Child 44

by Tom Rob Smith

Child 44

published	2008 by Hachette
binding	Paperback
isbn
pages	448
description	How do you solve an impossible crime? It is a society that is, officially, a haven for its citizens. Superior to the decadent West, Stalin'...more [close] How do you solve an impossible crime? It is a society that is, officially, a haven for its citizens. Superior to the decadent West, Stalin's Soviet Union strives to be a paradise for its workers, providing for all of their needs: education, health care, security. In exchange, all that is required is their hard work, and their loyalty and faith to the Soviet State. Leo Demidov knows this better than most. A rising, prominent officer in the State Security force, Leo is a former war hero whose only ambition is to serve his country. To defend this workers' paradise--and to guarantee a secure life for his parents, and for his wife, Raisa--Leo has spent his career guarding against threats to the State. Ideological crimes--crimes of thought, crimes of disloyalty, crimes against the revolution--are forcefully suppressed, without question. And then the impossible happens. A different kind of criminal--a murderer--is on the loose, killing at will. At the same time, Leo finds himself demoted and denounced by his enemies, all but sentenced to death. The only way to salvage what remains of his life is to uncover this criminal. But in a society that is officially paradise, it's a crime against the state to suggest that a murderer--much less a serial killer--is in their midst. To save his life and the lives of his family, Leo must confront the vast resources and reach of the security forces with only Raisa remaining at his side, to find and stop a criminal that the State won't admit even exists. [close]
date added	11-10-07 edit book

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Annalisa

Annalisa rated it:

08/15/08

bookshelves: guy-lit, historical-fiction, mystery-thriller

Read in August, 2008

recommends it for: guys

What I enjoyed most about this book was the picture of Stalin's Russia. The sense that the community, the State, is the most important aspect of life and keeping up its image was of upmost importance for citizens. Families, jobs, housing, are all not products of love and enjoyment, but carefully selected accessories in the picture of a perfect life. The success of this utopian socialist society waring against greedy capitalist individuals is more important than individual life. This creates a ne...more

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Zinta

Zinta rated it:

07/17/08

bookshelves: fiction

Read in May, 2008

If it weren't for the Soviet Union and the blood lust of the Russian communists, I would not exist. My parents were World War II refugees, on the run for their lives from Soviet-occupied Latvia. They arrived in the United States at about the same time, immigrants with nothing but what they wore on their backs, with the most skeletal English language skills. Had they not spotted each other across the room of immigrants and felt drawn one to the other, well, that would have been an entirely differ...more If it weren't for the Soviet Union and the blood lust of the Russian communists, I would not exist. My parents were World War II refugees, on the run for their lives from Soviet-occupied Latvia. They arrived in the United States at about the same time, immigrants with nothing but what they wore on their backs, with the most skeletal English language skills. Had they not spotted each other across the room of immigrants and felt drawn one to the other, well, that would have been an entirely different story, and without me in it.

Even so, you won't hear gratitude from me. My existence does not by any measure outweigh the brutalities of Soviet power. A large percentage of the Latvian population was deported, tortured and executed under the communist regime. My life cannot measure up to such suffering of the multitudes. In later years, I traveled several times to the Soviet Union to see for myself this world that had so often been described to me, yet nonetheless remained and remains nearly incomprehensible. The experience of my travels behind the Iron Curtain is a memory that will never leave me. These are the memories and impressions returned to me with the reading of Tom Rob Smith's debut novel, Child 44.

Tom Rob Smith has taken his premise for Child 44 from the true story of Russian serial murderer, Andrei Chikatilo, who murdered over 50 women and children in Russia during the 1980s. Although Smith has set his story in an earlier time period, the 1950s, he has not lost, but only gained levels of intrigue and suspense by choosing the worst years of Soviet oppression. The difference, the author explains, is that in the latter years, someone in open rebellion against the political system might lose an apartment, while in earlier years, it would have meant the loss of life.

The story of Child 44 has the chill of historical and political accuracy. The author is still in his twenties at this writing, yet the combination of his research and already rich life and travel experience have given him the depth of insight required to bring this tale of Soviet horror vividly to life. I had to wonder, in fact, and quite often during my reading, how many readers less aware of Soviet history might construe this as mere fantasy. In too many ways, it is not. The sense of unraveling sanity and logic threaded throughout daily Soviet life is all too real: Black is declared white and white, black. What you see, you are told, is not what you see. What you know is not to be known. Deny everything. And in saving your own life, choose who will die among your loved ones.

