Good read. Fast-paced and exciting with so many twists and turns I was on the edge of my seat. This is the second novel I have read by this author and enjoy the character of Leo Demitov, former MGB officer. This novel explores the horrific tension of those living in post WW11 Russia. Not quite at the level of the first book which I gave 5 stars, but still very good. I look forward to the third book in the trilogy.

“Standing directly over him Zoya raised the knife. Although she couldn’t see him, her imagination mapped the contours of his body. She wouldn’t stab him in the stomach: the blankets might absorb the blade. She’d plunge the blade through his neck, sinking it as far as she could, before he had a chance to overpower her. Knife outstretched, she pressed down with perfect control. Through the blade she felt his arm, his shoulder – she steered upward, making small depressions until the knife tip touch More...

I have read Child 44 and thought it truly was a great fast paced read. I have been looking forward to reading this book for sometime and finally got round to it. I was slightly disappointed by The Secret Speech due to the fact I didn't think it was as fast paced as the previous book. Perhaps the book has been written to quickly after the previous book. The Secret Speech starts where the Child 44 ended but begins with a tale from Leo's Mgb days

The majority of the novel is historical accurate and More...

Is it possible for someone who has committed terrible crimes to achieve redemption? That is the central question posed by Tom Rob Smith's riveting new book, The Secret Speech, sequel to last year's terrific, terrifying, and surprisingly moving, Child 44.

The Secret Speech opens in 1949, with young Leo Demidov's first case as an officer in the MGB, Stalin's secret police. Leo betrays a dissident priest and his wife, sending them both to the Gulag.

Flash forward to 1956; Leo is struggling to run S More...

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. That's a Law. When Kruschev releases a secret speech denouncing the crimes of Stalinism, the reactions of the people who were victimized under his government is just what Sir Isaac Newton would have predicted. However, former secret police officer, Leo Demidov, seeks to lead a good life among the people he has now been identified as persecuting. His journey takes him to distant gulags, sinking prison ships, and revolutionary Hungary. Aft More...

This was brilliant.

I loved Child 44. Gave it 4 stars. I didn't believe people when they said that this was better.

It is. I could hardly put this book down, and yet I read it slowly savoring every twist in plot, every nuance of the characters growth.

This is one of THOSE books. One that will stay with you and make you question what you would do in the situation that the characters are in. There are no easy answers and you're swept along as these three dimensional people search for any answer.

I More...

Former MGB officer Leo Demidov returns in this fast paced action packed novel. Three years after Child 44, the Soviet Union is undergoing dramatic change. Stalin is dead and his successor Khrushchev pledges an end to the violent regime via a secret speech. A speech that once known to the general public, will reveal the extent of the cruelty and torture inflicted on the Soviet people.

In the midst of such potential upheavel, Leo finds himself yet on another impossible mission, fighting to save his More...

Três anos depois dos eventos narrados em Criança 44, encontramos novamente o agora ex-agente da MGB (a antiga polícia secreta soviética) Liev Demidov. Liev agora é encarregado do departamento de homicídios criado três anos atrás e sua maior preocupação é se redimir de seus pecados passados e fazer com que a filhas adotivas, Zoia e Elena, o perdoem por ter feito parte no assassinato de seus pais e que junto com Raíssa, possam viver como uma família. Mas, o passado de Liev é muito consistente para More...

I'm not sure whether it's the brisk pace or the vivid attention to detail that makes me feel like I'm right on the ground in Khrushchev's era -- maybe it's both.

Leo Demidov is still battling the demons from his past that showed up in Smith's first novel, "Child 44." He and his wife, Raisa, have learned to turn a marriage of convenience into one of honesty and love. They have adopted Zoya and Elena, the daughters of a couple that was murdered in the course of an investigation that Leo was carryin More...

Rating: 3.625* of five

This series of books, the life of Leo and Raisa in a newly post-Stalinist USSR, is cold and damp and gritty and scary. Those are the *good* parts of the life of these two oddly assorted people, who are trying to form a family from some very unlikely and unnatural and uncomfortable pieces. (Sounds like my family!)

This outing centers on events set in motion by the (factual) secret speech of the title: Khrushchev's "private" deunciation of Stalin's terror. While never reported More...

