Tom Rob Smith
Bambino 44

There are books that make you think, many others teach or explain theories by opening the mind, there are several that leave you indifferent, and there are some, quite rare I would say, that generate emotions. Different types of emotions: passion, fear, anger, so intense that it seems impossible that they can arise, sometimes even together, from a single novel. After all, a book is just a material object, an inanimate sequence of words, it even lacks the visual impact that a film can evoke.
Smith's novel is one of those (rare) examples where a book undoubtedly manages to generate this type of emotional flow.

Surely a great thriller, well-crafted and engaging plot in its unfolding, with a classic setup that includes a 'prologue' whose continuation only materializes in the final chapters. A setup that makes it quite easy to guess 'who the killer is,' but the story is so compelling that this aspect becomes irrelevant.
Because it's not the police investigation that is the strength of this novel; if it were, Child 44 would not stand out and distinguish itself among the myriad of similar novels.
The police investigation almost seems like a pretext to tell the metamorphosis of a man, Leo Stepanovic Demidov, whose conscience has been nullified and molded in service of the Stalinist regime, becoming a member of the MGB, officially a state security police department, but which in reality uses its power to eliminate anyone who represents an obstacle or danger to achieving the Soviet dream, the communist utopia, under the accusation of espionage.
But when that same regime that Leo has always honored turns against him, showing its deep contradictions, Leo reacts, rebels, and fights, not only against those who try to suppress him but especially against himself to break through the layer of ice that has enveloped his reason and heart, freezing his feelings and his dignity. And it is precisely in the description of this metamorphosis, profound, dramatic, and with distressing implications that the author shows his remarkable capacity for emotional involvement.

The identification in which we find ourselves during the reading tightens the stomach, almost generates hatred, makes us feel the desire for revenge and rebellion against the injustices suffered and the ruthless malice of men against whom it is impossible to act, rendered powerless due to a system, a regime without justice, in which faults are sought and not proofs of innocence.

Engaging, rich in historical content and stylistically satisfying, "Child 44" is a novel that demands to be savored slowly, without haste, a writing that manages to capture a snapshot of a society in its strengths and weaknesses, clearly giving the reader an idea of the government established in a not too distant time and over a too vast territory to administer. Based on the events of Andrei Chikatilo, a serial killer to whom at least 56 victims, including women and children, can be attributed between the time frame of 1978 (date of the first death) and 1990 (year in which he was arrested), Tom Rob Smith's debut novel is undoubtedly a masterpiece that stands out for quality and content.

A film was made from it, produced by Ridley Scott, simply useless and that does not do justice to such a valid product.

USEFUL INFORMATION