Leo Demidov is a key character, the communist detective pursuing the killer who cannot be named. The first insanity is that the Soviet government denies the existence of crime in its so-called utopian state. If life is perfection, why would anyone commit a crime? Crime, they claim, is an outgrowth of a capitalist society. And then, a crime so gruesome as to kill a child, ripping open his belly to expose his insides, stuffing his open mouth with bark and gravel. Yet such dead and tortured children's bodies appear throughout Soviet Russia, and despite the growing threat to his own safety, Demidov is determined to stop the child murderer. He cannot question witnesses, however, when there is no official crime to witness. He cannot conduct investigations when there is no official crime to investigate. To stop these murders, Demidov must become himself a criminal against the state. Such is Stalin's workers' paradise ...

The stakes grow ever higher, as Demidov's loyalty to the state is tested when his wife is accused of being a spy. In spite of her innocence, Demidov is faced with calling the authorities liars by defending his wife--or handing over his innocent wife to be executed but show his loyalty to the state that does no wrong.

A page-turner, indeed, but blood runs even colder when one knows this type of existence was all too real behind the Iron Curtain of the very real Soviet Union. Tom Rob Smith has my respect and admiration for putting into words what makes so little sense to the rational mind. I suggest supplemental reading in the form of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago for the true history of this nightmarish world.

~Zinta Aistars for The Smoking Poet, Summer 2008 Issue ...less

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Maggie

Maggie rated it:

08/04/08

How do you stop a serial killer operating in a State where one of the fundamental pillars is that crime does not exist? Set in Stalin's Soviet Union, Child 44 - part political thriller, part murder mystery, and part horror story - is the gripping exploration of that very question.

Leo Demidov is a high-ranking MGB officer who has dedicated his adult life to rooting out enemies of the State, and in the process is responsible for sending innumerable innocent citizens to the Gulags or marking th...more How do you stop a serial killer operating in a State where one of the fundamental pillars is that crime does not exist? Set in Stalin's Soviet Union, Child 44 - part political thriller, part murder mystery, and part horror story - is the gripping exploration of that very question.

Leo Demidov is a high-ranking MGB officer who has dedicated his adult life to rooting out enemies of the State, and in the process is responsible for sending innumerable innocent citizens to the Gulags or marking them for execution. A loyal member of the Party, it never occurs to Leo that these people may be innocent until one particular arrest and subsequent interrogation causes him to call everything he once believed into question.

With this one crack, the foundation of Leo's life as a rich, powerful and respected State Security Officer begins to crumble. No longer certain of his work, his confidence weakens and all past cases become shadowed in doubt, in particular that of little Arkady Andreev, the son of one of Leo's MGB subordinates, whose mangled, lifeless body had been found discarded along the railroad tracks. Despite eyewitness evidence suggesting the boy was brutally murdered, Leo - working in a system that cannot acknowledge the crime's existence because to do so would suggest an imperfect society - labeled the boy's death an accident.

Leo's paradigm shift also makes him vulnerable to an ambitious enemy in the MGB, a man who manages to undermine Leo's credibility so much that he suffers a severe demotion and is forced to abandon a life of relative luxury in Moscow with his beautiful wife for a hovel in the depressed, rural village of Voualsk. It is here that Leo, now a low-ranking member of the militia, discovers that little Arkady's murder may not be an isolated incident, but rather the work of a very prolific serial killer. Conducting their own secret investigation, Leo and his wife soon discover that as many as 44 children may have fallen victim to a man the State refuses to admit exists. No longer willing to safely toe the company line, the Demidovs set out to find the killer and stop him themselves, despite the fact that doing so makes them political dissidents and prime candidates for the Gulags or worse.

