In Stalin's Soviet Union, crime does not exist. But still millions live in fear. The mere suspicion of disloyalty to the State, the wrong word at the wrong time, can send an innocent person to his execution.
Officer Leo Demidov, an idealistic war hero, believes he's building a perfect society. But after witnessing the interrogation of an innocent man, his loyalty begins to waver, and when ordered to investigate his own wife, Raisa, Leo is forced to choose where his heart truly lies.
Then the impossible happens. A murderer is on the loose, killing at will, and every belief Leo has ever held is shattered. Denounced by his enemies and exiled from home, with only Raisa by his side, he must risk everything to find a criminal that the State won't admit even exists. On the run, Leo soon discovers the danger isn't from the killer he is trying to catch, but from the country he is trying to protect.
Soviet Union, 1956: Stalin is dead. With his passing, a violent regime is beginning to fracture - leaving behind a society where the police are the criminals, and the criminals are innocent. The catalyst comes when a secret manifesto composed by Stalin's successor Khrushchev is distributed to the entire nation. Its message: Stalin was a tyrant and a murderer. Its promise: The Soviet Union will transform. But there are forces at work that are unable to forgive or forget Stalin's tyranny so easily, that demand revenge of the most appalling nature.
Meanwhile, former MGB officer Leo Demidov is facing his own turmoil. The two young girls he and his wife Raisa adopted have yet to forgive him for his involvement in the murder of their parents. They are not alone. Now that the truth is out, Leo, Raisa and their family are in grave danger from someone with a grudge against Leo. Someone transformed beyond recognition into the perfect model of vengeance.
From the streets of Moscow in the throes of political upheaval, to the wintry Siberian gulags and to Budapest, where a revolution will destroy as many innocent lives as the regime it is attempting to end, The Secret Speech is another stunning thriller from the author of the Booker- longlisted Child 44.
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Libra
Tom Rob Smith The Bestseller, CHILD 44 is out now in paperback!! Posted at 4:19 PM Mar 16 view more
'Few novels have touched so eloquently on the complex moral climate of life in the Soviet Union while delivering all the pleasures of a brilliant airport read' Guardian
'An amazing debut - rich, different, fully-formed, mature . . . and thrilling' Lee Child
'Tom Rob Smith is a name to watch' Barry Forshaw, Independent
'A thrilling, intense piece of fiction' Peter Guttridge, Observer
Longlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize
Shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2008
Shortlisted in the Literature category of the 2008 South Bank Show Awards
Shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott prize 2008
WINNER OF THE CRIME WRITERS' ASSOCIATION'S IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER AWARD FOR THE BEST ADVENTURE/THRILLER NOVEL OF THE YEAR, 2008
THE SECRET SPEECH
THE HOTLY ANTICIPATED FOLLOW-UP TO TOM ROB SMITH'S WIDELY CELEBRATED, BOOKER-LONGLISTED DEBUT NOVEL CHILD 44.
ARRIVES IN BOOKSTORES APRIL 2009.
Just wanted to let you know that Child 44 was awsome. Im not a big reader, but My fiancee suggested i read some more so I bought child 44 and it was an awsome book. She actually suggesting I read less becausei couldn't put it down. I pre - ordered The Secret Speech and am looking forward to it.
Your book child 44 has been my biggest inspiration to writing. without it i would be incomplete! haha. i guess what i am trying to say is your my hero. thanks.
