Brilliant, tense evocation of Soviet Russia as a backdrop to a genre thriller

Two things stand out in Child 44: 1) its unflinching description of the negative impacts of the lead character’s actions. 2) the slow pace of the lead character’s transformation. I loved its evocation of the claustrophobic, closed, stultifying culture of Stalin’s USSR. Towards the end I struggled with the plot’s machinations but overall think they were worth it.

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Fantastic thriller!

A very sobering insight into Stalinist Russia and how corruption penetrates every level of society.

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More compelling, thought provoking than enjoyable

Authors want to capture their audience in their first lines, first chapter, and Tom Rob Smith certainly does that. The story opens in 1933. Two starving young children hunt, ensnare an emancipated cat for food, but they were not alone hunting for meat, the older brother is taken, such is the existence of families during the Ukraine famine.
Fast forward twenty years and a series of horrific child murders are taking place but as 'there is no crime' in this totalitarian society, there is no official investigation.
This is a bleak but compelling, all too believable portrayal of life under Starlin's grim regime where 'for the greater good' people live in fear of the state, where no-one is above suspicion, where presumption of guilt not innocence is the norm.

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It’s a twister!

An enjoyable if sometimes harrowing yarn set in 1953 Soviet Union but with roots in the early 1930s. Many threads are created and woven together. The worst excesses and implications of the evil empire that was communist Russia are laid bare.

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A riveting listen

Brilliantly read. A really shocking book in it’s telling of Stalinist Russia but with a great story interwoven with it. Highly recommended.

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Loved it.

As I was listening to this book I wanted everybody I spoke to to read it and have now bought a couple of copies to give to friends and family. Narration is great, story is fantastic.

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Fantastic story

A fabulous story with a lot of history based on life during the Stalin era. Couldn’t stop listening to it

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Distracting sounds

Brilliant thriller.
However, the reader repeatedly makes a lot of what I can only describe as 'wet mouth sounds' - i.e audible swallowing of saliva, wetting of lips, slimy mouth smacking at the beginning of a sentence.

Horribly off-putting and difficult to stay immersed in the story when I'm constantly feeling repulsed and uncomfortable. It's something I can only put down to lazy editing as, having a large audible library, this is something I've never encountered - presumably because such sounds get diligently edited out.

Such a shame, makes it a chore to sit through in some parts.

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Propulsive, dark, immersive

Satisfying plot. Convincing depiction of Stalin era’s grimness. Steadily increasing tension. Multiple layers: thriller, historical novel, morality tale.

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Outstanding narrative.

This is the best book that I have listen to on Audible for a long time. Despite there being many twists and turns in the plot the story was totally believable. The impression was so similar to an actual historical account that I believed in the plot entirely. Although fiction I feel that I have been given insight to what it was like to live in the Soviet Union of the era.
The narration was well paced and sympathetic to the text.

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