Typically not my thing, I usually pass on political thrillers, but Child 44 was one of those titles that I couldn't seem to escape, so I was naturally curious to see if it was deserving of all the hype. And after tearing through all 400+ pages in a matter of days, I'd say yes, indeed it is. While it's true that Smith's simple prose won't exactly blow your mind, the compelling story he weaves makes for one gripping read. Although a beast in size, it can be tackled fairly quickly, and the entire time I was reading I couldn't help but think it would make for one terrific movie. (Turns out I'm not the only one who thought this. Ridley Scott committed to direct the film before the book was even published.) The novel does have its flaws, however. My enjoyment was lessened by a late twist that felt far too neat considering the complexity of the plot that had unfolded up to that point, and as I've already mentioned Smith's simple sentences are nothing to gush over. But hey - they can't all be high art, people. As far as most literary thrillers go, it's far better than most.

In sum, it may not win any awards, but Child 44 is an incredibly ambitious debut from an author to watch and one terrific read. Highly recommended.

...less

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Ginnie

Ginnie rated it:

(review of isbn 1847371272)

05/26/08

bookshelves: mystery-detective

The heroes of most thrillers are damaged men with tragic pasts; they tend to feel guilty about a dead wife or estranged child, or they chew themselves up inside over some doomed innocent they failed to protect. These aren't bad guys, however -- quite the opposite. They are knights in slightly tarnished armor, over-committed to the job and way too hard on themselves, but ultimately on the side of right and good -- yadda, yadda, yadda.

Leo Demidov, the protagonist of Tom Rob Smith's flinty, Stali...more The heroes of most thrillers are damaged men with tragic pasts; they tend to feel guilty about a dead wife or estranged child, or they chew themselves up inside over some doomed innocent they failed to protect. These aren't bad guys, however -- quite the opposite. They are knights in slightly tarnished armor, over-committed to the job and way too hard on themselves, but ultimately on the side of right and good -- yadda, yadda, yadda.

Leo Demidov, the protagonist of Tom Rob Smith's flinty, Stalin-era detective thriller, Child 44, starts out guilty, really guilty. A war hero and loyal Communist Party apparatchik, he is an officer of the MGB (precursor to the KGB), and in the first few chapters of the novel, we learn that he has been complicit in more crimes against humanity than the best detectives ever get the chance to solve. All the machinery of the paranoid, dehumanizing totalitarian state -- arrests, interrogations, denunciations, executions -- is in full gear at the beginning of "Child 44" (although things stutter a bit when Stalin dies midway through the novel) and Leo's job is to provide people to be ground up by it. His victims are "ideological criminals"; as for actual crime, that's supposed to be extinct in the perfected communist state. Anyone who suggests otherwise qualifies as an ideological criminal.

Thanks to his role in the persecution of a man who even he comes to see must be innocent, Leo has an inkling of his own culpability before the system inevitably turns on him and his wife, Raisa. The couple survives, barely, and Leo gets reassigned to an obscure rural police force where one of his past misdeeds catches up with him. The gruesome murder of a local girl reminds him of rumors about the death of a child back in Moscow -- rumors that Leo was ordered to shut down, since a child-targeting serial killer is the sort of monster who can only be produced by the decadent West.

Although the conclusion of Child 44 is a bit outlandish, Smith otherwise handles this story (based on a notorious real-life case) with a grounded, muscular realism and some truly riveting action scenes. Unlike Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko, who solves crime in a Soviet Union that is already beginning to crumble from within, Leo must pursue his investigation near the peak of "1984"-style oppression and double-think. Unsympathetic superiors are a convention of the genre, but Leo has it exponentially worse than Dirty Harry, et al.: His bosses will destroy him for even suggesting that this crime is possible. His illusions pulverized, his wife finally free to announce that she married him out of fear instead of love, Leo sees catching the murderer as his last shot at redemption -- literally. He knows he won't survive the solving of it, and that the authorities can't be trusted to dispense justice. Bleak as it is, the help Leo receives from an unexpected quarter provides a morsel of balm in what's otherwise an almost unbearably relentless thriller

Although it took me the first 60 pages to be really turned on, the rest of the book was as they say "a page-turner."...less

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Michael

Michael rated it:

(review of isbn )

