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Child 44
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Child 44
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Child 44
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Child 44

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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DON'T MISS THE NEW TOM ROB SMITH NOVEL, COLD PEOPLE, OUT NOW!

OVER 2 MILLION COPIES SOLD

MOSCOW, 1953.
Under Stalin’s terrifying regime, families live in fear. When the all-powerful State claims there is no such thing as crime, who dares disagree?

AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER IN OVER 30 LANGUAGES

An ambitious secret police officer, Leo Demidov believes he’s helping to build the perfect society. But when he uncovers evidence of a killer at large – a threat the state won’t admit exists – Demidov must risk everything, including the lives of those he loves, in order to expose the truth.

A THRILLER UNLIKE ANY YOU HAVE EVER READ

But what if the danger isn’t from the killer he is trying to catch, but from the country he is fighting to protect?

Nominated for seventeen international awards and inspired by a real-life investigation, CHILD 44 is a relentless story of love, hope and bravery in a totalitarian world. From the screenwriter of the acclaimed television series, THE ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI VERSACE: AMERICAN CRIME STORY.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 1, 2009
ISBN9781847398086
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Child 44
Author

Tom Rob Smith

Tom Rob Smith is the author of the acclaimed Child 44 trilogy. Child 44 itself was a global publishing sensation, selling over two million copies. It was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Prize and won the CWA Steel Dagger Award. His most recent novel, The Farm, was a #1 international bestseller. Tom also writes for television and won a Writer’s Guild Award for best adapted series and an Emmy and Golden Globe for best limited series with American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace. He is also the creator and executive producer of FX’s suspense thriller series Class of ’09.

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Rating: 3.970056551694915 out of 5 stars
4/5

1,770 ratings170 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wow! This fast-paced, gripping, crime thriller was extremely hard to put down. From the first page I was hooked. I always enjoy books set in Russia, and this one was no exception. Brutal at times with strong characters, a serial killer, political corruption and twists galore, "Child 44" paints a bleat, frightening picture of communist Russia in the 1950s. A fabulous read!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A gripping and well-paced thriller - albeit gruesome, in which Tom Rob Smith captures the zeitgeist of life in the USSR under Stalin. Officer Leo Demidov has his dreams shattered one after the other in the search for a serial killer.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Stalinist Russia of the 1950s is the setting for the crime thriller, Child 44. Security Ministry Officer Leo Demidov is a good man whose patriotism has led him to commit heinous acts against his fellow citizens “for the greater good” or so he tells himself. Lies, spying on friends and family, manufacturing evidence, even torture and murder are all acceptable as long as they help ensure the survival and security of Stalin’s “workers’ paradise”. When he begins to suspect there is a serial killer on the loose, killing children across Russia, he's ordered to stop investigating. Leo is an idealistic war hero with a deeply held belief in the superiority of his country and the communist way of life. Before long he realizes he's just a cog in the flawed totalitarian regime.

    When he refuses to denounce his wife, Raisa, as a traitor, he is demoted and humiliated. Even his parents are punished for his crime. He and Raisa are sent away from Moscow to the wastelands of the newly industrialized city of Voualsk. Here Leo and Raisa must work outside the law to find a killer in a political culture that doesn’t even admit they exist, and already wants him dead.

