The Child 44 Trilogy

📖 The Scoop

Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 trilogy was an immediate publishing sensation and marked the arrival of a major new talent in contemporary fiction. Named one of top 100 thrillers of all time by NPR, Child 44 hit bestseller lists around the world, won the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award and the ITW Thriller Award for Best First Novel, and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Now, discover the entire trilogy, collected in one edition for the first time ever.

Child 44
In a country ruled by fear, no one is innocent.
Stalin's Soviet Union is an official paradise, where citizens live free from crime and fear only one thing: the all-powerful state. Defending this system is idealistic security officer Leo Demidov, a war hero who believes in the iron fist of the law. But when a murderer starts to kill at will and Leo dares to investigate, the State's obedient servant finds himself demoted and exiled. Now, with only his wife at his side, Leo must fight to uncover shocking truths about a killer--and a country where "crime" doesn't exist.

The Secret Speech
Soviet Union, 1956. Stalin is dead, and a regime once held together by fear is beginning to fracture, creating a lawless society where the police have become the criminals. A series of murders now has all of Moscow on edge, and no one--no matter how powerful or connected--seems safe. With his new and secretive homicide department, Leo Demidov investigates--only to find that he, his wife, and his two adopted daughters may be in grave danger. To save his family, Leo must make a desperate choice and face an impossible journey that may bring his redemption...or shatter their fragile future.

Agent 6
Three decades. Two murders. One conspiracy. Who is Agent 6?
Leo Demidov is no longer a member of Moscow's secret police. But when his wife and daughters are invited on a "peace tour" to New York City, he is immediately suspicious. Forbidden to travel with his family, Leo watches helplessly as events in New York unfold and those closest to his heart are pulled into a web of political conspiracy, betrayal--and murder.
In the horrible aftermath, Leo demands only one thing: to hunt down the killer who destroyed his family. His request is summarily denied. Crippled by grief and haunted by the need to find out exactly what happened in New York, Leo takes matters into his own hands. It is a quest that will span decades, and take Leo around the world--from Moscow, to the mountains of Soviet-controlled Afghanistan, to the backstreets of New York--in pursuit of the one man who knows the truth: Agent 6.

Genre: Fiction / Thrillers / Political (fancy, right?)