Book Review- Tom Rob Smith- Child 44

Tom Rob Smith- Child 44 (Grand Central Publishing 2008) 3.5 Stars

The war has just ended and the Soviet Union’s citizens live in fear. They are to believe that regular crimes do not happen, but people are still arrested. Those who are arrested rarely survive and are believed to be either spies, or disloyal to the fundamental beliefs of the country. When an MGB officer, Leo Demidov discovers that a murderer is on the loose nothing will stop him from hunting down this ruthless serial killer, not even demotions, denouncing, and having his life thrown amuck. He will do whatever it takes to bring this madman to justice.

I found this book to be a rather slow read that took a while for me to get into. It has a great plot and wonderfully created characters, some of them are even wonderfully villainous. The author though has a wordiness about him that slows down the pace of the book and although it creates a vivid image in your mind, it can take away from the interest of the reader. I loved the last 150 pages of this book though as they really are a gripping read and some of the twists thrown in are great. That being said I wish that the author had found a way to cut a little bit of detail to keep the pace going and make it a less slow read. I also found it very interesting to get some incite into the Soviet mindset and I think that Smith does an amazing job of getting the paranoia across. I would recommend this book to those who are interested in the books involving the post-war Soviet Union.

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Tony Peters

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www.eloquentbooks.com/kidsonacase.html