    The who-did-it ending disappointed me and made me feel a bit manipulated. But that is my only complaint for this incredibly stark and chilling story. In the end, Stalinist Russia was the real criminal as far as I'm concerned. The author's writing is austere and elegant. Ridley Scott has already bought the film rights, and is working on adapting this book into a movie. I'm on hold at the library for the next book in the trilogy and can't wait to find out what happens next.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Great story
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    When I first found this on the shelf, it had just come out. I was interested in unique crime fiction and this fit the bill.
    I am not terribly much interested in historic Russia but the author sucked me into this world with his character. This is one of those books that you really should try. Give it 30 pages and see if you don't also get sucked in!
    My only dislike was the ending. The climax was over much too quickly. A technical flaw that hopefully the author will correct in future novels.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    In the words of Emily Dickinson, Child 44 is a brilliantly plotted novel that had me feeling "zero at the bone" many times. From its staggering depiction of Stalinist Russia to the blood-chilling meaning behind its title, Tom Rob Smith's book grabbed me by the throat and refused to turn me loose. The devastating things Stalin's government did to the minds and bodies of its people almost beggars belief, and I have to admit that I did read this book in small sips until about the two-thirds mark simply because I wasn't quite in the mood for such a depressing book. The sips may have been small, but they were very frequent because Smith knows how to tell a tale, and once Demidov's investigation hits its stride, there was no way I could put Child 44 down.However, this isn't merely a nose-to-the-window depiction of an era and an absorbing murder mystery. Smith's characterization is superb. Through the course of the book, Leo Demidov loses his innocence and grows up. His wife Raisa later shows depths undreamt of when readers first met her. The differences between city folk and country folk give readers hope for humanity, and there's a little girl named Nadya, who was probably my favorite character in the entire novel.Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 made me say "Wow!" more than once while reading it, and I'm certainly looking forward to continuing Leo's story in the rest of the trilogy.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Brilliant page-turner! Had no idea it was going to be so thrilling, a great story, on to the next book in the series....
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Stalin's Soviet Union is a paradise where everyone lives free from crime and fears one thing: the State. Leo Demidov is a war hero who believes in the iron hand of the law. When a murderer starts to kill and Leo begins to investigate, he is demoted. Now, with only his wife, Leo sets out to find the serial killer in a society where things like this don't exist.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Leo Demidov, a decorated war hero, is unswervingly loyal to the State. The body of a young boy is found on train tracks in Moscow, and his family are convinced the child was murdered. Leo's superiors order him to ignore this information and, while he obeys, he senses there is more to the case. Action moves quickly: combining elements of jealousy, suspicious paranoia and human survival where reality is defined and enforced by the State. In this atmosphere, Leo is disgraced and exiled to a distant town where more murdered children are discovered.

