DP54Cover - Deadly Pleasures

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Deadly Pleasures
Leo strong Demidov language operates (a lot under of it) the and idea a plethora of “Better of to legal let ten
innocent details. Alafair, men suffer like than her one literary spy escape.” creation, A worked fundamental as a
principle of his work is the presumption of guilt. We read
deputy district attorney in Portland, Oregon. The New
of him thinking, “It was four in the morning, arresting hour
–
York-based
the best time
author
to seize
now
a person,
teaches
to
at
grab
Hofstra
them
School
from their
of
sleep.” What causes Leo finally Law. to question the system is
one of the fascinating aspects of this book.
Tom Rob Smith’s use of italics for conversation
was distracting. More often, italics in books are used to
denote inner thoughts. Still, that was not cause for the book
to drop from great to merely very good. The flaws started
at page 294 of a 436 page book when Smith suddenly
discloses the identity of the killer. Furthermore, the motivation
for killing 44 children is not convincing. If we can’t
accept that motivation, we are left with one of the biggest
coincidences I can recall in fiction. Perhaps I had been
naive in thinking this would be a strong detective story in
addition to being so powerful a novel. The book changes
from a political detective story to a thriller. Still, it is a
powerful thriller with the scenes of Leo and his wife on the
run and certainly a very worthwhile book. Rating: A
Donus Roberts
CHILD 44 is the best crime novel that I have read
in the last half dozen years, and I have read my share of
good crime novels. I view the novel as a seamless
combination of the thriller and the mystery. My experience
is that most thrillers have little mystery to them, and
most traditional mysteries shy away from one spine-chilling
challenge after another. That a twenty eight year old wrote
this novel, his first, is mind-boggling. What a future!
Without a doubt, Tom Rob Smith found a historical
niche in which to set his novel: Post World War II USSR,
with flashbacks to pre-World War civilian purges. Stalin, of
course is the dictator and no one does it better; he dies in
the course of the book which does make a big difference.
This period of time has been successfully mined by a cadre
of authors, but always in Germany or its allies or Western
Europe. Until recently little was known about social conditions
in 1950’s Russia.
This is a very dark novel. In fact, riveting as the
story was, I occasionally had to pause and take a deep
breath. As the novel chugged its way through 436 pages,
I wondered how this train wreck was ever going to end with
anyone left standing. However, the ending is brilliant and
uplifting.
Leo Stepanovich Demidov and his wife Raisa are
the main characters. Leo has a middle-level job in the
MGB, the State Security Force. Essentially, his job is to
make sure all those who do not toe the State line 100% are
either killed or sent to a Gulag. Because of his job, he and
Raisa have enough to eat, a decent place to live, and
benefits for his parents. It is an acceptable life so long as
one plays the Kremlin game and forgets about oldfashioned
ideas such as right and wrong.
The novel takes its name from a murder spree
that claims the lives of 44 children along the railroad that
runs between Moscow and Rostov. Although more than 44
children are ultimately
killed and gutted, the
book’s title comes when
Leo figures out that at
least 44 children have
been killed along the rail
line without any town connecting
the murders.
There are no police, only
secret police. The Russians
only know what goes
on in their communities;
they understand that survival
is possible only if no
one raises a question
about anything, including
their children being murdered.
The MGB authorities
early on decided that one person (totally innocent)
committed the crimes so a further investigation could only
contradict earlier mistakes, and mistakes are unacceptable.
One of Smith’s writing characteristics that is
particularly effective is a personal omniscient voice, particularly
in dialogue that is real and that which occurs in the
mind only. It does take a while to adjust to Smith’s style.
The real puzzle in the novel is how the lives of the
characters are connected. From the opening chapter we
know information that seems irrelevant until later in the
novel. In this way Tom Rob Smith plays very fair with his
readers.
This novel has it all: a plot that is relentless, a backdrop
of fascinating history, a great love story, one man and
one woman against the overwhelming State, a villain, selfdiscovery
and redemption. Rating: A
Jay Waggoner
It’s too bad the set up on this one is so long.
Persisting for 200 pages before the meat of the story
begins is something most casual readers won’t do. Once
the story heats up it almost becomes a page-turner.
Smith’s Russian detective and his wife are human enough,
they work to overcome insurmountable odds, a lot can be
learned about the repression and the police-state environment
of an early 1950’s Russia, and Smith writes well. I’m
sure the movie that is to be made will pick up the early pace
considerably. Let’s hope so. Tom Rob Smith shows a lot
of promise. But I’ve got a strong feeling that many readers
who buy the book based on the hype it’s getting are going
to be left wondering “Where’s the beef?” Rating: B-
Ted Hertel, Jr.
My first impressions of CHILD 44 were twofold:
First, Tom Rob Smith was using a hundred words where
one would have done just fine. Second, after about thirty
pages the story seemed to drift well away from the child
murders I had thought were the centerpiece of the book.