Child 44

The Book

44 children have been brutally murdered - found naked with their stomachs removed and mouths stuffed with ground bark.

The true enemy in Tom Rob Smith's novel set in Stalinist Russia, however, is the state system and its ideological viewpoint. Having read George Orwell's 1984, the nightmarish scenario "Imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever" was one I was familiar with but wasn't aware how much was history.
The reason a killer has been allowed to get away with so many murders is because the state does not recognise crimes like murder - that is a capitalist weakness. As everyone is happy and content in Russia, there should be no need for crime. Each murder is treated as an isolated incident with no co-ordination and a convenient person who is not the ideal Stalinist citizen is rounded up, tortured until they confess and then executed.

 Leo Demidov is an MGB State Security Officer who has carried out these practices for years in return for advancement and security, but when a scheming, jealous partner incriminates Leo's wife as a spy, he is demoted and sent to a remote outpost for not agreeing (and thereby going against the State).
With nothing to lose, disillusioned Leo starts to investigate the true serial killer, but its difficult to get evidence when fear of the State is greater than fear of a murderer.
The final confrontation between Leo and the killer is rather a subdued affair following the thrill of the chase and a massive plot reveal, but everything is tied up nicely.
If you intend to read the book, don't read any further as I am going to reveal the twist...

Seventh Son

The Book

.. or books, as the Seventh Son is the title covering the first two separately published books in the Spook series by Joseph Delaney - Spook's Apprentice and Spook's Curse. Delaney's books are set in a fictional County in medieval England, but taking inspiration from real places in Lancashire, where he lives. There is a definite Northern feel, with characters walking over fells and saying Aye a lot, which immediately sets alarm bells ringing with me about the adaptation, looking at the cover of the book (the film poster) which has Jeff Bridges as the Spook and Julianne Moore as a pale red head (I am guessing a witch).


Tom Ward starts learning to be the Spook's Apprentice and leaves his family to be taught in the ways of imprisoning boggarts, witches and ghosts.


The first book focuses on this initial training and Tom's gradual introduction to Alice, a young girl with pointy shoes, who persuades him to help Mother Malkin, an old crone of a witch to escape her imprisonment by the Spook. Realising his error, he tries to kill the newly risen witch and she becomes wick - a shapeless form that can take over the body of another. The finale is set for a great showdown where the reader is looking for clues as to who out of Tom's friends and family might be the witch in disguise.