    I wasn't crazy about the ending. Things were wrapped up, but not very neatly; questions were left unanswered (the reason behind the method of the murders, for one), and some of the reasoning and solutions seemed convenient rather than plausible. It's one of those situations where you have to throw darts to see if it gets 2 or 3 stars. 2.5 maybe.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A secret policeman in Stalinist Russia gets drawn toward a series of killings while the State machinery denies the possibility that such events could occur. A book that lives up to the hype on the covers; a remarkably well-plotted thriller that creates tension through political paranoia and physical peril. Astonishing that it's a first novel - brilliant craft demonstrated throughout. A gripping read that I can't recommend too highly.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An intriguing story of a man caught between what he knows is right and what he is expected to do.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was an excellent murder mystery thriller set in the Soviet Union at the time of Stalin's death (though that political circumstance isn't particularly relevant to the plot). It is inevitably very grim and, as well as the horrors of child murder, the sheer arbitrariness of the totalitarian system is very convincingly and frighteningly described. The central character starts out as a convinced and loyal member of State Security before disillusion sets in. His wife's character seems rather ambiguous throughout, though and I wasn't sure what to make of her, but then that basic concept of nothing and no one being quite what they seem is integral to the nature of that kind of society. This was one of the most gripping novels I have read for a while and I hope the author writes many more. 5/5
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a great read, and I usually do not enjoy mysteries. It was fast-paced while also giving a good flavor for the 1950s-1960s time period in Cold War-era Russia.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Leo Demidov has a good life working at the MGB, the Soviet secret police and predecessor of the KGB. He’s able to provide for his parents and has a beautiful and intelligent wife who he loves. The son of a colleague has been found dead and the man is convinced it’s murder, but Leo is tasked with telling him otherwise. This first glimpse of Leo at work is rather unsympathetic and sets up an interesting question – can the author sustain interest in a main character who works for such a hated organization? Leo had a meteoric rise as a World War II hero and even though he accepts the unpleasantness in his work, he tries to keep to his own moral code. There are some great early scenes where this tension is exploited. In one, Leo is chasing down a suspect who readers guess is innocent. If he fails, he’ll be at fault and some of his men, angry at his refusal to take the murder seriously, are subtly trying to undermine him. With them is the unpleasant Vasili, Leo’s professional rival, who is jealous and brutal and also wants him to fail. Here, one wonders not only what will happen but what they’d prefer to happen. Where should they place their sympathies? However, later on Leo has an epiphany moment and the book becomes a bit predictable in the idea of lone agent against either a corrupt or misguided organization – one that would be familiar in books/movies set in the West.Leo’s relationship with his wife, Raisa, is very interesting. It’s troubled and the exploration of their problems raises a number of issues that would be common in Soviet society of the time. The author looks at the relationship from both of their POVs and while both behave very badly at times, he makes their behavior understandable. There is also time spent examining the daily lives of a number of Soviet citizens, including the killer. The killer is actually more interesting than Vasili who is very dull as a main antagonist. He’s pretty much just obsessively jealous of Leo and an all-around bad guy. He and another higher-up, a doctor, are too one-dimensional and are therefore boring. I have no doubt that there were many sadists and psychopaths who were allowed to obtain high-ranking positions (Leo even wonders why someone would go on a killing spree when there’s a legal, acceptable way to do it in the secret police) but I expect something besides a garden-variety psychopath in fiction. As in many other crime/mystery novels, Leo, while investigating the killings, also learns something about his past – another too-standard genre trope. The book is always very readable and addictive but some twists are unbelievable. The depiction of Soviet society is intriguing and there are enough interesting touches to make this one worth reading, especially as a slightly different take on the Soviet era.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    > I loved this story but I really wished I had read it in print instead of committing to listening to the audiobook. Child 44 is a suspense/thriller that depicts time, place, mood/atmosphere, emotions, action and, tension in articulate but easily accessible language. There is not a passage where you do not know what is happening and how it feels. The story itself is compelling: An MGB officer tempts fate by deciding to investigate a numbers of homicides (of children) in the Soviet Union, where felonies are equated with political crime. That said, there are a couple plot twists that are not surprising, but this may be due to the narrator’s rendition of the text. Tom Rob Smith and Child 44 get an “A” but the narrator, Dennis Boutsikaris, was less than impressive. The opening passages contain a number of shifts in POV, but DB rushed through the text. The directors (John Klemm and Michele McGonigle (yeah, I’m taking names!)) and the narrator were remiss in not taking the time to shape the text in the opening chapter. A pause between shifts in POV and more care & time with the text, would have drawn attention away from the narrator who sounds young, inelegant and, uneducated. The other issue I have with the narrator is his flat, American voice, which steamrolled the richness of the Russian names and places and made many of the characters sound like Yakoff Smirnoff.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Creepy but a real page turner.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book is Fabulous! I can't wait to read the second one - The Secret Speech!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Damn, how much are YOU willing to put your lead characters through?

    I can't say the killer's motivation was worthy of the deed but the story is well written and a good piece of fiction that draws attention to a dastardly era.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A good thriller, well written but is it 'one of the top100 thrillers of all time'?. The plot is well made but don't forget the focus here is on the nature of Stalinist Russia rather than the crime itself. Depends how much you like Russian history....
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It’s the early 1950’s in Russia and Leo Demidov is a war hero and high-ranking officer in the security services (specifically the MGB). He is asked to handle the delicate issue of a fellow MGB officer whose son has just died and who is claiming the boy was murdered rather than dying in accident as the official paperwork claims. Leo must convince the boy’s parents to stop making the claims of murder or risk their own arrest because, as everyone knows, senseless murders only happen in Corrupt western countries. At the same time Leo is investigating whether or not a Moscow vet, Anatoli Brodski, is a traitor as has been alleged. Both cases turn out to have unexpected impacts on Leo’s life when he’s thrown out of the MGB and he and his wife Raisa are punished for their transgressions.