In Child 44 author Tom Rob Smith introduced us to an unimaginably cruel world, that of a Soviet secret policemen, who comes to seek redemption after arresting hundreds of people he knows to be innocent, condemning them to torture, exile, execution. In this sequel Leo Demidov has assembled an ad hoc family, raising two girls who’s parents he’d had executed. His past catches up with him tho, and, rather implausibly, he finds himself a prisoner in the gulag, trying to free one of his previous victi More...

THE SECRET SPEECH is the second book from Tom Rob Smith, following on the stories of many of the characters from CHILD 44. In particular, Leo and Raisa are trying to raise the two young girls they adopted after Leo's part in the brutal killing of their parents, but all is not going well with this instant family. Pressure from within, the eldest girl in particular, is deeply resentful of both her adopted parents and is prepared to show it in quite threatening and frightening ways, whilst they are More...

The book's historical premises are v. interesting. One (don't know if true, have not checked): that Khrushchov's speech at the party congress following Stalin's death was a stark indictment of the secret police and the denunciation-based culture of terror which made the Stalinist Soviet society one of the sickest places on earth, which was edited in a later published version in a way that placed all the blame for "mistakes that were made" at Stalin's feet. Another, (again, no idea if true, but I More...

The Secret Speech, by Tom Rob Smith, b-plus, Narrated by Dennis Boutsikaris, produced by Hachette Audio, downloaded from audible.com.

We have Leo again, now three years since the solving of the serial murders. He has left the MGB and is directing a homicide unit in Moscow. He is back together with his wife, Raisa, who says that as long as he doesn’t lie to her again, they can have a life. They have two adopted daughters, the children of parents whose deaths he was responsible for, Zoya and Elena. More...

Smith's 2nd book (May 2009) is a sequel to his award-winning book "Child 44" (2008), which I gave a 4 to. I thought this was a terrific read. Set in Russia and Hungary in 1956, the background is Kruschev's speech admits Stalin's regime was oppressive and bad things happened. The KGB and various officials do not want that speech to get much attention. The main action is about our now-reformed (former KGB agent) hero, Leo, trying to help raise the children of a couple he played role in killing - a More...

As a fan of Russian history these are great books to read. Tom Rob Smith is a brilliant writer. This is the second in a trilogy of books involving Leo Demidov. Leo was a dedicated believer in communism and a member of the secret police under Stalin. At the end of Child 44, he is head of a new investigative unit of the militia called the murder department. It's a secret department too, but does honest investigations. Now Stalin has been dead 3 years and Kruschev makes a speech to the Twentieth Co More...

this is the second of the Demidov trilogy, and with this, I find I understand the first, Child 44, much better. It starts during the Stalinist heyday of terror and inhuman conditions that many must live under. Stalin was a paranoid dictator. And by the end of his reign, he had given good reason to be. The second, the sequel to this started after his death and Kruschev became the leader. Thru the eyes of the Demidov world, we follow the settings and plots as they happen and key into the happening More...

The protagonist of this book is Moscow homicide detective Leo Demidov, who also featured in Tom Rob Smith's earlier book, Child 44. But though there is plenty of homicide in this book, there is little detecting. This is not a whodunit.

The bulk of the book is set in the period of the "Khrushchev thaw" in the Soviet Union, when, in his eponymous secret speech to the 20th Communist Party Congress, Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalin's dictatorship, the police state, and the Stalinist policy of arbi More...

Secret speech: A book of two halves, as they say. The first half, technically about two thirds, was great. The author portrayed well the confusion and chaos wrought on Russian society by Khrushchev’s 1955 secret speech in which he condemned Stalin’s repression and mass executions. The effect on the militias and secret police, especially as ordinary people start to take revenge, is well thought out, interesting and original. Equally, the secondary plot where the hard-liner pro-Stalin group who op More...

Not as gripping as Child 44. Well written but poorly organized, such that it's difficult to figure out what the real plot was intended to be. It does carry forward the main characters from Child 44, so if you want to stay "in the loop," so to speak, you need to read this one to be ready for the next one. It's not really a series, at least not yet, but the two books definitely follow a linear trajectory, so it may turn into a series of sorts.

