Child 44

509 pages

Published Jan. 8, 2009 by Grand Central Pub..

OCLC Number:
317504837

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4 stars (20 reviews)

Child 44 (published in 2008) is a thriller novel by British writer Tom Rob Smith. This is the first novel in a trilogy featuring former MGB Agent Leo Demidov, who investigates a series of gruesome child murders in Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union.

10 editions

Review of 'Child 44 (Leo Demidov, #1)' on 'GoodReads'

3 stars

A serial killer novel with a twist: it's located in the Soviet Union during the Stalin era. Don't forget that according to the communist propaganda crime only happened in capitalist countries being the consequences of a corrupt society.

Which means that the main character of this novel undertakes the investigation of more than 40 child murders against the police system.

A very vivid description of life under a communist system where everybody mistrusts everybody else, down you close members of the family be it wife, brother or son. This aspect of the book comes to a peak when Leo, the main character, has to sneak in an apartment occupied by two different families at night in the dark in order to be able to whisper a few words to his parents for fear of waking up the other family and be denounced and arrested.

Review of 'Enfant 44' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Dans ma PAL depuis déjà longtemps, il aura fallu les Quais du Polar pour passer à l’acte. Le choix du contexte historique est pour le moins audacieux, autant dire que ça jette un froid. Leo Demidov évolue dans une société formatée pour le bien-être de la communauté, et où tout et n’importe quoi est susceptible d’être interprété comme une menace, et la menace, on l’éradique. Goulag ou exécution, faites votre choix. Votre voisin a oublié de vous dire bonjour ? C’est sans doute un dissident ! C’est dans cet environnement profondément anxiogène bien réel et pas si lointain que Leo, agent dévoué et un poil aveuglé par son devoir et sa terrible routine, va ouvrir les yeux sur sa vie. À la veille de la mort de Staline, le régime entretient un climat de terreur et ne fait pas de quartier. Mal typiquement occidental, le crime a été officiellement éradiqué, …

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Subjects

  • Secret service -- Soviet Union -- Fiction.
  • Suspense fiction.
  • Soviet Union -- History -- 1925-1953 -- Fiction.

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