    In his debut novel Smith has painted a bleak picture of Stalin’s Russia where blind faith in the State, or pretence of it, is the norm. Across the disparate parts of this story people’s actions and decisions are fuelled by paranoia, desperation and vengeance. Many people abuse whatever power they have and many others live in constant fear of that abuse. The few acts motivated by love, friendship or hope are memorable for their rarity. In some ways this is a familiar picture of Russia during this era but I thought Smith did a better job than many writers in demonstrating the subtle differences in people’s behaviour and exploring the reasons behind that behaviour rather than portraying everyone in as stereotypical good and evil as is often the case.

    Few of the characters are likable however understandable their actions may be. But likable characters aren’t necessary for me to find a book engaging: far more important is their believability and I found these people very credible in the context of the world Smith has depicted. I did though, in the end, grow quite fond of Leo even though many of his actions were abhorrent and I’m not entirely convinced that the kind of redemption explored in the novel is possible in the real world.

    The writing is breathtaking in the way it depicts scenes so vividly that you’re transported to the places where action takes place and can feel the emotions of those involved. The opening passage for example, in which two young brothers catch a cat so they can eat a proper meal during a time when their entire village is literally starving to death, is stunning. By the end of it I swear my own amply full stomach was growling in sympathetic hunger pangs. Smith uses rich descriptions and exquisite details to provide a vivid picture of a time and place I’m very happy to have only visited in fiction.

    For the most part the structure of the book is good too. Rather than the story unfolding in a linear fashion readers are shown events in various people’s lives which, at first, seem to have nothing to do with each other but later turn out to be related in unexpected ways. This piecing together gives the book an epic feel which is unusual for a book that takes place over the period of only a few months. My main criticism of an otherwise terrific book is that in the last third the plot moved from credible to silly with the number of ‘in-the-nick-of-time’ escapes and coincidences used to get to the ending. The sudden shift from nicely paced narrative to edge-of-your-seat thriller was jarring and unnecessary: these people’s stories were gripping enough without the addition of the ‘Hollywood’ elements and a resolution in keeping with the rest of the novel would have made much more sense.

    There was a lot of hype about Child 44 when it was published (it was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize) which made me wait a while before reading it but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It’s an evocative portrayal of a time and place that’s been demonised many times in literature and movies but rarely explored in such a thoughtful and thought-provoking way.

    Audio book Specific Comments: A couple of times the narration crossed the line from reading into performance although it was only with the voices of a couple of minor characters so it wasn’t too jarring. Listening to this book provided an unexpected advantage too. When reading books set in non English speaking places I, being woefully monolingual, usually have to come up with some anglicised version of people and place names to keep everything clear this can interrupt the flow of my reading. Having the many names pronounced perfectly for me removed this frustrating element and I found it much easier to keep track of all the places and people than I normally do with foreign names.

