Child 44 (The Child 44 Trilogy)
In a country ruled by fear, no one is innocent. Stalin's Soviet Union is an official paradise, where citizens live free from crime and fear only one thing: the all-powerful state. Defending this system is idealistic security officer Leo Demidov, a war hero who believes in the iron fist of the law. But when a murderer starts to kill at will and Leo dares to investigate, the State's obedient servant finds himself demoted and exiled. Now, with only his wife at his side, Leo must fight to uncover shocking truths about a killer-and a country where crime doesn't exist.
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Community Reviews
This first third of this book describes in detail what it was like to live in Russia in the 1950's. No one could be trusted. The second two thirds of the book is about the main characters tracking down a serial killer that no one wants to believe exists but them. It took me awhile to get used to his style of writing but the unexpected twists and turns kept reading until late in the night. Wonderful read.
This book took me by surprise. The backdrop of Stalin's Soviet Union created constant tension among all of the characters and a chronic insecure feeling. So excited this is a trilogy.
I read this book years ago and I still want to shower when I remember it.
Don't get me wrong, I looked for the soft cover for months before I found it at a thrift shop, read it in one weekend while home alone - not the best choice, in hindsight - and I now recommend it to all my friends, if I believe they could stomach it.
Growing up in an ex-communist country, the engrained mentalities and socially accepted habits from that period still make my skin crawl. The main characters were so well described and I'm so glad they found a way of coming together. It would have been unforgivable otherwise, especially after all the suffering this book inflected on me.
On a personal note, my grandfather died the year before I read this book and reading this made me feel closer to him. On a few extremely rare instances, he told me some stories of his youth that were eerily close to what's described in this book.
Hence the need to shower.
Don't get me wrong, I looked for the soft cover for months before I found it at a thrift shop, read it in one weekend while home alone - not the best choice, in hindsight - and I now recommend it to all my friends, if I believe they could stomach it.
Growing up in an ex-communist country, the engrained mentalities and socially accepted habits from that period still make my skin crawl. The main characters were so well described and I'm so glad they found a way of coming together. It would have been unforgivable otherwise, especially after all the suffering this book inflected on me.
On a personal note, my grandfather died the year before I read this book and reading this made me feel closer to him. On a few extremely rare instances, he told me some stories of his youth that were eerily close to what's described in this book.
Hence the need to shower.
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