Elle Is For Literature

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is divided into two halves. The first half appears to be separate stories that capture the horrid conditions of living during Stalin's Soviet Union. When being accused meant guilt which meant death. There was never anyone accused who was innocent. Even the children understood the fear and jeopardy you could put everyone you knew and loved in by doing the slightest, inadvertent thing to show you were a traitor. I loved the first half of the book and it continually made me count my blessings. Then the book changed in the second half to be about a serial child murderer. Smith's writing continued to be compelling and all of the previous "separate" stories started to intertwine and a few other unexpected details suddenly surfaced to make this a very fascinating gripping mystery book. That being said, mysteries are not my cup of tea so I am only giving this 3 stars. If you like mysteries, this is an excellent book that you should read.

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