    My rating is actually 4.5
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book was recommended to me by someone who knows I like true crime books, he told me that while fiction, it was based on the Rostov Ripper. It was described as a propulsive, relentless page-turner. While I did find this book to be interesting, I don’t agree with either description.While there is a serial killer in the book, that is not its main focus. The author deals more with the history of Russia, starting with a devastating famine, then goes on to detail what it was like living in Stalinist Russia, a place where paranoia was rampant, because no one could be trusted. While trying to set up a paradise for its workers, the State has become the biggest threat to them, with its spies and ideals.In the midst of this ‘paradise’ a serial killer is operating, except, that is impossible according to the state. Leo Demidov, a war hero with a beautiful wife, is a member of the MGB, the State Security Force and is a courageous, conscientious and idealistic officer. Until an accusation sends his life spiraling out of control, he finds himself interrogated, then exiled and hunting this killer on his own. A life and death situation for Leo, his wife and parents.Unfortunately the book doesn’t live up to the hype. While it is very interesting and gives a riveting and accurate portrayal of Russia, it is not a page turning thriller. The book seems to get bogged down in details, as if the author while describing an event or place can’t decide how to finish it and go on. And the serial killer angle, while a central part of the book, is actually made secondary and by the mid point of the book, who the killer is can be figured out rather easily.I would recommend this book to people looking for a character driven story about Russia with a mystery thrown in, I would not recommend it to thriller lovers.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith is a very popular book. You can read glowing reviews of it at dovegreyreader and therapsheet. (These are both excellent sites that you should check out anyway.) Janet Maslin's review at the Times is more in line with my own. I'll probably never get on the list for free review copies because of this, but I didn't like it. Not at all.The book starts with a graphic scene detailing the torturous killing of a cat. (Many of you may already hate it, but stay with me, it gets worse.) We're in Stalinist Russia during the winter, and food shortages have gotten so bad that the rare sighting of a house cat is cause to get out your snares. The story really begins when one of two boys, brothers, is hit on the head and dragged into the woods. When the surviving brother tells his mother, she knows that she'll never see her son again, that he has become food for some man driven to desperation by hunger. Next chapter, it's 2o years later and we're off to Moscow!Already the book reads like a movie. (The movie rights were bought before the book hit the stands, and the author is a screenwriter.) This is a big problem for the book in my view. Too much of the plot is written for the screen, which is fine for a screenplay, but not for a novel. The plot jumps back and forth all over Russia as we follow the detective then the killer, who in this case is killing children throughout the country. The big idea/marketing gimmick is that in Stalinist Russia there can be no murder because there is no motive for it in a classless society. So the detective, Leo Demidov, cannot investigate a murder without committing a crime against the state. This is an interesting idea and in the hands of a novelist might produce an interesting novel. In the hands of screen writer it might produce an interesting screenplay. However, in the hands of a screen writer it can only produce an airplane book. (Airplane book: n, book suitable for passing the time on a flight from San Francisco to Chicago or someplace further away.)Once the opening scenes have passed, the novel settles into an entertaining pace, more of a procedural than a whodunit. We follow Leo and his wife as they suffer at the hands of Leo's rival Vasili. Leo and Vasili both work for the MGB which is in charge of investigating internal cases of sedition by tracking down traitors, who are all innocent citizens in this case caught up in Stalin's purges of the 1940's and 50's. It's very difficult to generate much sympathy for Leo once the tables are turned and he becomes a suspect. He has spent so much of the novel torturing and killing innocent people, how can we now start rooting for him? You have to make the killer and Leo's rival really awful, even if this means graphic scenes of violence. Leo almost stumbles on the case of a serial killer who targets children and has killed over 40 by the time Leo discovers him. Leo is forced out of the MGB by Vasili, so he must continue his investigations as an outsider with the help of his wife Raisa and a few other people he meets along the way. Frankly, I just don't believe this would have been possible in the real Stalinist Russia. There was a real serial killer in Russia who spent several decades murdering children, but there was no rogue cop capable of working outside the system to catch him. In fact, the real killer operated in the 1970's and 80's long after the end of the Stalinist era and was eventually captured after several botched police investigations and a very large police manhunt. Leo and Raisa are eventually sent to a gulag, but along the way the novel turns into Indiana Jones and the Trans-Siberian Express. A series of death defying escapes and wild plot twists follow. I won't detail them here because you may be one of the millions who'll enjoy this book, but I will say that the plot twist on page 400 left me mumbling "oh please" out loud. And not in a good way. We are expected to believe that the killer's ridiculous reason for committing so many murders, sending a message to his brother, actually turned out to work. It's the sort of twist that can be kind of fun in a movie, if you don't spend much time thinking about it, but if you're someone who cares too much about their brain to "check it at the door" you'll be disappointed at least.I could go on, and on, and on, but what would be the point. If you've read this far you get the idea. Google the book and every other review you'll find but one will have high praise for it. I stand almost alone in giving Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith two out of five stars. Read at your own risk. The book has been hyped, but you have been warned.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    An exciting story, no doubt. But the thing I most admired was the atmosphere the author created. Granted, I didn't live in the Soviet Union during the 50s, but this book was very convincing in creating a sense of time and place. That was, perhaps, the most terrifying part of the book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    WHOA!

