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Tom Rob Smith
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Book
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Publisher | pocket books | ||
ISBN | 978-184739159 | ||
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Reviewer
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Ann
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Synopsis
In Stalin's Soviet Union, crime does not exist. But still millions live in fear. The mere suspicion of disloyalty to the State, the wrong word at the wrong time, can send an innocent person to his execution. Officer Leo Demidov, an idealistic war hero, believes he's building a perfect society. But after witnessing the interrogation of an innocent man, his loyalty begins to waver, and when ordered to investigate his own wife, Raisa, Leo is forced to choose where his heart truly lies. Then the impossible happens. A murderer is on the loose, killing at will, and every belief Leo has ever held is shattered. Denounced by his enemies and exiled from home, with only Raisa by his side, he must risk everything to find a criminal that the State won't admit even exists. On the run, Leo soon discovers the danger isn't from the killer he is trying to catch, but from the country he is trying to protect.
Review
This is a well written book with good characters, atmospheric descriptive prose, a strong intricate plot, and I really, really disliked it ! If I hadn't been asked to review it, I wouldn't have read past the first few chapters.
Set in paranoic post war Russia, it's a good man's search for a murderer at a time when even a suspicion of disloyalty to the state or its officials is punishable by torture, incarceration, expulsion or death and justice is therefore thin on the ground.
It's the subject matter that I found depressing, and even slightly offensive, using particularly gruesome child murders at its core. Taken as granted that not all books are, or even should be, light and amusing and that the darker side of human nature can be explored, I still feel that this is unfortunate.
This is obviously a talented author, I hope his next offering is more appropriate.
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