Child 44 | Tom Rob Smith | From J. Kaye's Book Blog

Child 44 | Tom Rob Smith | Suspense!

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Child 44

	Child 44 Tom Rob Smith Grand Central Publishing, 2008 - 448 pages average customer review:based on 150 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

From J. Kaye's Book Blog

"Child 44" by Tom Rob Smith is loosely based upon a real Russian serial killer. While the killer and his victims were real, Smith placed his story during Stalin's time. You have got to read this to really appreciate how people live and think under a totalitarian regime, whether Islamic, or N. Korean, or the old Soviet and Nazi times. It's brutal.

Child 44's serial killer episodes are almost secondary to the story of Leo and Raisa, the hero and his wife. What they went through, the torture, the `truth' behind their marriage and the ultimate search that brought them to real love and meaning in their lives is phenomenal.

While the plot was kind of a standard thriller, the ending had a good twist. However, the real genius of the book is how Smith portrayed the daily life and times in Stalinist Russia. How people thought and acted: their brutality and heroism. That it was about a serial killer was almost beside the point; however it tied the beginning to the end.

This is an emotionally intense book and well worth the time to read it. It gripped me throughout and I had to remind myself to breath. While not gory- graphic, the subject matter is descriptive and should be an adult read.

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Suspense!

Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 is simply put, a great book. It has it all: suspense, history, character development, horror, and the list goes on and on. Most importantly for my taste (and I presume many other readers'), this book is so well-written. From the very beginning, Smith grabs you, and from that point on, there is no putting this book down. I bought this book for my Kindle and my fingers couldn't stop clicking "next page", "next page." I'll liken the pace and excitment of the novel to Dan Brown's work, however, Smith does something Brown failed to do: he took his time setting up the novel - and explaining how the characters' lives, relationships, and motives all intertwine. All in all, this is a must read. I look forward to more from Smith - if his second book is half as good as Child 44, it'll be great.

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Awesome Stay Up All Nighy Book

Stunning depiction of life under Stalin and the mind contortions required for survival. A stay up all night plot, the convolutions are jaw dropping. Yes some of it may be unrealistic but I bet you read it to the end.

The history

A time and place is introduced to many in this mystery. The ending is hokey, but the trip to Stalinist Russia is worth it. Trust no one. What life is like, when family friends strangers will rat you out in case they are suspected of sins against the state. Fascinating.

Snares you as neatly as the children

This was an impressive book for a first novel and I enjoyed reading it. Tom Rob Smith is to be congratulated on an extremely well-written debut and I'll be looking forward to seeing what else he produces. It occured to me as I was reading this that I've always enjoyed reading books about Russia or books written by Russians, and I can't ever remember reading any bad ones. It also occured to me that I've never read a happy book about Russia and Child 44 is no exception. The story is bleak and oppressive and forcefully conveys the daily paranoia and dangers of living in a totalitarian police state.

The story follows Leo Demidov, a WWII hero and now an officer in the MGB, the state security service. Leo is a diligent secret police apparatchik charged with rooting out dissidents and spies in Stalinist Russia. The book vividly conveys the bleakness and oppressiveness of this era and the meaninglessness of individuals measured against the needs of the state. Even a secret policeman has to live in constant caution for the communist inquisition ate it's own as readily as anyone. Leo's existence suffers a grim downward trajectory in this story as he finds his vestigial personal conscience keeps him from complying with the demands of the state and he, his friends and family, and literally thousands of others suffer horrifying consequences as he begins to comprehend, then act upon, the evidence that someone is systematically killing and torturing children across the Ukraine. Indoctrinated in the party line that the worker's paradise is crime-free, Leo initially doesn't believe the evidence, then struggles to comprehend the nature of such crimes, and ultimately tries to identify and apprehend the serial killer despite being forced to act against orders. To even admit the existence of such a killer would be a crime against the state.

This is a searing tale from start to finish and a great read. I struggled on whether to award four or five stars for this book, but I can be niggardly with my five stars and the book did feature a plot twist that felt contrived and forced to me. It's not a horrible plot twist, and surprise plot twists seem to be mandatory in today's thrillers, but the book was so very good all the way through it made the surprise ending feel a little heavy-handed and unnecessary. I'd call this four and a half stars, an impressive for a first effort, and well worth the read.

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