Child 44 (Leo Demidov #1)

Tom Rob Smith

Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars
4.09 · Steam/Spice level: 2 of 5
Behind closed doors [?] · 65 ratings · 460 pages · Published: 29 Apr 2008
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
Set in the Soviet Union in 1953, this stellar debut from British author Smith offers appealing characters, a strong plot and authentic period detail. When war hero Leo Stepanovich Demidov, a rising star in the MGB, the State Security force, is assigned to look into the death of a child, Leo is annoyed, first because this takes him away from a more important case, but, more importantly, because the parents insist the child was murdered. In Stalinist Russia, there's no such thing as murder; the only criminals are those who are enemies of the state. After attempting to curb the violent excesses of his second-in-command, Leo is forced to investigate his own wife, the beautiful Raisa, who's suspected of being an Anglo-American sympathizer. Demoted and exiled from Moscow, Leo stumbles onto more evidence of the child killer. The evocation of the deadly cloud-cuckoo-land of Russia during Stalin's final days will remind many of Gorky Park and Darkness at Noon, but the novel remains Smith's alone, completely original and absolutely satisfying.
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    The 'Leo Demidov' series

    3.95 · 135 ratings
    length-long · historical · war · suspense · mystery · 20th century · contemporary
    Leo Demidov reading order and complete book list  ❯

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    Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

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