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.
Books in the Child 44 Series:
1. Child 44
3. Agent 6
| Primary Genre | Thriller and Suspense |
| Other Genres: | |
| Recommendations: |
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...
Child 44 features in the following genres: Thriller and Suspense, Action Adventure, Crime and Mystery, Debut Books of the Month, Debuts, eBooks of the Month, Books of the Month, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Recommendations
Child 44 is available in Paperback, Hardback
Child 44 was written by Tom Rob Smith and published by Simon & Schuster Ltd
Child 44 has 478 pages
