Child 44

To stand up for someone was to stitch your fate into the lining of theirs.

The country under Stalin is thing of perfection. Perfect control, perfect submission, perfect loyalty, a perfect government system that ensures that its people are cared for, the people are defended, and ultimately the people are uncorrupted by the influences of the West. Leo, a member of the MGB, a State police force that is feared and reviled at the same time, is a firm believer of this world view. Everything changes when a string of murders crops up all over the country. They all follow the same brutal ritualistic pattern and they are all children. Leo is faced with a choice. He will either ignore all the signs that the government he has served with a blind show more passion is flawed, or admit that things are not what they seem and become a traitor to the very country he has fought to defend.

Child 44 is like a roller coaster ride. The first half the book is this constant build up, the laying down of the foundations of a bleak and corrupt Soviet nation, filled with poverty and oppressed people who fear to speak, think, or act on the truth. Lots of characters are introduced without much explanation and the story moves along until climax of the story is reached and you are plunged down a steep slope of jaw dropping revelations. It is a thrill ride with plenty of twists and turns and just like some first experiences on the coaster, you are left feeling a bit sick to the stomach at the end of it all. I look forward to reading the rest of the series and seeing Leo as a character develop and mature. Recommended. show less

It's not enough that a terrifying and prolific child-murdering serial killer is on the loose, this killer is operating in Stalin-era communist Russia. This is a time and place where smoking a cigarette on a street corner, not having the perfect 2-child nuclear family, or not stalking your home bookshelf with the proper Party books, is viewed as suspicious. When an accusation is all that it takes for someone to be guilty, and "guilty" people are tortured, killed, or worse, sent to do years of hard labor in terrible conditions. This is also a time and place where crime doesn't exist. Crime goes against the Party's ideals. How could there possibly be crime in Stalin's perfect society? Ironically, this creates an excellent environment in show more which a serial killer can operate freely...and an impossible situation for main character Leo. He's losing his faith in the Party, and when he's demoted from his prestigious job with the MVG for not demonstrating enough loyalty, his ideals change evermore. With his new found conscience, he decides to investigate some very disturbing murders of children in his new town. But no one wants him to meddle. These murders have already been "solved," blamed on drunks or the mentally ill. An unsolvable murder, let alone the existence of a serial killer, reflects badly on the Party. And so Leo and his wife--already under scrutiny--must fly under the radar and risk their lives (again and again) to do the right thing. Every sentence of CHILD 44 is filled with tension (on top of tension, on top of tension), in this brilliantly written, carefully plotted, debut thriller by Tom Rob Smith. Every glance holds meaning, every misstep could mean death, as Smith creates a perfect storm. It's possible I held my breath the entire time while reading this novel. I've never bought into the phrase "kept me on the edge of my seat," but now I get it. I squirmed, I occasionally threw the book across the room unable to take the drama only to run right over to fetch it again, and I stayed up way too late. The best book I've read this year, not only for the tension, but also for the achingly real relationships between key characters, particularly between Leo and his wife. The Party would most certainly arrest you for owning this book. Read my other reviews here: http://onlygreatbooks.blogspot.com/ show less

It is astonishing how a novel that begins so promisingly—as a stark portrayal of the true face of the Soviet regime in the 1950s—can suffer such a collapse of plot and ultimately turn into a literary disappointment. The Orwellian reality of Stalinist USSR, so convincingly rendered in the first half, quickly gives way in the second to a fast-paced action thriller, closer in spirit to Agent 007 than to political fiction.

Glaring plot holes begin to emerge, and illogical developments follow one another to the point of eroding the narrative’s credibility. The protagonist is subjected to extreme physical and psychological torture—reduced, in a single night, to a “hunched and shrunken old man”—yet almost immediately afterward he show more proceeds to overpower a dozen opponents single-handedly. Even with a torn hand, stripped flesh, and severe blood loss, he continues to prevail in unequal confrontations against numerous, well-armed soldiers.

And then there is the ending: an excessively sweetened resolution in which the author seems to have forgotten the very brutality of the system he set out to depict. The “bad” are duly punished, the “good” fully rewarded, and the nightmarish communist regime is, implausibly, allowed a moment of self-correction—as though it could recognize and amend its own crimes.

