Staff Book Review

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

In the waning months of the Stalinist era in the Soviet Union, MGB (old KGB) agent Leo Demidov is an idealistic true believer in the system he serves. He persecutes dissidents and supposed spies, assuring himself that though regretful, it is necessary in order to safeguard the State. But all that changes when the system he has believed in so fervently turns on him, sending him and his wife into exile. This exile puts him on the path of something the State says can not exist: a ruthless serial killer who targets children. Finding renewed purpose, Leo makes it his mission to track the monster down, even while the communist state apparatus theatens to make his job impossible, and even kill him if he persists. Smith presents a truly unnverving atmosphere, where the State persecutes everyone suspected of disloyalty, and even friends and family can not trusted. Everyday people are forced to do terrible things in order to survive, and justice is hollow in a society where an "infallible" State dare not be questioned. And Leo is a compelling character, someone who wants to do the right thing, even if that eventually means going against all that he once believed in.

Book Review by Dave Folland at Cranesbill Books

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