07/01/08

bookshelves: mystery, read-in-2008

Read in June, 2008

Child 44 is a novel that's hard to figure out where to place on the bookshelf. It's a political thriller, a murder mystery and a horror story all in one. Combining those elements alone would have been enough, but first-time novelist Tom Rob Smith takes is further, setting his story around the time of the death of Stalin in the former Soviet Union. Smith recreates the atmosphere of paranoia, doubt and suspicion of the time and place with ease, adding an extra layer of tension to his story.
...more Child 44 is a novel that's hard to figure out where to place on the bookshelf. It's a political thriller, a murder mystery and a horror story all in one. Combining those elements alone would have been enough, but first-time novelist Tom Rob Smith takes is further, setting his story around the time of the death of Stalin in the former Soviet Union. Smith recreates the atmosphere of paranoia, doubt and suspicion of the time and place with ease, adding an extra layer of tension to his story.

On the surface, a story about someone serial killing small children would be brutal and horrifying enough. But add in that under the Soviet system that the government was creating a worker's paradise in which crime can't and shouldn't exist and you get a further twist on the serial hunter genre. If there is no crime, then surely such brutal crimes can't be occurring, adding to the complications as our hero, Leo, investigates the killings.

And it's not that Leo doesn't have more than a few obstacles in his way. He starts the novel as high-ranking official in the MGB, a rising star whose job it is to find all those who are oppose Mother Russia. Along the way, he's had successes and has made enemies, including one who sets him up. Leo is forced to choose between betraying his wife, who is accused of being a spy, to save his own skin or siding with her. Leo makes the choice and his entire world shatters. He's humilated publically, his family's status is removed and he finds out that his romantic notions of his marriage are an illusion. Demoted and sent to a remote region as the lowest of the low in the police, Leo comes across evidence that an earlier crime he investigated may tie into killings in the region. Leo risks everything to investigate the crime.

Smith's novel is compelling and page-turning. Smith is an aspiring screen-writer and there are moments in the story that he paints scenes in a movie-like way. But to dismiss the novel as one of those "ready to be adapted for a movie" would be a mistake. Smith's ability to re-create Russia in the time of Stalin is compelling as are the characters of Leo and his family. There are horrors here and not just those committed by the serial killer. Leo is certainly no innocent victim and yet, you will find yourself rooting for him as the pages go on. (He's not the most likeable character when you first meet him).

A great debut by Smith and I can see why this has already been optioned for a big-screen adaption. But I will recommend that this is one of those cases where you will definitely want to read the book first.
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Nancy

Nancy rated it:

06/10/08

bookshelves: books-set-in-russia, fiction---stalinist-ussr, mystery, mystery-international

Read in June, 2008

Set at the end of Stalin's regime in the Soviet Union, Child 44 is one of the most compelling mysteries I've ever read. Other writers should take note: this is the way a good mystery should be written. You're given enough clues, and you even find out later who the killer is, BUT -- you are still riveted and on the edge of your chair because of the atmosphere of suspense that the author has created. I listened to it on an audio CD, but am buying a hard copy for my husband to read and probably...more Set at the end of Stalin's regime in the Soviet Union, Child 44 is one of the most compelling mysteries I've ever read. Other writers should take note: this is the way a good mystery should be written. You're given enough clues, and you even find out later who the killer is, BUT -- you are still riveted and on the edge of your chair because of the atmosphere of suspense that the author has created. I listened to it on an audio CD, but am buying a hard copy for my husband to read and probably to reread at some time in the future. I hear movie rumors -- I'll be the first in line when it comes out.

Leo Demidov is a young, high-ranking officer in the MGB, the Soviet Ministry of State Security. Leo is used to putting people away, earmarking them for execution, even though sometimes he knows that they are innocent. He can't help it ... he's caught up in the mechanism of the paranoid Soviet state. At one point he is called on regarding the murder of a child, and in his own arrogant way (and because the state does not want attention called to it) he dismisses the child's death as an accident. But when Leo is forced to make a choice that he knows he cannot make, he is exiled into the Urals to serve in the militia. While there, he comes across a similar murder to the one in Moscow -- and suddenly Leo knows that he was wrong. In fact, there are a series of murders all with the same MO -- and the former state security man now has only one focus: to catch this child killer. There are those, however, who do not want Leo to discover the truth and try to block him at every juncture.