    I'm pretty sure this was the first book I ever read that's set on Stalinist Russia. Not only it is a compeltely gripping page-turner of a crime thriller, it was extremely eye opening and taught me so much about that era!

    The only reason I am holding back a star is the violence, granted that is is not gratuitous, it still made me a bit uneasy, especially the particulars of the murders Leo investigates.

    Not for the faint of heart but a great read!

    And Tom, mission accomplished, I almost missed my train stop because of this book today!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Edge of my seat. Complicated characters. Enjoyed reading it so much!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An amazing page turner and a wonderful debut novel. It captured my attention in the first chapter and carried me through to the end. It was on my "to read" shelf for a long time. I am sorry I waited.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    7/15: now this is a good book. circumstances are conspiring to keep me from finishing it as rapidly as i'd like, but it's absolutely not a force-myself book, which is a nice change from rushdie's the enchantress of florence, which i finished just before starting this one. and, oh, russia!

    7/16: circumstances be damned. stayed up far too late last night & in bed far too late this morning in order to finish the second half of the book. totally worth it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Not the kind of book I usually read, but this book was STRONGLY recommended by a patron as one of the best books she may have ever read---so how could I refuse? That being said, I enjoyed it as much as I could enjoy a book about the ruthlessness of the Stalin era played out against one man whose search for personal redemption has lead him to search for the serial killer targeting children. It was as depressing as it was informative about that dark period of history and ultimately, I was glad I finished the book. Now I need something less grim to restore my faith in the basic goodness of human nature.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I don't really know what to say about Child 44. I liked the book, and I liked Dennis Boutsikaris's reading of the audiobook. The setting and circumstances resulting from the setting distinguishes this suspense/adventure/catch-the-killer fluff from other such mysteries. It was interesting fluff. The protagonist, Leo, finds himself stuck between trying to do what is right and his job--not uncommon for this sort of story--but the story takes place in Soviet Russia.

    The first half of the story fleshes out the setting. We get a feel for what the Leo's job and what he feels is right. We get a sense of workplace politics, family relationships, and the societal values. Basically, people are afraid or corrupt. They are in pragmatic, loveless relationships, or impoverished.

    The second half of the story follows Leo's fall from power and his focus on solving a string of murders. This parallels Leo embracing his conscience, choosing to do what's right over "his duty" to the state. He and his wife become equal partners and their relationship shifts from pragmatic toward loving. They chase the killer as they are chased by the state, which believes in no such thing as a person who kills children for enjoyment. Leo and his wife know that even if they catch and kill the murderer, they will still be executed by the state for their belief that such a thing could happen in their utopian communist society.

    Don't over-analyze the story, read it for pleasure, and you'll enjoy the cat-and-mouse cop and serial killer story in a unique setting, if that's your thing.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    All I can say is that it has been a LONG time since I was this WOWED by a book and I really think you will love it! The way Smith writes has been described by many as "propulsive" and I agree. Once you start reading, you are drawn in at once and it never lets up.One of the story features not often elaborated by other reviewers of this tale is the heart-aching love story that churns beneath the thriller plot. It is astonishing how contemporary, how real, Smith portrays the bittersweet marriage underneath the political struggles in paranoid, Stalinist Russia, making it one of the most satisfying elements of the book for me. It made me care about the characters personal - and political - plights. And that's the true mastery of this author - he gives you unforgettable characters in the midst of both thriller and history lesson. Most authors settle for merely the later two elements. I suspect this will be one of the grounding elements of the film. Who to cast? I envisioned the latest Bond actor - Daniel Craig as Leo Demidov and Rachel Wiesz as his wife, Raisa.