Child 44 - Hardcover

Smith, Tom Rob

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1847371264 ISBN 13: 9781847371263

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2008

Synopsis

First edition hard cover, with unclipped dust jacket, both in good condition. General shelf and handling wear, and to note, DJ has a large watermark to inside, stained by the red board. Watermark has transferred through DJ/board to rear pastedown and to the top edge of latter content, but there is no impact on the text within, this is unmarked. Rear board has lost surface colour due to watermark. Pageblock is lightly tanned. Within, pages are tightly bound, and content is clear and bright. CN

About this title

Review

If all that Tom Rob Smith had done was to re-create Stalinist Russia, with all its double-speak hypocrisy, he would have written a worthwhile novel. He did so much more than that in Child 44, a frightening, chilling, almost unbelievable horror story about the very worst that Stalin's henchmen could manage. In this worker's paradise, superior in every way to the decadent West, the citizen's needs are met: health care, food, shelter, security. All one must offer in exchange are work and loyalty to the State. Leo Demidov is a believer, a former war hero who loves his country and wants only to serve it well. He puts contradictions out of his mind and carries on. Until something happens that he cannot ignore. A serial killer of children is on the loose, and the State cannot admit it.

To admit that such a murderer is committing these crimes is itself a crime against the State. Instead of coming to terms with it, the State's official position is that it is merely coincidental that children have been found dead, perhaps from accidents near the railroad tracks, perhaps from a person deemed insane, or, worse still, homosexual. But why does each victim have his or her stomach excised, a string around the ankle, and a mouth full of dirt? Coincidence? Leo, in disgrace and exiled to a country village, doesn't think so. How can he prove it when he is being pursued like a common criminal himself? He and his wife, Raisa, set out to find the killer. The revelations that follow are jaw-dropping and the suspense doesn't let up. This is a debut novel worth reading. --Valerie Ryan

About the Author

Tom Rob Smith is a 28-year-old screenwriter. He graduated from Cambridge in 2001. CHILD 44 is his first novel.

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1847371264
• ISBN 13: 9781847371263
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 473