danger and have a reasonably good chance to make an honest living. The discrepancy between the actual mission of the WPP and the events and people described in the book suggest that Adam's father lied about the WPP, the reason why the family had to disappear, and exactly who wants to catch and kill them.