I absolutely will not say more about this book, but it is incredibly well written and the suspense doesn't let up. As noted, I listened to this in my car -- even with the higher price of gas it was worth it to find more things I needed to drive to just to listen to this book. The characters are well drawn, the paranoid atmosphere of the former USSR is captured quite well, and the story isn't just another serial killer murder novel out on the local bookstore shelves. It is unique and the reading experience quite enjoyable.

Personally, I think anyone who likes a good mystery will like this one, but I also feel that if you're in search of a good, well-written novel of suspense that this one fits the bill perfectly. If you're interested in Stalin's USSR, you'll like this one as well.

One of the best I've read in a long time. I hope the author's next effort is forthcoming. ...less

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Michael

Michael rated it:

06/20/08

Speaking of Russian novelists . . . had Dostoevski been born later, he may have written a book like Child 44.

Except for a bit of a slow start and an incredulous, too tidy ending, Tom Rob Smith has written a remarkable first novel.

The repression of 1953 Russia provides the perfect cauldron for this literary detective thriller, for in Stalin’s Soviet Union “there is no crime.” It strives to be a paradise for its workers, providing for all of their needs. One of its fundamental pillar...more Speaking of Russian novelists . . . had Dostoevski been born later, he may have written a book like Child 44.

Except for a bit of a slow start and an incredulous, too tidy ending, Tom Rob Smith has written a remarkable first novel.

The repression of 1953 Russia provides the perfect cauldron for this literary detective thriller, for in Stalin’s Soviet Union “there is no crime.” It strives to be a paradise for its workers, providing for all of their needs. One of its fundamental pillars is that its citizens live free from the fear of ordinary crime and criminals.

But in this society, millions do live in fear . . . of the State. Death is a whisper away. The mere suspicion of ideological disloyalty-owning a book from the decadent West, the wrong word at the wrong time-sends millions of innocents into the Gulags or to their executions. Defending the system from its citizens is the MGB, the State Security Force. And no MGB officer is more courageous, conscientious, or idealistic than Leo Demidov.

A war hero with a beautiful wife, Leo lives in relative luxury in Moscow, even providing a decent apartment for his parents. His only ambition has been to serve his country. For this greater good, he has arrested and interrogated hundreds of innocent people.

Then the impossible happens. A different kind of criminal—a murderer—is on the loose, killing at will. At the same time, Leo finds himself demoted and denounced by his enemies, his world turned upside down, and every belief he’s ever held shattered. The only way to save his life and the lives of his family is to uncover the serial murderer. But in a society that is officially paradise, it’s a crime against the State to even suggest that a murderer—much less a serial killer—is in their midst.

Exiled from his home, with only his wife, Raisa, remaining at his side, Leo must confront the vast resources and reach of the MBG to find and stop a criminal that the State won’t even admit exists.
The most sinister villain of Child 44 is not the monster killing children, but the oppressive power of the state that is killing everybody. The implicit warning of this entertaining novel is that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely—a timely message for us today. Like the Russia of Child 44, we have far more to fear from our own government than any outside enemy they claim they must take our rights way to protect us from.
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Shea

Shea rated it:

03/16/08

Read in March, 2008

Absolutely amazing for both a debut novel and a mystery/thriller type novel. I find that novels written in this genre (especially the big hitters like James Patterson, Vince Flynn, and sometimes John Grisham...none of which I read on a regular basis) are thrown together haphazardly without any real attention to detail or the basic necessities for putting together a really good story. When I initially started reading Child 44, I did not expect to find what I did. Since this was an Advanced...more Absolutely amazing for both a debut novel and a mystery/thriller type novel. I find that novels written in this genre (especially the big hitters like James Patterson, Vince Flynn, and sometimes John Grisham...none of which I read on a regular basis) are thrown together haphazardly without any real attention to detail or the basic necessities for putting together a really good story. When I initially started reading Child 44, I did not expect to find what I did. Since this was an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of a novel not due out until May, I'm very interested to see how it will sell.

Child 44 is set in Soviet Russia during the Stalinist period. Initially, Tom Rob Smith jumps from scene to scene introducing characters that seem completely unrelated. After a few scene changes, Smith arrives to a character that he sticks with through the rest of the novel. Leo Demidov, a high-ranking official in the state's security/military force, carries out his duties like every other high-ranking officer: arrest, detain, interrogate, torture...don't ask questions. Anyone who is placed on the state's list of arrestees is guilty. Very little crime exists, and the little that does exist is caused by the remnants of the period before the Revolution. Unsolved crimes (including murder) are unacceptable and attack the very fabric of the state.

