Child 44 - Tom Rob Smith Where to start with this book? The reviews for it have been hysterically positive. And I am not going to be the lone voice of dissent. It is a very good book that is less about the crime than the people who inhabit Soviet Russia circa 1953. And I guess this is true of great crime fiction. Great characters bring you back for more. However, my overall feeling is that the 'crime' of this fiction is just a subterfuge for Smith to delve into the grotesqueness of every day Soviet life. The who, how, and why-done-it are never nearly as important as the day in the life aspects of Soviet citizens. Child 44 is billed as serial killer novel, now that is probably too reductive, but the book is called Child 44. I don't think there are any illusions what those 44 children refer too. And while I am sure a substantial portion of the book is devoted to the 'serial killer' it certainly is not the best part of the book or at least the most memorable. The craft...