Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith – Book review

Child 44 is a tense crime story, and perhaps an even more thrilling historical-political thriller. This debut novel, the beginning of the essay about Lee Demidov, has made numerous awards for Tom Rob Smith, including the Best Thriller Award, Best First Book and Best Debutant (UK).Child 44 is the first in the trilogy of Leo Demidov, book The Secret Speech is the second part of trilogy and it ends with the novel  Agent 6.

The body of a brutally murdered child was discovered. Killer is an obviously disturbed criminal. Leo Demidov, an investigative officer of the MGB, is in the process of an important investigation when he receives an order to visit the murdered child’s family (the father of the child is a lower servant) to explain that their accident is by no means a crime and that any contrary statement is a dangerous traitorous behavior. According to that, there is no need to organize hunting for the culprit, right? Leo is fully loyal to his country. His commitment to executing orders can be measured with his devotion to his parents. I do not want to spoil this book to you, so I will stop here. I completely enjoyed in the book. I have watched the movie, but the book is much better.

This display of horror of Stalinism, through the search for a murderer who does not need a better camouflage than the killing system in which he is, is not easy to follow without discomfort in heart. Especially because we do this through the eyes of someone like Leo, a man with dark past, even darker than he knows himself, who begins to understand slowly to who and what he served with enthusiasm his whole life.

Through the ocean of repression and terror, we are following our heroes. Child 44 written by Tom Rob Smith is remarkable start of an exceptional trilogy.

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