When a rash of unsolved killings start plaguing towns along one of Russia's main railroad lines, Leo becomes suspicious of the "suspects" that have "confessed" to each separate crime. Namely, each killing is done in the exact same, overly methodical manner suggesting a serial killer is on the loose. However, acknowledgment of that fact would fly in the face of the State's claims, and anyone foolish enough to do so are taking their lives into their own hands. Leo's suspicions pit him directly against the State and the killer responsible for the ever-growing number of murders.

With an obvious Orwellian influence, Smith crafts a novel in the mystery/thriller tradition that is extremely interesting, fun to read, and one that you will not be able to put down until you've finished reading it. I definitely recommend checking this one out when it is released in May....less

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Jenni

Jenni rated it:

(review of isbn 1847371272)

07/09/08

Read in July, 2008

recommended to Jenni by: my mom, media buzz

In Child 44, Tom Rob Smith has created a dystopian novel akin to Orwell's 1984 or Atwood's Handmaid's tale, except that, unfortunately, The Stalinist Soviet Union is not a fictional vision (well, and Atwood writes better). Smith's novel is seductive and magnetic because its two central concerns, the Draconian and absurd nature of Stalin's policies and the protagonist's search for a macabre serial killer, intersect to form more reversals of fortune and fate than even Britney Spears could dream o...more In Child 44, Tom Rob Smith has created a dystopian novel akin to Orwell's 1984 or Atwood's Handmaid's tale, except that, unfortunately, The Stalinist Soviet Union is not a fictional vision (well, and Atwood writes better). Smith's novel is seductive and magnetic because its two central concerns, the Draconian and absurd nature of Stalin's policies and the protagonist's search for a macabre serial killer, intersect to form more reversals of fortune and fate than even Britney Spears could dream of. While these fluctuations create suspense and ultimately a well-deserved catharsis, they also detract from the brutal realism that seemed to be at least one of Smith's aims. Some incidents just seemed too primed and ready for a Hollywood stunt double. (And I believe Smith conceived of this as a screenplay first).

The end is, not to spoil too much, a cheery, feel-good crowd pleaser that allows one to end the novel without despair and thus, seems to lighten the impact and negate the descriptions of Orwellian nightmare world. My suspension of disbelief simply will not extend to dozens of merciless killings for virtually nothing, while the protagonist, who is perceived as the government's most wanted throughout the second half of the novel, is spared.

The prose is simple and a little unremarkable, but at many points, the author's ingenuity in planting clues about the killer and people's political alignment make up for this. The characters and their relationships lack subtlety, and Smith mostly seems to direct readers: these are the good guys and these are the bad guys, something like the Indiana Jones approach to communists. Leo, of course, as the protagonist, is the exception, but Smith doesn't manage to penetrate his psyche quite enough, nor that of his wife.

This might be a masterpiece of suspense and perhaps of the so-called blockbuster fiction, but I'm not ready to brand this a literary masterpiece. Child 44 will be a brilliant movie.

Despite the shortcomings --- enjoy this novel as a solid, intriguing, plot-driven historical mystery. I haven't stayed up all night in quite some time to finish a book, but Child 44 wouldn't let go. ...less

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Brian

Brian rated it:

(review of isbn )

07/28/08

bookshelves: audio

Read in July, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I don't really know what to say about Child 44. I liked the book, and I liked Dennis Boutsikaris's reading of the audiobook. The setting and circumstances resulting from the setting distinguishes this suspense/adventure/catch-the-killer fluff from other such mysteries. It was interesting fluff. The protagonist, Leo, finds himself stuck between trying to do what is right and his job--not uncommon for this sort of story--but the story takes place in Soviet Russia.

