AT THE END OF THE REVIEW IS A SHORT QUESTION AND ANSWER WITH THE AUTHOR OF CHILD44 AND THE SECRET SPEECH, TOM ROB SMITH.
Now you may remember back to the first of the review's that I wrote, it was Child44 by Tom Rob Smith. That was a story about a soviet agent for the MGB attempting to change his life by doing good, rather than following the orders blithely that were given by his superiors, after realising a child killer was on the loose, all the while putting up with the petty machinations of a colleague, hell bent on paying him back for any perceived slight. Well this book picks up again with Leo Demidov and Raisa his wife, It follows their new life together with the two girls who's parents were killed in the beginning of child44,
As Much as Leo tries to be a friend or a father to Zoya the elder of the 2 girls, she still blames him for the death of their parents, the younger sister although resentful but not to the same extent is happy to be out of the orphanage and have someone like Raisa to look after them.
After Khrushchev's secret speech and he denounced Stalin and his personality cult, and proclaimed aloud what the people already knew, that their government torturing and executing anyone even children as young as 12. After the speech came out and was distributed though out the whole of the Soviet Union and the eastern bloc, fears were that it would cause outrage and potential revolution.
Leo who was now running the only Homicide department, albeit secretly from the upstairs of the bakery factory, was called in to investigate the deaths of some former MGB agent's, the question is did they kill themselves? Or were they murdered by the people who had turned on them after the publication of the secret speech?
With Leo being an ex MGB officer would he be targeted as well? And if so who by? Who knew the deep dark secrets that even he didn't want to remember, the secrets that he'd tried to forget in his pursuit for redemption and his quest to be a better husband to Raisa.
I'm not going to say any more, as I'm not going to ruin the story for you, I personally really enjoyed this book and going by the email I got about child44, I know some of you enjoyed and are enjoying it now, I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone, it's not a big deal if you haven't read the 1st one, yes there some reference to it but nothing that isn't refreshed in a couple of lines so you know what's going on, If your usual preference in books is light hearted romance, then maybe this isn't for you, its as gritty and raw as child44 and doesn't shy away from the violence, -not that id say its excessively violent, its not its a reasonable approximation of what people lived through,
to read the review of Child44 click on the cover below
Below is a short Question and Answer by the Author Tom Rob Smith,
Were any of the central characters based on real-life historical figures?
The events surrounding real life serial killer Andrei Chikatilo were the springboard for the novel. But the bungled criminal process, the injustices, the system itself - these were more important than any real life characters in terms of inspiration. Soviet Russia is itself 
a character in the book - a peculiar blend of horror and absurdity. I've tried to be as close as I can to that. However, I didn't model the character of my fictional serial killer on the real killer. I took his crimes but not his character.
What first attracted you to a narrative set in Stalinist Russia?
The story attracted me - the idea of a criminal investigation being hampered by a social theory, the theory that this crime simply could not exist. The story and setting, in that regards, are inextricable. But I didn't suddenly think Stalinist Russia would be a great place to set a novel and go fishing for a story. Having said that, the more research I did, the more I realised what an amazing stretch of history it was and that definitely powered me forward.
What works similar to your own would you recommend to the reader who wanted to find out more?
There's a selected bibliography at the back of the novel. I haven't come across a bad book on the period, the histories, the memoirs, diaries - they're all incredible.
How do you write? For example, do you have a favourite time of day to write? Or a favourite place?
I start early. I'm a morning person, I like those early hours. Midday is the worst time for me writing wise - I go for a walk, take a long lunch and then start again around two. I rarely work later than seven in the evening. It adds up to a lot of hours but it never feels particularly tough as a regime.
At the moment I work in a study but I'm not sentimental about it, which is fortunate since it's a rented flat. In fact, I'm about to move, so I'll be working somewhere new in a month or two.
Which book(s) inspired you to become an author? And What was your favourite childhood book?
I don't know if there was any one book. I'm pretty sure it was every book I ever loved. And not just books but also television, film, theatre - I've always liked stories, it's nice to be able to make it my living.
I loved Roald Dahl - I must have read everything he wrote. And then there was Tolkein, any adventure stories really, other worlds. I also remember being addicted to a kind of fantasy fiction where you'd read a page and then be forced to make a choice: do you want to go down this tunnel, or climb the ladder. You'd be given different page numbers to turn to and different adventures would unfold depending on the choices you made. I had about forty of those books. You were supposed to follow rules: using a dice to determine if you defeated a monster or not. I'd ignore those rules and cheat my way through. I could never imagine killing myself halfway through a book and starting again. I'd be interested to know if anyone ever did. Anyway, those books must seem quaint now - usurped by computer games where you make those kinds of interactive decisions every single second.