Another great book from Tom Rob Smith. My only problem was having such high expectations after Child 44. However, I was not disappointed. This had the same mix of pace, intrigue and twists every few chapters.

I love how supposedly innocuous details ened up being pivotal to the unravelling of the plot. This time I was more familiar with his writing style though and I guessed one pretty big twist many many pages before it was revealed. However, then it twisted again and I wasn't right afterall!

My More...

I've actually been studying this time period in my History class, and my teacher recommended Child 44 to me. After finishing the first novel in less than two days [yes it was that gripping] I went out in search for a copy of this book.

It took me slightly longer to read, but that may have been just because I've been busy.

But yet again, I can't get over this author and his brilliance, its such a political thriller and I've completely fell in love with Leo, despite the heinous crimes he's committed More...

Although not as shocking and chilling as "Child 44," the second novel in the series is still a really great read. It details the damaging effects Leo's previous work as an officer of the state had on individuals and families and having to cope with what he has done. It is also a book about revenge and how that revenge can transform individuals into unrecognizable people fueled by hate. The novel focuses a lot on Zoya, the older daughter adopted by Leo and Raisa, and her unwillingness to forgive More...

"The Secret Speech" is a mostly riveting sequel to "Child 44", about Leo Demidov, a former Soviet secret policeman trying to make amends for his past activities - namely, arresting a lot of innocent people for the "greater good" of the revolution before seeing the light.

The title refers to a speech made by Russian president Nikita Khrushchev three years after the death of Russia's psychotic dictator, Josef Stalin. The speech startled many Russians by denouncing Stalin's excesses, and eventually More...

I agree with other reviewers that this was not as good as Child 44 (or at least most of Child 44--the ending still bothers me).

In all fairness, Secret Speech is still an entertaining read. It just does not create the overall tension/fear that permeated Child 44 which made it so good. Some of the scenes--mainly the scenes in the gulag are the closest to Child 44 in creating an image of real world horror, however the plot rapidly moves on to Hungary 1956.

The author does keep the story movie by c More...

I am agreeing with every reviewer who says its not as quick a read as Child 44 but am giving it 5 stars regardless because of the topic which Tom Rob Smith is presenting to the reader in this accessible format. This time he show the reader the horrors of the work camps, the psychology of a hurt nation who cant believe the "secret speech" after years of the stalinistic regime, the countinuing corruption of the people "on the ground", the chronic "save your ass" syndrom and many more. Being a sovi More...

I bet this novel will soon be shot as a popular movie.

Thick novels usually don't attract me so much, I lost patience quickly through the rambling and complex plots. This one is different. When I surprisingly found out all the books I bought for recent three years are non-fictions, biographies, and memoirs, I feel more cherish of this book.

It sets its context in Russia, the story begins around Khrushchev's original Secret Speech. The Speech creates a turbulent in Soviet Union as well as other E More...

Tom Rob Smith continues the saga of Leo Demidov, in this second book of his Russian trilogy. While not as compelling as his first novel, Child 44, the Secret Speech continues the look at Stalin's policies, their effects and their repercussions on Soviet officials and Soviet citizens.

Leo has finally come to the realization that most of his career has been morally wrong and he is continuing to try and make restitution. His actions, his arrests and his tacit approval of those orders have caused gri More...

The Great War is over, Russia has survived and the end of the Stalin Era has brought some changes......but not necessarily for the better. We met homicide detective, Leo Demidov in Smith's book 'Child 44' where his perseverance enabled him to find the murderer of 44 children. The government has tried to persuade the public that crime is diminishing and anyone guilty of a crime is trying to destroy the state. The Khrushchev era has promised changes but can they deliver?
Leo's homicide unit opera More...

"Lazar made no discernible reaction to their reunion except to pause from his duties as their eyes cracked against each other like flints."

After reading the amazing CHILD 44, I just had to pick up THE SECRET SPEECH right away. I couldn't wait to find out what happened to the characters from the first novel, and I finished this one just as quickly as the last. Another thrilling, historical fiction, mystery novel, THE SECRET SPEECH picks up right where CHILD 44 left off and continues the story of More...