The Secret Speech - Tom Rob Smith (audio)

I've been very excited about the release of this novel. The Secret Speech is the much-awaited (personally, at least) sequel to the Booker-nominated Child 44, written by the handsome Tom Rob Smith. To refresh yourself, my review of Child 44 is here. In Smith's first novel, we became attached to the MGB officer Leo Demodov, who was once a brutal abuser serving the whims of Stalin, and discovered his humanity in an extremely personal investigation of a serial murder of children. This novel was an all-around win in my opinion...a brilliant debut.

Leo and his wife Raisa, are struggling to raise their two adoptive daughters, whose parents were killed by the Stalinist regime that Leo once supported. The younger daughter is flourishing, but the older one, Zoya, has nothing but hate for Leo. She even goes so far as to stand over him while he sleeps, with a knife in her hand and evil intentions in her heart.

It is 1956. Stalin is dead and Nikita Krushchev is in charge. The "secret speech", dictated by Krushchev, is circulated far and wide, denouncing Stalin, his minions, and all their tortuous acts. (This is historical fact, by the way.) Everyone remotely involved in Stalinist Russia is getting mighty nervous. Some run, some commit suicide. Pandemonium ensues. Stalinist Russia supported a denial mentality, you see..."we are all good people, nothing bad happens here, everything is in control". So this admission is a real kick in the arse, if I may be so bold. Old Stalinist officials are starting to be picked off, alarmingly, one by one, by someone who is back to seek revenge for the sins of the past. Smith isn't afraid to knock a few people off in the name of revenge, by the way. I love him for that boldness.

Leo just happens to be one of those offenders. His daughter Zoya is kidnapped, and Leo must do whatever it takes to right the wrongs he has committed in the past and get his daughter back. He will risk his life, and the lives of his friends. It doesn't matter that Zoya hates him and everything he stands for. He wants a normal life, a normal family. It is very important to him.

Leo and Raisa are yet again on the road, fighting for their family's happiness. They don't know if they will be able to drag Zoya back from the clutches of the dark side, and at the same time, defeat a decade-old enemy. There are some serious rebellious politics at work, a fanaticism and even a romanticism that could be hard to compete with.

I REALLY wanted to love this book, as I did Child 44. The hype was there. Even a blogger friend, Simon, was able to interview Smith IN PERSON (of which I was quite jealous). But in my honest opinion, while I was entertained, I was ready for the book to end about halfway through. It was almost like the novel was having an identity crisis. Is it a political thriller? A murder mystery? A drama about the strength of family? Is it about the Hungarian Revolution? I love the Russian history, but the plot was too disorganized for personal investment or focus. We still have a fondness for Leo - the guy really wants to overcome his past sins. But the story came up a tad bit cold for me. I'm almost depressed to say this, but those are my feelings.

On the brighter side of things, I enjoyed yet again a narration by Dennis Boutsikaris, who narrated for Child 44 as well. He captures the essence of the Russian accents and vocal intonations perfectly.

My best advice? Read Child 44. If you find yourself enamoured with Leo and desperately needing to know the follow-up to the debut, proceed with your expectations in check.

3 out of 5 stars

"Child 44" by Tom Rob Smith (audio)

I imagined that Child 44 would be another entertaining, yet forgetable murder mysteries. This was not case...not even close. This novel takes place in Stalinist Russia. Not a good place to be for anyone, even MGB agent Leo Demidov, our protagonist, who was once a poster boy for the state, but is, like most people at some point during this time, on thin ice.

A MGB colleague's son has just been found dead by a set of Moscow train tracks. To the passerby, it looks like an accident. The child's family claims it was murder. Leo is asked to "handle" this inconvenient situation by sweeping it under the rug to avoid any embarassment. He then is instructed to hunt down a suspected spy (for no reason other than he is a vet treating the pets of the US ambassador), and soon is faced with the reality that this man is not guilty of anything. In fact, most of the people he hunts down and often tortures and kills are innocent. His guilt and conscience soon begin to show through and he and his wife very quickly become an enemy of the state. All that has been given to him and his parents as a result of his status (good jobs, upscale living conditions, shopping priveledges) are taken away and all are threatened with imprisonment and death. He is demoted and shipped away to a small town to spend the rest of his supposed short life to work a menial job. There he discovers more deaths of children, similar to the one he brushed aside in Moscow. There are so many similarities, including bone-chilling details of rape, disembowelment, and mulch shoved in the mouths of the victims. He becomes driven, single-mindedly, to solve these murders, as his last act of retribution. He does solve these crimes, but even I of the sick and twisted mind failed to see the entire picture until the end.

Smith is an absolute master at time-warping you back to this era of hypocrisy, paranoia and witch-hunts. It is the second piece of media that I have come across in just a few weeks (the documentary "Poisoned By Polonium" was the first) that artfully portrays Russian leaders as no more than common thugs, not above strong-arming, lying and deceiving to achieve their goals. Smith also has done a brilliant job of developing the character of Leo. It is actually Disc 6 before we get to the business of hunting down the serial murderer, but you don't really mind the journey. And as for this piece of fiction on audiotape, it was a joy. The Russian accents of the performer were the cherry on top.