Child 44

by Tom Rob Smith in Audio format

I read a positive review of this author's debut novel and decided to read it in audio so my husband could enjoy it as well. At first, after the first few discs, when the novel kept jumping from person to person I wondered when it would stop at the main character. Turns out the background was very necessary since I knew very little about Stalin's Russia which is the setting of the book and everything in the beginning came together in its conclusion. Leo is an MGB agent, a war hero, very loyal to the State in which he has dedicated his life and sacrificed his health in order to serve. When a coworker insists his child was murdered Leo dismisses the charge as were his orders, for the State believes there are no murders, just crimes against itself. When he is told to investigate his pretty wife Raisa he complies but is unable to find enough evidence for his satisfaction that she is a traitor. After his decision to either denounce his wife, or to not denounce her, leads he and Raisa into exile and he into a demotion with the militia, he discovers there is evidence of a serial killer of children in his country after all. Proving that, even investigating that, proves to be as challenging as any war Leo has ever fought, and one in which he and his family may not survive. Quite a nerve-racking story, made me glad I wasn't around in Stalinist Russia, or the McCarthy Era in America since it felt similar in certain ways. Nevertheless, this book was engrossing, I enjoyed hearing it.