The Secret Speech

By: Tom Rob Smith

Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris

Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

It is 1956. Three years ago, Leo Demidov moved on from his career as a member of the state security force. As an MGB officer, Leo had been responsible for untold numbers of arrests and interrogations. But as a reward for his heroic service in stopping a killer who had terrorized citizens throughout the country, Leo was granted the authority to establish and run a homicide department in Moscow.

Now, he strives to see justice done on behalf of murder victims in the Soviet capital, while at the same time working to build a life with his wife Raisa and their adopted daughters, Zoya and Elena.

Leo's past, however, can not be left behind so easily, and the legacy of his former career - the friends and families of those he had arrested as a state security officer - continues to hound him. Now, a new string of murders in the capital threaten to bring Leo's past crashing into the present, shattering the fragile foundations of his new life in Moscow, and putting his daughter Zoya's life at risk.

Faced with a threat to his family, Leo is launched on a desperate, personal mission that will take him to the harsh Siberian Gulags, to the depths of the hidden criminal underworld, and into the heart of Budapest and the Hungarian uprising.

©2009 Grand Central Publishing (P)2009 Hachette

The second installment!

Dennis B is one of the best narrators I have ever listened to. Whenever I listen to one of his narrations I feel like I am listening to an old friend. Having said that the book was also excellent. While not as good as the first in the series (child 44), it is pretty close! Once again, we follow Leo as he solves a new mystery. I have already listened to the last book in this series and am so sorry it has come to an end. I hope the author decides to write more one day.

Enjoyed it

Agree with other reviews that you read Child 44 first... then this one for sure. I was not as disappointed as some of the other reviewers but I do agree that his first book is outstanding. I found this book to also stand on it's own merits and it thoroughly engaged me to the end. Enjoy!

Not a murder mystery

I liked the book overall. As with the first book, the setting and surrounding events were more interesting than the overall story. Set in post-Stalinist Russia, it mainly deals with the reaction to the denunciation of Stalin. As a history teacher I enjoyed getting a better sense of living through those times. My biggest problem was more related to dashed expectations. The first book ends with the establishment of the first homicide investigation unit in the USSR. I thought it would be interesting to see how that would work and see an investigation in process. If you want that listen to Gorky Park because you won't get it here. The homicide unit is dispensed with very quickly in favor of action/adventure set pieces in a Gulag and in Hungary during the 1956 uprising with Leo more as a Russian James Bond than an solver of mysteries.

Dissapointing

While I enjoyed his previous, Child 44, this one annoyed me a lot. Too much soap opera, too many locations, repeated (sort of ) hidden family history etc. Alltough the setting is Soviet union, the reading of all dialog with stereotypic eastern accent gets silly pretty fast.

great book...but not as good as child 44

good listen

The new definition of grim

I liked Child 44 both for its somewhat over the top plot but also for the atmospherics of Stalinist Russia and the remarkable quality to understand and communicate life in a truly totalitarian state. A metaphor for all other such states and a reminder that intrusion that may mark current Western societies are faint reminders of what was a terrible and unforgiving state. BUT this book is so unremittingly grim, desolate, desperately post apocalyptic and fundamentally full of cruelty and horror - continuous and multilateral - that the plot doesn't hold per se and it was a struggle - one that I should have given up - to get to the end. Won't go on to listen to the last of the trilogy. He should have stuck to one and done.

Not nearly as good as "Child 44"

This is not a bad book. However, "Child 44" was so good and so interesting, this was a disappointment. It is not as original and not as fascinating.

I regret giving a negative review after having liked the precursor novel so much. Maybe the author set too high a standard with that work.

What a Stupid Plot!

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A better story line

What was most disappointing about Tom Rob Smith’s story?

I really enjoyed "Child 44", yet this story line in the second book is so improbably ( spoiler: Leo masquerading as a prisoner on a ship to the Gulag ) stupid that I am quitting after just a few chapters.....Major disappointment

Poor follow-up to Child 44

This book opens with an interesting and believable premise, but quickly turns into a parody of a James Bond movie. Over and over, ridiculous action sequences are inserted that have no bearing on the story, and in some cases they're so sketchy that they had me laughing at loud.

The villains behave in entirely unbelievable ways, and I found myself correctly guessing some of the twists near the end, not because of clues the author had provided, but because the twists were the most ridiculous coincidences I could imagine.

Awful follow-up to "Child 44"

"Child 44" is one of the best murder mysteries I have ever read, which made this all the more disappointing. Simply put, "The Secret Speech" is terrible. It's not a mystery at all, but rather a very crappy thriller that fails to thrill. It is merely a collection of outlandish scenes strung together with no ultimate goal. The character of Zoya, who launches the action of "The Secret Speech" is one of the more annoying characters ever put to paper.

The narrator is the same as "Child 44" and thankfully he does not let us down in the same way that the author did. The sole bright spot in an otherwise bleak disappointment.