Tom Rob Smith demonstrates solid research into life in the Soviet Union, yet appears to miss a fundamental truth: the machinery of a totalitarian state does not operate with remorse. It demands absolute loyalty—right up to the moment it turns on its most devoted servants. show less

Rating: 4* of five

The Book Report: In the Socialist Worker's Paradise that is 1953 Russia, There Is No Crime. (Sorry, I know that all the caps are like having your lashes tweezed, but this is the Soviet Union we're talking about, and everything is A Slogan.) The proletariat is blissfully free of the Capitalist Curse Called Crime.

They're more afraid of the State than they are each other. With good reason. There are traitors, informants, everywhere. Even in your own bed, you are never safe from the danger of being outed as a bad Socialist with the least, most offhand criticism of the Paradise. And death comes, whether quickly or slowly, to those whom the Cthulhu of the State Security apparatus notices.

Leo Demidov, then, shouldn't have a show more job as a criminal investigator. In fact, he doesn't. He's a well-rewarded apparatchik who, in the course of interrogating his fellow citizens, notices a disturbing pattern of murders...which do not officially exist...taking place with no effort, or a completely inadequate effort, being made to see the forest for the trees. Leo's life changes, from privileged servant of the regime to lone wolf investigator to vengeful assassin, over the course of the story. His solution to the crimes being committed is chilling in its outlines and satisfying in its conclusion.

My Review: I don't believe I've ever read so much text in italics before, and I don't think I've ever read a thriller with so little direct action before, either. The dialogue, what little there is of it, is italicized; there are few places where anyone addresses anyone else for more than a sentence or two. Husband Leo and wife Raisa have one--that's all, one--intimate conversation, which is a new low count in my thriller reading.

But what a wallop this book packs! I can't imagine the agonies of researching and writing such a grisly book, given that most writers are sensitive flowers whose emotional lives are very much up on the surface of their lives.

Tom Rob Smith wrote this awful book about awful people doing awful things in an awful country to amuse and entertain us. He succeeds in this, though sometimes I wanted to wash my eyes out with Clorox. The main character, Leo, is a nasty apparatchik in the State Security forces under Stalin. He's a man who has put his sense of rightness, fairness and justice into the hands of vile, unworthy leaders, and turned off his moral compass. The reasons that it turns back on, and the results of Leo's single-minded pursuit of a child murderer, are...gosh...they're *right* and yet, given the 400pp we've spent being plunged into foul, icy sewage, again and again, they're weak tea.

Leo's past leads him to a future that I can't call bright, but at least he's able to do the right thing sometimes. I don't think this book is for everyone, but I think it's really, really interesting and quite exciting and well worth the attention of the non-squeamish. show less

To survive as a detective in 1950s communist Russia, you have to put your country above all. Anything less is tantamount to high treason.

When your superiors tell you to investigate a possible spy, you go and apprehend him/her without stopping to think about the accuracy of the accusation: "Better let ten innocent men suffer than one spy escape."

If your subordinate thinks his son's tragic accident was in fact murder, you go and remind him of one of the fundaments of his society: "There is no crime".

So when he refuses to denounce his own wife as a traitor, MGB detective Leo Demidov knows that they'll both be executed. Stalin's sudden death however, grants them reprieve and an exile into the remote town of Voualsk, where they'll at least show more have one another. But then his wife Raisa shocks him, by suddenly confessing that she had married Leo out of fear, and in fact hates him.

A "routine" arrest in the case of a dead child, whose circumstances seem eerily familiar, gives Leo a new purpose. He decides to find the actual culprit, and not just allow the militia to pin it on an unfortunate scapegoat.

Having previously watched the movie, I was not expecting to like the book so much.
The basic story about a disgraced MGB agent hunting a serial child murderer remains the same, but life in the cut-throat world of communist Russia, as well as Leo's past (and as such his connection to the killer) are missing.

I especially liked Leo's character development.
In the movie, there is Tom Hardy who's running around and brooding handsomely, while the rest of the world is busy hating him.
In the book, we see Leo's life as a dedicated MGB agent, who would not hesitate to resort to drugs in order to keep doing his job, even when this comes with severe memory loss.