The first half of...more

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Jolie

Jolie rated it:

(review of isbn 1847371272)

06/04/08

bookshelves: mystery-thriller

Child 44 is set in the 50's in Stalin-era Russia, and it is that setting that was the most fascinating, and successful, part of this book. Part of Stalin's rigidly held beliefs were that if all citizens are equal, there will be no crime. And so, since the government declared that all citizens to be equal, hence, they declared there was no crime. Actual crimes were covered up, ignored, or "solved" by blaming them on undesirables. Smith portrayed an atmosphere of fear that was entire...more

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J.a.

J.a. rated it:

(review of isbn )

06/17/08

Read in June, 2008

I’m not typically drawn to thrillers, with their implausible twists and too convenient coincidences, but Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith has something going for it besides publicity: it’s set in Stalin’s Soviet Union. As an American author who has studied Russian and plans to write a novel about the siege of Stalingrad, I was curious to see how Smith, a British screenwriter close to my age, handled a story with a similar setting. Loosely based on the actual serial killings committed by Andrei Ch...more

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Ken

Ken rated it:

(review of isbn 1847371272)

06/02/08

Read in May, 2008

Russia under Stalin: dreary, dismal, oppressive. Paranoia rules the day as citizens inform on each other, each of them guilty until proven innocent -- except that any proof of innocence is ignored, since that would imply that the state erred in its original presumption of guilt. A healthy dose of Catch-22 thinking rules this murder mystery, as Leo, our main character and an officer of the MGB (forerunner of the KGB), confronts evidence that a serial killer is on the loose. But according to the g...more

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Paul

Paul rated it:

03/25/08

Read in March, 2008

This thriller set in Stalinist Russia is strongest when it concerns the effects of a supposedly infallible state on the individual and the mental gyrations an individual must perform every day to evade notice by the state police. (Certainly George Orwell covered the same ground, but not in this genre.) In Child 44, a serial killer of children is on the loose, but no one will admit it. Stalinist Russia is a people's paradise ergo there is no crime ergo anyone who claim's that there is (esp...more

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Ailsa

Ailsa rated it:

08/15/08

bookshelves: contemporary, fiction

Read in August, 2008

recommends it for: thriller lovers, history buffs

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Emma

Emma rated it:

(review of isbn 1847371272)

05/26/08

bookshelves: all-time-best, crime

Read in February, 2008

Child 44 is the tale of Leo Demidov, a top official working under Stalin's Russian Soviet regime in the 1950s. All is well in his career, until the day the body of a murdered child is found on the railway tracks- and Leo is asked to cover it up...

This is literally the best book I've read all year. Absolutely phenomenal. I couldn't put it down. I don't usually wax this lyrical about a book, but until this book I had never really read crime, and this got me into it big-time. You see, after re...more

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Sara

Sara rated it:

07/31/08

Read in July, 2008

I debated over a fourth star--the book was gripping, its portrayal both of a serial killer and Soviet Russia intriguing-- but in the end, many moments felt glossed over. The style is fairly sparse (yet in some places, overtold, as in a sentence of revelation that the reader would feel better intuiting), but even so, there were times when a slower pace or at the very least, a space break, would have amplified the emotions running under the fast-paced action of the plot. The short sentences mimic ...more

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Jeffrey

Jeffrey rated it:

(review of isbn 1847371272)

06/04/08

bookshelves: mystery, read-in-2008

Read in June, 2008

recommends it for: Mystery readers especially those who like mysteries set in foreign lands

An imaginative tour de force. A work of startling originality. What happens if there is a serial killer in Communist Russia, where everyone spies on everyone else, and everyone is only one step away from being thrown in the Gulag.

This mystery set in the days of Stalin and Beria Communist Russia is about an investigator for a Russian domestic intelligence service who investigates his fellow citizens, arrests them and interrogates them, but because of a dispute with a fellow operative is tra...more

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CD rated it:

(review of isbn 1847371272)

08/03/08

Read in August, 2008

Estamos en la Rusia soviética, en los últimos años de Stalin. El protagonista es Leo, un miembro del MGB, la policía de seguridad del Estado. Es un antiguo héroe de guerra que ha subido rápido en el escalafón, teniendo un puesto de importancia. A ello contribuye su obediencia ciega a las órdenes que recibe, las que nunca ha cuestionado. Pero cuando le ordenan detener a un supuesto espía, que resulta ser un inocente veterinario, toda su perspectiva del mundo cae y se da cuenta de que las...more