Book Review: "The Secret Speech" by Tom Rob Smith

In this sequel to Child 44, British author Tom Rob Smith picks up with Leo Demidov three years after he's established the Homicide Division within the KGB, formerly the MGB. The Homicide Division is not held in high regard, but Leo cannot conscientiously work for the government doing anything else after the events in Child 44. 

The first scene in the book is actually a significant flashback to when Leo first started his work with the MGB. It is this scene that informs much of what transpires in The Secret Speech, and provides additional background for Leo. Initially, the link is unclear, but as events unfold the reader is pulled into the know. It's hard to forgive him for his blind obedience, but Leo's character is still pursuing his redemption; an arc that I imagine is resolved in the final book of the trilogy.

The speech referenced in title refers to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's 1956 address admitting Stalin's crimes. The speech is anonymously dropped off at a print press, deposited into every teacher's mailbox, and leaked through various other methods. At a time when propaganda and fear held the Soviet Union together, the speech was viewed as a serious threat. A threat that soon becomes clear when dead bodies start to turn up. Leo's team begins an investigation into deaths of previous MGB officers and other high ranking officials seemingly linked to crimes named in the speech. The speech is used as a catalyst to create social unrest, exposing these men who condemned their comrades to the gulags, torture, and death. It's clear that there is an underground movement taking place in an attempt to exacerbate the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Movie vs. Book: "Child 44: Where it Fell Short"

I recently reviewed the book Child 44 written by Tom Rob Smith, which you can read here. I didn't have much in the way of criticism for the book. I thought there was a balanced level of suspense, historical revelation of Soviet Union horrors, and character development. The psychological components of brainwashing, post traumatic stress disorder, fear, greed and psychopathic behavior were not clinical, but they definitely hit on all the right notes to bring the human struggle to life while propelling readers through an unrelenting thriller.

However, as is often the case, something was lost in the recent film adaptation of the book. If you haven't read my Movie vs. Book comparisons before, I feel it's important that you understand I am very open minded and I embrace the art of adaptation. I find adaptation an art form in itself. How do you take this finished and best-selling piece of literature and translate it to a different art form? It requires hard decision making, cuts, streamlining and simplification.

I've read that many book authors opt not to translate their own works into screenplays because of how different the writing medium is from writing a novel. In screenplays you have to break down the story and lay out the bare bones, "kill your darlings," and then leave room for the director's cut and vision. It would be hard to do that to a piece of work that you labored over in order to achieve the sense of finality; enough so, at least, to offer it to the world as a completed work. Some author's have been up to the task, most recently Gillian Flynn wrote the screenplay for Gone Girl and her adaptation was incredible.

Book Review: "Child 44" by Tom Rob Smith

As the first installment in a trilogy, Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 was an intriguing historical thriller that I couldn't stop reading. A friend first mentioned the book to me as a passing recommendation, and then I saw the preview for the film based on the book starring Tom Hardy. In true fan girl fashion, and what has become my preferred way to view films based on books, I sought out a copy of Child 44.

Initially, I didn't know what I had gotten myself into as the book started out with a scene that seemed disjointed from the main narrative. The book starts with a scene following two brothers as they try to trap and kill a stray cat in the woods so they can bring it home to their mother and eat it. They are starving, it's the middle of WWII, and the people of Russia have resorted to things worse than eating rats to survive the unrelenting hunger.

Then, the narrative shifts and we are vaulted twenty years into the future. The third person omniscient point of view allows the exploration of many of the character's thoughts, but the narrative most closely follows a high ranking M.G.B. officer by the name of Leo Demidov, whose perspective is shaped by the brain washed blur of Stalinism. As a member of the secret police, Leo fears his own colleagues and upward mobility as much as the general public fears him. To the reader, and to the general public of Stalinist Russia, Leo is a symbol of all that is wrong with the Soviet Union. I began to question why I was following this man and his blind belief for such a flawed ideology.