false 0 2009-06-14T13:17:17-07:00 885748 304 2009-06-14T13:17:17-07:00 4 0 false false Sun Jun 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 14 19:41:16 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 14 19:58:42 -0700 2009
Like CITY OF THIEVES, CHILD 44 is a compelling read-- Smith seems to have a knack for plot and knowing how to keep the reader dangling on the end of the line. His dialog is stilted and awkward at best, but that plot just keeps rolling like a freight train towards a somewhat unsatisfying conclusion. Don't get me wrong-- it's not a terrible ending, but the resolution does smack of a bit of the deus ex machina and ends in a rather abrupt and somewhat unsatisfying fashion.

Let me also get right down into this-- CHILD 44 takes great heaping helpings of inspiration from Martin Cruz Smith's GORKY PARK, whether Tom Rob Smith (hmmm... three names, ending with Smith! Fishy! :)) acknowledges the debt or not (does he? I haven't bothered to do any research). Like GORKY PARK'S hero Arkady Renko, C44's Leo stumbles upon a murder that his employers don't want him to solve, spends lots of time being hounded by his own government, risks everything to solve the case, and is rewarded at the end for his troubles. In the end, I think Arkady Renko is definitely the much more three dimensional, interesting character of the two, and I've enjoyed all of his books to date. As for Tom Rob Smith's Leo... I guess the jury is still out. I haven't read THE SECRET SPEECH yet, but I look forward to it.
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