Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

I found Tom Rob Smith’s debut to be a tremendous novel. It has a tortuous and labyrinthine plot which twists and weaves its way through Stalinist Russia, starting in war-torn Ukraine in the late thirties and ending in Russia in the mid-fifties. His characters are so well drawn, particularly his main protagonists Leo Demidov and his wife Raisa, along with a truly wonderful villain in Leo’s subordinate and ultimate nemesis Vassily Nikitin.

The complex plot centres around MGB agent Leo Demidov. When a colleague’s child is killed Leo is ordered to silence the family who are claiming that the child was murdered. Murder is not possible in Stalinist Russia as it would be an affront to the state ideology where the only possible crime is a crime against the state. However Leo discovers that a serial killer is murdering children and he and his wife Raisa attempt to track them down. This simple synopsis doesn’t really do justice to the intricacies of the storyline, but provides a starting point.

Smith’s story was inspired by the Russian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo who was executed for the murders of over fifty children in the 1980’s. However Smith chooses to set his novel in 1953 and provides a fascinating insight into Stalinist Russia and the changes that occurred with death of Stalin and the rise to power of Nikita Khrushchev.

Fledging writers are always told about the importance of their opening chapter. The first chapter of Child 44 is breathtaking as two starving Ukrainian children hunt an emaciated cat that they intend to kill for food. It is an object lesson in how to create an initial impact. I was completely hooked.

Smith’s writing is intense and unrelenting; he evokes the bleakness and paranoia of a totalitarian state and his research is exemplary.

The critical reaction to the novel is in itself fascinating. It seems to provoke praise and admiration from some quarters and utter vilification from others. I am firmly on the side of praise and admiration. I thought it was a stunning debut.