Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (Epub)

Description

Under Stalin’s terrifying regime, families live in fear. When the all-powerful State claims there is no such thing as crime, who dares disagree?

AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER IN OVER 30 LANGUAGES

An ambitious secret police officer, Leo Demidov believes he’s helping to build the perfect society. But when he uncovers evidence of a killer at large – a threat the state won’t admit exists – Demidov must risk everything, including the lives of those he loves, in order to expose the truth.

A THRILLER UNLIKE ANY YOU HAVE EVER READ

But what if the danger isn’t from the killer he is trying to catch, but from the country he is fighting to protect?

Nominated for seventeen international awards and inspired by a real-life investigation, CHILD 44 is a relentless story of love, hope and bravery in a totalitarian world. From the screenwriter of the acclaimed television series, THE ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI VERSACE: AMERICAN CRIME STORY.

User’s Reviews

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Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ I first saw the movie based on Child 44. Intrigued, I wanted to read the book. So glad I did–great story, lots of suspense, a real page turner. I enjoy historical fiction, because I want to learn something new as I’m enjoying a story. I was born before Stalin’s death and grew up during the Cold War, a very fearful time I well remember as a child. Most students of history know about the horrid days of Stalin’s USSR–but to really understand the terror, it takes a book that tells a story of realistic characters that flesh out what those times were really like. Child 44 is a book that does that well. I’ll be purchasing the other two books in the series, knowing that the era of Nikita Khrushchev has begun at the end of Child 44. Highly recommend!!!

⭐ Child 44 is a book I never would have picked up on my own. It’s this month’s book club selection. When I began reading it, I had no knowledge of what I might be getting into or even what the book was about. The first chapter turned my stomach, painting a picture of starvation, bitter cold and fear in 1933 Russia. Honestly, I thought I was headed for a twisted version of The Hunger Games.But I hung in there. The story fast forwards twenty years. Leo is a rising star in the MGB, the state security force. He’s assigned to look into the death of child, whose family insists he was murdered. The communist state brushes the child’s death off as an accident. Leo is a war hero, who loves his country, is loyal and follows the state party line. His wife Raisa, is a teacher who goes along with the state as a way to survive. When Leo discovers that a serial killer is on the loose, he and Raisa go against the state and set out to find the criminal.Child 44 is full of twists and turns. It’s a page turner, so be prepared. What struck me the most however, is the range of emotion that this story could evoke. The evil torture of the government on its citizens disgusted me. The cunning of a killer toward children made me cringe. And the tenderness of the love story between Leo and Raisa, brought tears to my eyes.What a book can make me feel is the gauge I use to rate a story. After the first ten pages, I never thought I could make it through this book. Since it’s so rare that I don’t finish a book, I kept going. Child 44 is a wonderfully written thriller. The story’s “Ah Hah” moment is perfectly placed, releasing some of the tension, but not revealing all the answers the reader is anxious to learn. Mr. Smith’s writing style is superb. The subject matter, Stalinist Russia, is a tough one especially for someone like me, who has always lived in a free society. Child 44 opened my eyes to the reality of life in a communist state in the 1950’s.And that’s what I love about book club. I’m forced to go outside my comfort zone and learn something new, which is a good thing.

⭐ This is a great book, but it ‘borrows’ so heavily from Robert Cullen’s non-fiction book (“The Killer Department: Detective Viktor Burakov’s Eight-Year Hunt for the Most Savage Serial Killer in Russian History”) and the subsequent ‘based upon’ film (“Citizen X”) that I’m really surprised the author/publisher doesn’t at least give a nod to that case as an inspirational source. In fact, I’d go so far as to say Tom Rob Smith needs to tip his hat to Cullen’s work with a ‘based upon’ in the title. This may be a small point in the minds of some readers. It may constitute plagiarism in the minds of others. What bothers me the most is all the praise Smith is receiving for having such a unique idea and creation. It’s actually anything but that.

⭐ I know I write a lot of positive reviews. I rarely write a review if I didn’t like a book, or didn’t finish it. If the story entertained me, and the writing was decent, I’ll give a book at least three stars, sometimes four. Rarely, however, do I come across a book like this one: eloquently written, fascinating, expertly paced, with a well-researched setting, and believably flawed, yet heroic characters. I picked this book up because the library’s mystery book club is reading it for February’s meeting. I looked at the number of pages, and figured I’d better start it early in the month, so I could finish it in time. Then I raced through it. Finished it in about three days. I read a hundred pages at a whack, at least, sometimes more.The setting is a story in itself: newly communist Russia under Stalin’s rule (1930’s through 50’s). The government proclaimed that the crime rate was exceptionally low, so it had to be. The police decide that a child’s death is accidental, even though his mouth has been filled with something resembling dirt, and his stomach has been surgically removed. The father is MGB (Moscow police), and he insists his four-year-old son, Arkady, was murdered, but the other officers close the case, labeling it an accidental death. The child was playing by the railroad tracks and must have been hit by a train. “Efficiency was far more important than the truth.”Leo, a detective, and the main character, goes along to get along. He understands and complies with the code. The job of detecting consists of chasing down a suspect and torturing him into confessing.Due to the state’s insistence that there is an exceptionally low crime rate, and the efficiency with which any crimes are solved and criminals punished, several child murders are “solved”, and not connected. Arkady’s is an accident, another murder is blamed on a disabled teenager, another on a homosexual. People are rounded up, and either imprisoned or executed.There’s a serial killer on the loose, and he’s murdering children at an alarming rate. Even if the state wasn’t in denial about his rampage, these cases would be difficult to solve in a world with no technology, but the fact that law enforcement is not allowed to use common sense and even rudimentary detection techniques makes the apprehension of this killer impossible. Until…Enter Leo and his wife, Raisa, an elementary school teacher. That’s all I’m going to write about the plot, except that it’s ingenious and captivating. I already ordered the other two books in the trilogy.

⭐ This book perfectly captures the paranoia and propaganda of counties controlled by communist parties, such as Russia and PR China.I was surprised by the many similarities of these two countries. Even today, I still hear people say that they missed Chairman Mao’s time, because of the low crime rate. What a joke!I was born after all of the dark days of China and was raised by my grandparents. So many surviving stories told by my grandparents during their struggle under the controls of Mao’s China. For instance, the stories about being unable to trust anyone, including your direct family members. My grandma had been asked to denounce my grandfather directly by the communist party officer after my grandfather was arrested for the crime of being an anti revolutionary. His name was cleared a few years before I was born which was in 70’s.If you want to understand the emotional struggles of these times, read the book.If you want to read a good thriller about a serial killer, read this book as well.Highly recommend!

⭐ In Stalin’s Russia citizens are made to believe in the infallibility of the state, its teachings and rulings. So much so that crime is portrayed as a capitalist aberration. Leo Demidov is a top official who is doggedly devoted to the state and all its ideals until the bodies of innocent children turn up in alarming numbers all over the country.Smith has crafted a superb thriller that grabs readers from the first page. Child 44 is suspenseful and full of tension until the very last page. Smith writes for an intelligent reader and although clues are given throughout the clues are not spoon-fed to you and the plot is in no way predictable.Readers are given a brutally vivid account of living conditions under Stalin’s regime and history lovers will finish this book wanting to know more about Russia’s history. I’ve deliberately not gone into detail about the plot because all you need to know is that this book is the stay-up-until-3am-devouring-each-page kind of book!

⭐ What this person really loved about the book was the dark (even bitter) satirical humour that constantly occurred throughout the story. Certainly without it, a reader might not live through the night or might wake up screaming with nightmares or do worse. Coupled with that, the author picked a difficult subject about a paranoid Stalin in the 1950’s where murder, theft, r&pe and other such crimes were symptoms of Western capitalism and as such, didn’t occur here. So don’t even think about reporting such things because you’ll be locked up and re-educated (beaten) by the police or worse by the Stasi ~ the secret police. Lastly, the reader finds two central characters (Leo and Raisa) who want to do the right thing for two little children whom the totalitarian system has failed them miserably. Like this person said, it certainly not always an easy read, but an incredibly worthwhile one!!! 5 BRILLIANT SHINING STARS.

⭐ A dark, Russian mystery that takes the reader into a troubled past. Soviet bureaucracy is at its worst when a young detective is trying to solve a crime that no one believes is happening. Soviet Russia is a perfect society where crimes against innocent children are not supposed to occur. But, of course, it does. This book is not light reading. It is heavy and thought provoking. It is worth reading twice.

⭐ I was very hesitant about trying this book even with the great reviews, but I’m so glad that I did. Although the book centers on Leo and his experiences in trying to find a serial killer during a time in Russia when murder itself just doesn’t exist, it is just as much about all the other players both living and dead. Smith does a fabulous job in character development or lack of same in portraying the atmosphere of that time. I found the book engrossing and a learning experience. I don’t find that in novels much anymore. It also shows that I know little about Russian history. That being said, it’s definitely fiction but based in many ways on a real serial killer. I’m going to move on to Book 2 in the Trilogy and look forward another great story.

⭐ This is a essentially a mystery and crime thriller about a serial murderer. However, what I thought the book was about was the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s USSR. I had forgotten or was unaware of some of the historical aspects of the USSR during this time period, the great faminine, the great purges. The other theme of the book is individual versus the state. The state does not want to admit any wrong doing. The state does not want to even admit that there is any crime and certainly no crimes like murder. The novel is about one individual who fights to investigate and find the murderer, with no other help from the other state authorities. I was interested by the soviet USSR and how it resembled large multinational capitalist companies. Think about how capitalist multinational companies are ruled by a dictator, the state / company does no wrong, there are ambitious senior staff who will do anything to get ahead, personal vendettas between staff, scape goats, with staff fired or “sent to siberia” and the lowest of workers has no knowledge of what is happening at the top of the company but still fears for their job security. Then the company is sold the old dictator is out, all his senior managers are removed, a new managment team comes in to takeover the company for a period of time, until it is sold or mergered once again.

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