Child 44

By: Tom Rob Smith

Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris

Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award, Thriller and Suspense, 2009

Thriller Award Winner, Best First Novel, 2009

It is a society that is, officially, a paradise. Superior to the decadent West, Stalin's Soviet Union is a haven for its citizens, providing for all of their needs: education, health care, security. In exchange, all that is required is their hard work, and their loyalty and faith to the Soviet State.

Leo Demidov knows this better than most. A rising, prominent officer in the State Security force, Leo is a former war hero whose only ambition is to serve his country. To defend this workers' paradise - and to guarantee a secure life for his parents and for his wife, Raisa - Leo has spent his career guarding against threats to the State. Ideological crimes - crimes of thought, crimes of disloyalty, crimes against the revolution - are forcefully suppressed, without question.

And 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, all but sentenced to death. The only way to salvage what remains of his life 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.

To save his life and the lives of his family, Leo must confront the vast resources and reach of the security forces, with only Raisa remaining at his side, to find and stop a criminal that the State won't even admit exists.

©2008 Tom Rob Smith (P)2008 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Child 44 is a remarkable debut novel - inventive, edgy and relentlessly gripping from the first page to the last." (Scott Turow)

One of the best I've 'read'

Of the 30 or more books I've gotten from Audible, this is one of my favorites. Besides a compelling murder mystery wrapped in the hope of love, it's an interesting look at Stalin and post-Stalin Russia. There's lots of twist and plenty of drama. I had to force myself to stop listening each time I was forced to take a break.

Please let this story become a series! Please!

I love dark, involved mysteries, and this is the best I've listened to in a long time. The setting of Stalinist Russia becomes a character in itself, and the mere act of defying the spider's web of convention is sufficient to cause shuddering fear.

The mystery unfolds subtly, a piece at a time, until many small sections of the puzzle are joined. In the process we see the evolution of a brutal history that many of us were present to witness, but from the view of those who lived through it. We also see the revolution of people and relationships, in a living, compromised, messy, down-to-earth way. What survives, gives hope.

I want to see Leo and Raisa live on in literature to keep teaching the survival of the human spirit.

As always, Dennis Boutsikaris does what only the finest narrators do: he introduces the characters, and then disappears.

Gripping

This is the audio equivalent of a "page turner". A fictional account of the brutal life of Russia post WWII, with a protagonist you end up caring about. When listening by myself in the car I found myself going "Uh oh" and "Really?" Not for the overly squeamish, as the author doesn't spare the gruesome details. Still, I just wanted to keep listening. The narrator did a good job with the accents (at least for me, not being a Russian speaker. )

A murder mystery in name only

Do not let the description of the book deceive you. This isn’t about a serial killer. There are crimes committed by a serial killer and the main character is a detective attempting to catch him, but the story is not about that. The story is about how crime is treated in the Soviet State at the end of Stalin’s reign. Crime did not exist in the Soviet Union because Soviet ideology said it couldn’t exist. For it to exist, the criminal had to be an aberration; a homosexual, a Jew, a foreigner, or a spy were the only kinds of people who could commit “crime.” The vast majority of police duties was finding traitors and spies. Our main character Leonid Demidov, is just such a man. He is a committed Soviet and he believes in the state. The majority of the story is devoted to his ideological disillusionment with Soviet Russia and his attempts to redeem himself for his horrid actions as a State Security officer by finding a serial killer, something his old ideology would not allow him to be exists.

The book has two strengths. The first is its characters. Leonid’s disillusionment and personal redemption are very believable and his relationship with his wife evolves in fascinating ways over the course of the story. His wife Raisa is another fascinating character, whose past has created a jaded cold calculating survivor who also must grow and evolve throughout the story. A cast of engaging side characters and an enjoyable antagonist round off the story.

The other strength is the setting. I have no idea how true to life this fictional account of Stalinist Russia is, but western readers will find it a fascinatingly alien world for a detective story. In this world preventing the admission that a crime occurred is more important than catching the culprit. The vivid details of 1950’s Russia are sure to enthrall crime readers. The plot points related to Leonid attempting to fight the Soviet machine, set up a criminal case, and solve it are fascinating.

It’s good that these elements are effective because the actual crime plot is ludicrous. The revelation at the end stinks of intentional emotional manipulation and the mechanics of the crimes are laughably explained. It also ends surprisingly abruptly, and the changes at the end of the story are almost too drastic to swallow.

The performance is fine, if somewhat underwhelming. Dennis Boutsikaris does a passable Russian accent even if he only uses it for spoken dialogue and not internal thoughts (which there is a lot of in this) but he is only convincing as adult males. His female voices blend together and his children characters, boys or girls, are indistinguishable from each other.

The book is probably worth it for the setting and characters and the changes between Stalin’s and Nikita Khrushchev’s Soviet Russia are probably fascinating food for thought in the sequel, but I hoped Tom Rob Smith has learned to write a better crime yarn since this.

Child 44 (Unabridged)

The author makes irony the perfect tool for submerging your imagination into the twisted world communism created. Einstein was mistaken when he said, "the only thing bigger than the universe is humanity's stupidity." After reading this book, one can see how our stupidity is compounded under communism. How sad it must be to live in fear of thy neighbor.

Excellent Book!

I found this book very entertaining. I loved the story and the background and really felt the hardships that Leo and Ryeesa faced. I look forward to the sequals. Dennis Boutsikaris's narration was great. I have listened to another book narrated by him and he is fantastic and was the perfect choice for this book.

Makes you appreciate things

We are always told how we should "appreciate the freedoms we have in this country" but you really have to read this book to truly understand what that means. This book really held my attention and interest and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Gripping and Satisfying

What a tremendous story! From the very beginning, the author does a stellar job in taking you to a seemingly unfathomable scene. You’re taken on an incredible journey, and you find yourself “switching sides” at times.

The ride is tragic, dangerous, and thrilling, and the story’s perfect ending left me smiling and ready to seek out this author’s other works.

A must read

I loved it. I can not wait to listen to the next book. It is terrifying how some of this is happening in the USA.

This would make a great movie!

Yeah, yeah, I know. They already made a movie by this name that is supposedly of this book.
But, like I said, IF they had made the movie based on this book, what a great movie it would have been!

The reader does a great job pulling you in right from the beginning. And what an opening, the cat then the kid. Unforgettable. (And not in the movie)

Another favorite scene: Leo and his wife on the train. I won't say more. You'll find out. But let me, as an aside, tell that my wife and I had a fight and I went for a walk, stewing as I walked (for the first time ever) along the railroad tracks in our neighborhood. Fortunately I had my earbuds and phone with me so I could listen to the latest book I'd become engrossed in: Child 44. And as I walked the tracks, little did I know there was a train scene in it as it began after I started my little blow-off-steam walk. It was so cool listening to it as I walked balancing on an actual rail and hopping along the railroad ties. The fascinating scene must have gone for an hour or so, and by the time it was done I was looking forward to telling my wife all about it. And I just knew it would be just as riveting in the movie Child 44, that I had never scene, so we rented it. We pretty much slept through it, but then when I saw the railroad scene coming up I woke her up. "Here's the scene!" We watched the short little stereotypical fight scene that totally wasn't the story at all. And then they just arrived at the station. What!!?

Just read the book, folks.
Or, better yet... LISTEN to this great read!
(Don't watch the movie or you won't think it's a book worth reading. The author must be furious!)