A Book Review: Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

Have you ever trusted in something, so faithfully and fiercely that you made it the centre of your whole being, only to discover that the truth is not what you think it is?

Perhaps it was a time when you devoted your whole heart to a belief system; a belief that you served devotedly, a belief that you thought was infallible and righteous. Then your heart was ripped out from your chest, when evidences began to surface, showing you that your belief system is in fact, fallible and harmful. What a traumatic experience it must be!

Have you had that experience? If your answer this question with an yes, then you have a lot in common with a man called Leo Demidov, who is a fictional character and the protagonist in Tom Rob Smith's award winning thriller novel, Child 44.

Last year, Hollywood adapted Child 44 into a movie and it attracted mostly negative reviews. I have not seen the movie so I am not fit to comment on the film. Yet, critics and audiences both rated the movie poorly. The general consensus is that something from the book was lost during the process of creating a movie adaptation. In other words, if the story of Child 44 interests you, then you should read the book before watching the movie.

I read Child 44 this weekend and loved every page of it. This unrelenting thriller is now sitting on my list of favorite books. I am writing a review to recommend this book to my fellow readers, because I think Child 44 is simply too good a novel to be missed out on.

Synopsis:

The Soviet Union, governed by Stalin, is a crime-free paradise!

Crime? Crime only happens in the West because of their corrupted ideologies. This is why, comrade Demidov, working for MGB means you are serving a higher purpose. In MGB, we are fighting for Soviet Union, the last bastion standing against the invading darkness of western democracies. So, comrade Demidov, as a MGB officer you must be ready to arrest, silence, and denounce any potential enemies or traitors in our great state, for the greater good.

It was a cold and wintry day in Moscow when Leo Demidov, a war hero and a rising star in MGB, stepped out of his office to investigate a new case. Leo loves serving the state as an MGB officer, he arrested enemies of the state, by the hundreds, and his career is lit with promises of great things to come. Leo cannot be more certain that Soviet Union's system is infallible. It is a system that has created the best place in the world, and its citizens are living in an eternal status of joy and harmony.

But Leo has a new case. One of Leo's subordinates, a lower ranking MGB officer, is grieving for the death of his son. The poor boy's body, cruelly and horribly mutilated, was discovered next to the railway, and the father asserts that his son was murdered. Murdered! But surely, crime doesn't exist in Soviet Union so this father is spreading dangerous falsities about the state. Such falsehoods about Soviet Union must be silenced. Leo's new assignment, is to convince the boy's father that his son's death is an accident.

So Leo tread the snow-ridden streets of Moscow to visit the grief stricken family and investigate the case. Little did Leo know that this visit is about to turn his world up side down, where his estranged wife would become his only ally, and together they would discover the shocking truth about a killer and his beloved state...

My thoughts on this book:

Child 44 is a thriller novel, but exactly what kind of thriller is it? I would say this book is multifaceted, and it encompasses the best features of several genres; it is a political thriller, a conspiracy thriller, mystery/detective fiction, and it is also historical fiction. While I was writing this review, I did some research about this book. I discovered that Tom Rob Smith performed extensive research into the era's history, a time when Stalin reigned over Soviet Union. Based on his historical research, Smith build a world that captured, so vividly, what life was like for ordinary citizens who were living under Stalin's Soviet Union. With striking, and evocative depictions, Child 44 immerses its readers in an unforgettable journey, the words on the white pages turn the clock back to Soviet Union in 1953. Readers are planted at the front seat, and experience the constant fear for being denounced as the enemy of state, then being traumatized by the culture of paranoia, while being subjected to a systematic indoctrination about the infallibility of the state and its leader. Child 44 provided a picturesque narrative about living in a mind control system, a system that demanded total obedience from its subjects while using fear to silence all criticisms and questions.

Smith maintained a very high level of suspense in this book. Child 44 spins a brilliantly executed story that will grip you with its sheer suspense. This is a tale that will keep you biting your nails, squirming at the edge of your seat as you eagerly flip through the pages to find out what will be happening next. Layers of mystery, in the form of subplots, encircled a centre piece puzzle. As the story unfolds, these subplots began to resolve, unveiling their secrets and surprising readers with many unexpected twists and turns. For an example, the story sent a chill down my spine when it finally revealed why the book is titled “Child 44”. This book marks the beginning of a trilogy, but there is no unresolved plot at this book's end, so it is a stand alone novel. I was really impressed by Smith's ability to weave and connect all subplots, so intricately, with the main story. In every chapter, the transitions from subplots to the main story (and vice versa) flowed seamlessly. I almost couldn't distinguish the subplots from the main story because the entire book felt like one brilliant and complex story. When I turned over the last page in Child 44, I sat back and reflected on this story, then a sudden realization struck me as I began to comprehend the true complexity lying behind the story's structure. Subsequently, I came to appreciate Smith's masterful storytelling even more because he presented a very complex story in a way that was also very easy to follow.

Leo Demidov plays the role of the protagonist in this book. In a way, Child 44 is a story about a man seeking redemption. A man, who, discovered his blind faith and unquestioning servitude to a monstrous system has harmed numerous innocents, so now he is seeking some form of redemption by trying to do what is right. Leo seeks redemption even if it means going against the all powerful system that he served previously, at the cost of his own life. I like Leo's character because he made a very deep impression on my mind. Smith's masterstroke for his portrayal of Leo lies in the depiction of his internal struggles, they are powerful and moving. The second protagonist in Child 44, is Leo's estranged wife, Raisa. Leo and his wife live in a very dysfunctional marriage. This book depicted very powerfully and hauntingly, how, living in a mind controlling system/society deeply scarred and poisoned their relationship. I think it suffices to say, Child 44 excelled at characterization. Every character, from the protagonists, supporting characters, to the villain, they all cut marrow deep impressions into my mind.

I do need to send a word of caution to those would-be readers for Child 44: The murder scenes in this book are very graphical. I do not think the author intended to use shock factors to attracting readers. Instead, I think the graphical depictions for the murders were aiming to convey the sense of horror, despair, the fears, and the hopelessness that ordinary people, living under an oppressive regime, felt as they dealt with tragedies that plagued them on daily basis. However, I speculate those who are sensitive to graphical depictions for mutilated bodies may feel a bit uncomfortable, or disturbed even, when encountering several key moments in this book.

I have read a lot of thriller novels. Just to name a few authors; Fedreick Forsyth, Steve Berry, Dan Brown, Tom Clancy, and James Rollins. Out of all these thrillers, Child 44 occupies a special place on my list of favorite books. But what made this book so good? Is it because Child 44 executed a nail biting story brilliantly? Or perhaps it is because this book is a page-turning adventure full of suspense and mystery? I think this book has all those strengths, but I think Child 44 stands out as a remarkable thriller because at its core, it narrates a very human, and very realistic story - That regardless of how powerful or unrelenting the forces of indoctrination and oppression may be, the truth will always win in the end.