Child 44
by Tom Rob Smith
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Book Summary Information
Author: Tom Rob SmithEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-04-01
ISBN: 0446402397
Number of pages: 528
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Book Reviews of Child 44
Book Review: A fictional expose of Soviet crime
Summary: 5 Stars
Funny thing, reviewing books. Where to start? What to say? Oddly enough, I'll begin with page 439, the very last page. No spoilers! Tom Rob Smith provides a list of books he used in researching his subject before he put fingers to keyboard:
He identifies a book detailing the real-life crimes of a particular Soviet citizen.
He includes a book on Russian police procedure, another on the justice system.
He lists books about the gulags, and ones about general historical background.
In the "Acknowledgments" sections he thanks a Russian friend who verified and/or corrected various pieces of information he included as components of Soviet life.
All the above just to say that "Child 44" is well-grounded: historically, socially, economically, educationally, and so on.
"Child 44" is fictional account of an actual murder spree committed by one person and those who pursued him and others who pursued the pursuers.
Tom Rob Smith, a screenwriter, offers this 2008 book as commentary on Soviet life: a serial killer of children, one the state will not recognize (Why, you ask? Because the Soviet Union was a country based on true equality designed to give citizens equal opportunities, when in reality there was nothing true or equal about this country. For the Soviets, to acknowledge serial killers, admits defeat in their State--even though the system actually benefited the Few and squashed/killed the Many.)
By the way, this was such a fascinating story, so engaging, that I did something I haven't done in many years: I had to look at the last page of the story to discover if....well, I'm not saying, but I found what I was looking for, enabling me to continue reading in tension, but, at least, with a tad of relief.
Smith writes as if he had a deck of cards, shuffled and laid out with intentionality: one card here, three cards there, a big stack just there, a few in that stack, and so on. Each stack (or single) represents a story line. Even from the beginning I found myself saying: I can't wait to discover how all these back stories fit together! Even from the beginning, I knew Smith would have no problem bringing all these elements and story lines together.
Other writers also work multiple story lines, but Smith's technique is different--as a reader, I didn't feel he left the reader hanging at the end of each episode.
Normally, I start flying through a story that gives this bit of story, then goes to the next, then back or to the next just to put all those pieces together. Instead I read to savor what Smith was doing as a storyteller. For sure, Smith is a gifted writer, not only in informational/historical story lines and characterizations, but in insights into the human heart without moralizing.
It is difficult to review a book like "Child 44" and avoid spoilers, but the novel is too well-constructed and considered to give any clues to ruin anything for the next reader. Suffice it to say that "Child 44" is a great reading experience!
However, here's a list of some story elements:
-A snowball filled with rocks and dirt
-sucking tree bark for nutrients
-a marriage kindled by tradition and fear
-hundreds of hooks on strings dangling at the end of the last railway car
-an injection of camphor oil as truth serum
-double agents within Soviet society
-Nazis as psychosis-induced monsters
That's it--a little list of important elements out of context. Are you induced to read this excellent novel? "Child 44" is well worth your time. Oh, the title? Explaining it would be part of those spoilers.
Summary of Child 44
A relentless page-turner.A terrifying evocation of a paranoid world where no one can be trusted.
A surprising, unexpected story of love and family, of hope and resilience.
CHILD 44 is a thriller unlike any you have ever read.
"There is no crime."
Stalin's
But in this society, millions do live in fear . . . of the State. Death is a whisper away. The mere suspicion of ideological disloyalty-owning a book from the decadent West, the wrong word at the wrong time-sends millions of innocents into the Gulags or to their executions. Defending the system from its citizens is the MGB, the State Security Force. And no MGB officer is more courageous, conscientious, or idealistic than Leo Demidov.
A war hero with a beautiful wife, Leo lives in relative luxury in
Then the impossible happens. A different kind of criminal-a murderer-is on the loose, killing at will. At the same time, Leo finds himself demoted and denounced by his enemies, his world turned upside down, and every belief he's ever held shattered. The only way to save his life and the lives of his family is to uncover this criminal. But in a society that is officially paradise, it's a crime against the State to suggest that a murderer-much less a serial killer-is in their midst. Exiled from his home, with only his wife, Raisa, remaining at his side, Leo must confront the vast resources and reach of the MBG to find and stop a criminal that the State won't admit even exists.
If all that Tom Rob Smith had done was to re-create Stalinist Russia, with all its double-speak hypocrisy, he would have written a worthwhile novel. He did so much more than that in Child 44, a frightening, chilling, almost unbelievable horror story about the very worst that Stalin's henchmen could manage. In this worker's paradise, superior in every way to the decadent West, the citizen's needs are met: health care, food, shelter, security. All one must offer in exchange are work and loyalty to the State. Leo Demidov is a believer, a former war hero who loves his country and wants only to serve it well. He puts contradictions out of his mind and carries on. Until something happens that he cannot ignore. A serial killer of children is on the loose, and the State cannot admit it.
To admit that such a murderer is committing these crimes is itself a crime against the State. Instead of coming to terms with it, the State's official position is that it is merely coincidental that children have been found dead, perhaps from accidents near the railroad tracks, perhaps from a person deemed insane, or, worse still, homosexual. But why does each victim have his or her stomach excised, a string around the ankle, and a mouth full of dirt? Coincidence? Leo, in disgrace and exiled to a country village, doesn't think so. How can he prove it when he is being pursued like a common criminal himself? He and his wife, Raisa, set out to find the killer. The revelations that follow are jaw-dropping and the suspense doesn't let up. This is a debut novel worth reading. --Valerie Ryan
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