Reviews

Dear Child 44,
You were definitely not a book I would have picked up on my own. I was intrigued about the thriller aspect of your whole story, but all of the communism and Red Scare aspects were a bit of a turn off for me. You were very political, and sometimes really confusing. It also took a long time, and a lot of exposition for the serial killer aspects and more thriller driven parts of the story to begin. I didn't love (or even like) most of your characters, which made it extremely hard to to sympathize with any of their struggles. While I didn't hate you as a story, I struggled with a lot of aspects, including the fake pregnancy that happened early in your story.

gadicohen93's review

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4.0

I read this one on a summer 2009 road trip to Canada, finished it in around a week I think (and that's a travel week, meaning barely any time to read, except probably some kinda-long car rides.) I remember I loved it--love meaning couldn't strip my eyes away from the pages.

But I remember only a few scenes, namely:

-A little boy in famined Ukraine, a cat someone ate, a kidnapped brother, eaten.
-Train tracks.
-Some really nasty murder stories.
-Something about a prison, or about torture, and about Leo not seeing his wife for a long long time.

That's it.

So, not very memorable, and I guess I also remember the ending was a little too... well-rehearsed? I don't know. It's a perfect example of a 3.5 star book, one that feeds your need for speed, that immerses you in things that make you passionate, in history... but a book you're not going to even remember that you read until you read something about a Russian serial killer and then you're like, "Woah what!? I think I read something about a Russian serial killer. Woah."

So yeah.

whimsicalmeerkat's review

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4.0

I knew nothing about [a:Tom Rob Smith|981834|Tom Rob Smith|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1254868572p2/981834.jpg] or [b:Child 44|2161733|Child 44|Tom Rob Smith|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255690645s/2161733.jpg|2167258] when I saw it in my library, but from the description on the back it sounded interesting so I picked it up. As it turns out, that description was not terribly accurate, but I liked the book even more than I expected. The era of Soviet history in which it is set is one that I want to learn more about and the story of Andrei Chikatilo, on which the novel is loosely based, is one that has long horrified and fascinated me. Overall, this is an excellent, chilling story. I not only intend to read the next books in the trilogy, I added eight books to my to read list based on his descriptions of what they were and how they figured into his research.

emsavors's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is absolutely incredible! I’m not entirely sure that I find the ending believable, but given how good the rest of the book is - I don’t even care!

Content Warnings

smusie's review

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4.0

Starvation. Despair. Permafrost. Stalin. Mistrust. Denunciation. Exile. Everything a good book should have--but wait, there's more! A serial killer round things out. A bit too uplifting at the end for my taste, but a good read nonetheless.

cottsy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

rebeccajc's review

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Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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