March 2008 Debut of the Month.

Winner of the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2008.

Shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2008.

Costa Book Awards 2008 Judges' comment: "This gripping, unputdownable thriller is an exciting new addition to the genre."

This is a brilliant first novel from an exceptional writer. Set in Stalinist Russia, it is a tight and gripping tale of an MGB officer who starts to question his superiors and sees through the doctrine of Communist propaganda. Not only is it a compelling murder mystery it is also the story of a man’s journey from childhood to manhood, with surprising twists and turns. The narrative evokes the grimness of a Russian winter in all its bleakness - Doctor Zhivago it is not. The final 100 pages kept me up until the small hours.

Synopsis

When fear silences a nation, one man must speak the truth.

The Soviet Union, 1953.

Stalin's iron grip is at its tightest, enforced by the Ministry of State Security - a secret police force whose brutality is no secret at all. Under its regime, the people are commanded to believe that crime simply does not exist.

But when the body of a young boy is discovered on train tracks in Moscow, Officer Leo Demidov - a war hero, utterly dedicated to the ministry - is surprised to hear that the boy's family are convinced it was murder. Leo's superiors order him to ignore this and he is obliged to obey. But something in him knows there is more.

Sensing his doubts, the Ministry threatens Leo, giving him no choice but to turn his back on his once-beloved Party. Disgraced, exiled with his wife Raisa to a town deep in the Ural Mountains, Leo realises that the crime he helped cover up in the capital has happened here too.

The murder of another child.

Risking everything, Leo and Raisa will pursue a horrifying killer - even if doing so makes them enemies of the State...

About the Author

Tom Rob Smith was born in 1979 to a Swedish mother and an English father and was brought up in London where he still lives. He graduated from Cambridge in 2001 and spent a year in Italy on a creative writing scholarship. Tom has worked as a screenwriter for the past five years.   Author photo © Bildschön/Mark Bassett More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation