[Child 44 + Leo Demidov #1 + Tom Rob Smith + Read Mar 2014 + 5★ + Favorite]
[My Thoughts]
Wow! I love the feeling of finishing a great book and to know it was worth my time. With Child 44 that was exactly what happened - from the beginning, I was hooked! I was surprised to learn this is Tom Rob Smith's debut novel and I will definitely read book #2 The Secret Speech. But if you're tired of trilogies, Child 44 can be read as standalone.
Don't fall into the same mistake I did - don't wait too long to read this book!
Child 44 tells the story of Liev Demidov, an agent of MGB - the Soviet State security service during the age of Stalin. In a time when each person could be an enemy , the state was ready arrest them - guilty or no guilty. Nobody had the benefit of the doubt. A cruel regime that Smith's words were perfect to describe - I could feel the fear and desperation. A Soviet society that was devastated and abused by a system without compassion.
Liev was the perfect soldier who believes in the State and was always willing to fulfill its orders without questions. An idealist. But after witnessing the interrogation of an innocent man, his loyalty begins to waver, and when ordered to investigate his own wife, Raisa, Liev is forced to choose where his heart truly lies. He opened his eyes to the abuses of the MGB and went after justice in a state where there is no crime, while trying to win the love of his wife. In a claustrophobic narrative, we follow the couple and their new allies on the hunt for the criminal.
If you're looking for an anguishing unpredictable historical mystery, this is the book for you!
✳ The novel is based on the crimes of Andrei Chikatilo, also known as the Rostov Ripper, who was convicted of and executed for 52 murders in the Soviet Union.
✳ Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and Gary Oldman will star in the film adaptation directed by Daniel Espinosa and produced by Ridley Scott.
✳ I read a Portuguese translation of this book.
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