Child 44 is definitely one of the best book I’ve read.
Seriously.
Not only is it a very graphic murder mystery, it is also a non-stop – action – chase – get caught – escape – chase again – thriller as well.
This is Tom Rob Smith’s first novel and I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next. Let’s just hope it will not be like another favourite of mine, Scott Smith, who took 13 years to write The Ruins after his first novel A simple Plan, both excellent books, but I digress…
Child 44 came after the author read about and researched the true story of Andrei Chikatilo, a serial killer on a decade long killing spree that took place just before the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 90′s. He found the setting so great that he wanted to tell his own version of the story. He changed the timing from the 80′s to the 50′s, putting the hero in graver danger under the Stalin regime, and also dramatized the reasoning of the serial killer to act as he did.
One of the reason I thoroughly enjoyed this book is because TR Smith has the amazing ability to make you feel the absolute paranoia that must have been part of the daily life of the citizens of Soviet Union, how none of them could really trust anyone and had to continuously appear to live and act the way the State dictated they should. This paranoia also made you like a character one minute and then totally doubted that same person in the next chapter. It was amazing to never know if any of them were really good or bad. The story is violent, graphic, doesn’t hold any punches and is exciting. There is no time to rest, the action keeps on coming, and when you finally catch your breath, it’s starts all over again. I probably would’ve read that book in one or two days on a beach vacation, it was hard to put down after my lunch breaks (which is when I usually read these days).
Child 44 is now sold in at least 30 countries… but not in Russia… yet.
I have just found out that Tom Rob Smith has sold the rights to this book to one of my favourite director, Ridley Scott. He is set to direct (well, at this time anyway). Just like The Ruins, I will be at the movies the Friday it comes out.
READ THIS BOOK, GODDAMMIT!!!
Thanks for the review of the book – I was just on Audible.com and thought of downloading it but wasn’t sure how good it might be.
Thanks for suggesting Lovely Bones – not the sort of stuff I usually read but loved it anyways – parts of it were a little too real and hard to get through but I’ll remember this book for a long time.
A similar book that I also enjoyed that you might want to check out is “The Stolen Chid” by Keith Donohue. This is also one of those books that will stay with me for a very long time.
Enjoying your website!
Cheers
Mike.