Quick Book Reviews Blog

Those of you who know of Agatha Christie are probably acquainted with some of her more famous novels, such as And Then There Were None , formerly known as Ten Little Indians (with the original title using language considered racist by today’s standards), Death on the Nile or Murder on the Orient Express . However, Agatha Christie had already started making giant waves in the world of literature with her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles .

Geiger is a man with a most unusual life. For starters, he remembers nothing before the moment he came to New York on a bus. What’s more, he turns out to have a very useful gift: being able to instantly tell if someone is lying. As such, he has become employed as an agent in charge of extracting information from people, and needless to say, he has a whole bag of tricks up his sleeve to make that happen.  While some of his methods are physical, Geiger truly flourishes when it comes to "convincing" people to say the truth via fear rather than pain. However, he is not all ruthless as he does have one principles he always abides by: never work with children. 

The previous two entries in the Child 44 trilogy by Tom Rob Smith were each unique in their own rights, and now that everything has been fully-fleshed out and developed, the time has come for our beloved Leo Demidov to set out on an epic journey of vengeance in the name of his family, who met a very tragic end after being lured to New York City under the pretense of being invited to a "Peace Tour".  With absolutely nothing left to lose, Leo Demidov sets out with the determination of a juggernaut to find out the truth about the conspiracy he and his family found themselves in neck-deep. Being denied the request to formally investigate his family’s murder, Demidov understands that it’s up to him to find out what happened. 

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.

Even though Stalin ’s Soviet Union may not have lasted a very long time, at least in comparison to other political regimes, it hasn't failed to leave quite a sizable mark on our history, mostly due to the genocide of dozens of millions of people.  Despite the fact that it was a tyrannical reign which broke the lives of countless people, it remains a somewhat fascinating look at what life would really be like should be we be subjected to the iron-fisted and law-driven rule of madman. In Child 44 , Tom Rob Smith explores life in this setting through Leo Demidov, a war hero and security officer who strongly believes in the rule of law and in Stalin’s righteousness.

Scott James is an officer with the LAPD (The Los Angeles Police Department) who has had a very difficult eight months, with the problems starting when a group of mysterious assailants attacked him and his partner, Stephanie, killing her, and very nearly killing Scott himself. After this incident, somewhat understandably, Scott is filled with rage, hatred, and a very deep sadness, making him quite unfit for duty, even of the desk variety.

I believe that regardless of what it is we are doing with our lives, every single person on Earth has the same goal: to achieve happiness. Naturally, what makes a person happy is really something which ought to be studied case-by-case, but the fact remains that we are all chasing after a certain feeling. If you are anything like me, then chances are moments of happiness serve as interludes to a great, long-lasting period of problems and frustrations.