Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Tom Rob Smith’s “Child 44″ is a stark thriller set in Soviet Russia. While the plot is engaging and the psychological concept intriguing, I found myself wishing for some more depth. Like most thrillers, the personalities are for the most part fairly two-dimensional; interesting shockers about their respective pasts are revealed through clever plot devices rather than any particular depth of character. The dialog is effective, but terse and unadorned, serving primarily to move the plot along.
By far, the most engaging part of this novel was the depiction of the hardship and fear present in daily life under the Stalinist state machine; the transformation of the protagonist from one wholly loyal to this system into one profoundly disgusted with its human implications is interesting to observe. The final showdown (and any thriller worth anything must have a final showdown) makes an attempt at exploring deeper issues; but while it checks all the boxes for what constitutes a final showdown, I found it to be ultimately rather anti-climatic.
This novel is an fairly entertaining, mildly suspenseful, predictable, but worthwhile distraction for a couple late nights in the library… and not much more.
As an addendum, this novel does carry the distinction of being the first I purchased and read on my new B&N Nook ebook reader… review of that device coming soon.
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