“The Secret Speech” by Tom Rob Smith – The End of the World’s Shortest Era

In the previous novel by Tom Rob Smith, Child 44, we were presented with an unbelievably strict and authoritarian Soviet Union where the government and law enforcement agencies reigned supreme. Thankfully however, even dictators are human and can succumb to death, which is precisely what happened in the second part of the trilogy, The Secret Speech. 

The year is 1956, and with Stalin’s death some sizable reforms are expected to arrive to the Soviet Union, with his successor, Khrushchev, promising things to be different from now on… and oh boy, he couldn't be more right. With the iron fist having considerably loosened its grasp, many have seen an opportunity to truly live and blossom.

This is the climate Leo Demidov, his wife and adopted daughters are currently living, and everything would have been fine had Leo’s dark past stayed where it was. Unfortunately, Leo has many skeletons in his closet, and as it turns out, not all of them are dead. One of them became an embodiment of vengeance, one that is willing to do anything it takes to get back at Leo. 

The most notable difference between this novel and the last one is its scope. While Child 44 was an exploration of Leo’s complex position in regards to his beliefs and values versus his observations, this one is more of an epic story, with the characters and setting having already been introduced.

It’s much wider in scope, even going as far as the Gulags and Hungarian uprising in Budapest (1956). This time around, the problems faced by Leo are much more personal, even though we are treated to a fair bit of historically-accurate details about how life was at the time. To be honest, I am always hoping to find more books which explore the specific period of time when Stalin died, a man who many considered a tyrant, just like many others considered him a hero (despite the fact his murder count is in the dozens of millions).

It was a time of quite radical change, one which put people at odds with each other, with many being confused as to what life would bring next (as it turned out, it was a more lenient communist government). In any case, what I’m getting at is that the setting for this story is quite fascinating, and more importantly, well-depicted, or at least quite accurately from what I’ve come to learn over the years.

As for the story itself, it’s actually pretty thrilling to see how Demidov deals with his past, and the way I see it, this is the book where we find out that Leo isn't the all-good and believable protagonist we have come to expect in our books. 

On the other hand, he has done many things he would rather forget, and unfortunately, regret doesn't absolve someone of the bad things they have done. Throughout the story I constantly found myself wondering whether I could really trust Leo, and if the one who came for vengeance was actually the good guy. Naturally, 

I’m not going to spoil the ending, but rest assured you aren't going to be presented with black and white answers to everything. All in all, a captivating read, with my only regret about the experience being that it was a bit too short… then again, that is one of the signs of a great book, usually. 

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Tom Rob Smith Tom Rob Smith is an English writer who graduated in 2001 from St John's College in Cambridge. He then received the Harper Wood Studentship for English Poetry and Literature, and once his studies were completed he became a writer and script editor. In 2008 he published his first novel, Child 44 on the morose subject of the demented Andre Chikatilo, an effort which earned him the 2008 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for best thriller of the year.