It was also quite fascinating to read about Leo's inner turmoil, when it came down to actually believing the communist propaganda that he enforces. At times, it was almost heart-breaking to see him attempt to brainwash himself, by repeatedly memorising communist slogans, when the methamphetamine-induced memory loss manifested itself.

And most of all, Leo's past is what left quite an impression on me. Despite the fact that the novel actually starts with a scene from his childhood, the reader doesn't find its relevance until after having gone through more than half of the book. The chilling conclusion of this first chapter is, nevertheless, an excellent way of catching the reader's attention.

Score: 5/5 stars

The first 5 star book this year.
Admittedly, I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information, when it comes to detailing life in 1950s Russia, but the manner in which it is described is definitely effective. I could barely put the book down, and even then I kept counting the hours I could pick it up again to continue. show less

In Stalinist Russia in the early 1950’s crime was unthinkable. The State declared it was a worker’s paradise, crime could not exist in such a paradise. To even suggest it was considered treason, and punishable by imprisonment, transportation or death. Under such a cloak, a serial murderer can carry on his mission with very little interference. Such is the premise of Child 44.

But this book is so much more than a crime novel. We learn what living in Communist Russia meant for millions of people. Fit in, don’t be different, don’t be noticed. Some, like the main character, Leo Demidov tell themselves it’s all for the greater good, that lying, spying, and even torture and murder can all be justified if, in the long run, it helps to show more secure the State.

When a jealous co-worker accuses Leo’s wife of being a spy, Leo tries to follow the party line, he spies on her, he searches her belongings, but he is morally shaken and comes to realize that this is a flawed system, where innocence means nothing, those with power can bring about the downfall of anyone.

Leo stands by his wife and declares her innocent, but even so they are arrested and interrogated. Leo is demoted from being a Security Ministry Officer, he and his wife are transported to a small factory town. Finding evidence of a serial-killer, Leo is forced to work outside the law to try and bring down this child killer all the while not knowing where to turn or in whom to trust.

That Child 44 is the first novel by Tom Rob Smith is hard to believe. Every word, every sentence is sheer perfection. He captures the bleak futility of everyday life, he describes the food, the clothes, the working conditions so clearly, I found myself repeatedly looking up to ensure myself I wasn’t living under such terrible straits. Even his use of the bone-numbing Russian winter to set the atmosphere for the first half of the book is perfection. I will long remember this beautifully written, multi-layered story. show less

Si bien este libro es una novela negra, con un asesino en serie y una investigación para atraparlo, lo que lo hace totalmente diferente es todo el ambiente en el que se lleva a cabo dicha investigación.

Ubicado en la U.R.S.S., en la época de los últimos días de Stalin y el principio del siguiente líder de ese país, un país donde la única certeza era la desconfianza, el miedo, todo manejado por un sistema irregular, corrupto, con ideas de desconfiar en todo el mundo, porque todos eran espías, donde se mitificaba un sistema comunista, así pues, ahí no había asesinos, no podía haberlos porque si los había entonces era admitir que el sistema no funcionaba.

Así pues, este libro en su mayor parte nos refleja como nuestro show more protagonista pasa a ser una de las muchas víctimas del sistema que de ser un miembro activo y confiable, se convierte en un perseguido por espía, que se da cuenta que su vida estaba basada en el miedo y que cuando deja de tener poder.

Sin embargo, Leo es un buen hombre y ese es precisamente su falla en ese sistema, donde la mayor valía la tenía aquel que no tenía escrúpulos y que el país esta primero que su familia.

Me ha gustado mucho, el libro, lo bien narrado que esta, lo bien ambientado que esta, en todo momento sentí la injusticia, la desconfianza de la gente y por otro lado los asesinatos y el asesino brutales.

El libro no da tregua en ningún momento, cuando pensé que ya había sido suficiente, al pobre de Leo le persigue el tinte de la venganza y entonces me volvía a quedar sin aliento, esperando a ver y ahora como saldría de todo aquello.

Este es el segundo libro que leo de este autor y sin duda es uno de esos que vale la pena seguir, tiene una buena narrativa, el toque ideal de thriller para tenernos al filo de la silla en todo momento, aunque mi mayor sentimiento fue de injusticia e impotencia. show less