Child 44

I found this book tough at the start to get into. Some of the content is not easy to listen to - pretty brutal conditions in Stalinist Russia. However, it became absorbing after the first hour and ultimately unputdownable. An excellent story.

Enjoyed this novel from the first thirty minutes. Well crafted and narrated. What an obvious and wonderfully twisted end too!

If you only read one crime book this year, make it this one. Compelling, fascinating, thrilling, this is a terrifying insight into life in Communist Russia. Credible characters and a believable story make this unputdownable. I can't wait for the sequel - hurry up Tom!

A secret policeman finds himself on the other side of the law as he battles to catch the maniacal serial killer of children that the state refuses to acknowledge. Apart from being a gripping thriller, the book poses some interesting philosophical questions and moral dilemmas as he faces up to the brutality of the omnipotent and corrupt state, and the futility of opposition. Apparently based on a true story.

The book is one of the best I have purchased from audible.It portrays the life in Russia under Stalin and the fear of reprisals.
Leo's world is turned upside down from being an avid supporter of the state system he then experience's the Horrors of being an enemy of the state.
Does one have sympathy for Leo's fate or do you try to think you are suffering the same fate of many other People he has sent of to the Gulags.
The brutality and fear portrayed in the book are tools of the state to ensure obedience.
20 million people entered the gulag system under Stalin.
Man is wolf to man

There is a lot of implied violence and torture in this book which is nevertheless, quite exciting. It is also pretty relentlessly bleak. Nevertheless, by the end I decided I wanted to listen to the next book so it can?t have been all that bleak! The reading is first rate which really enhances the experience ? and once I got into the story I managed to rise above the gloom and I quite quickly wanted to find out what happened. If you enjoy drama and don?t mind the violent bits it?s a very good listen.

This is a gripping book, it has some great twists, and a really good insight into what kind of a world Stalin had created,and how the main character is human, but has to do many inhumane things. It kept me fascinated, and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who has a few long drives or long winter nights to kill. A reminder of what a world we live in, then and now, but it still leaves you with hope for humanity.

Excellent book, very well read highly recommended

Wonderful, intelligent, gripping, fascinating to learn about 1950's Russia, very original, great, great thriller, ... one of my books of the year

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it difficult to stop listening! On the one hand it is a crime thriller as Leo struggles to track down a child-killer, hampered by the fact that in the Communist Soviet Union crime cannot exist as it is a perfect society. On another level we follow his struggles with the ideology of the State as he begins to question the system which he has supported and worked for all his life. Very atmospheric and expertly narrated - definitely worth a listen.