Review of Child 44 (2015) by Kalieb M — 08 Oct 2015

-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.

Themes:

-This novel, the first in a trilogy, takes inspiration from the crimes of Andrei Chikatilo ("Evilenko") (though he operated much later), also known as the Rostov Ripper, the Butcher of Rostov, and the Red Ripper, who was convicted of and executed for 52 murders in the Soviet Union. In addition to highlighting the problem of Soviet-era criminality in a state where "there is no crime", the novel explores the paranoia of the age, the education system, the secret police apparatus, orphanages, homosexuality in the USSR, and mental hospitals.

-The second book in the trilogy, called The Secret Speech (April 2009) like its predecessor and successor, Agent 6 (published by Simon and Schuster in the UK in July 2011 and in the US in January 2012), features the character Leo Demidov and his wife, Raisa.

--Child 44 was nominated for 17 international awards and won seven. It has been translated into 36 languages. Ridley Scott optioned the film rights.

Reception:

-The New York Times called Child 44 a "tightly woven", "ingeniously plotted", "high-voltage story". The Sunday Telegraph praised it as a "memorable debut": "the atmosphere of paranoia and paralysing fear is brilliantly portrayed and unremittingly grim". Kirkus Reviews gave it a starred review, calling it "smashing"; "nerve-wracking pace and atmosphere camouflage wild coincidences". In an Observer review, Peter Guttridge praised it as a "thrilling, intense piece of fiction".

-Another New York Times reviewer called it "an adequate police procedural", and a review of the paperback edition in The Guardian said "the story is exciting, but the characters and dialogue are underdeveloped, and the prose studiously bland". This view was mirrored by a further review for The Guardian, by Angus Macqueen, who stated that while "this is a compelling detective story", "the desire for the plot to encompass every element of Soviet history eventually overrides any sense of artistic seriousness". Macqueen did state that the novel "remains a real achievement" and that it delivers "all the pleasures of a brilliant airport read".