Zoe H. (ZoeH) reviewed on 2/19/2010 + 155 more book reviews

Stuart Kaminsky's Inspector Rostnikov and Martin Cruze Smith's Arkady Renko do their sleuthing for the most part in post-Soviet Russia, grappling with the challenges not only of crime and criminals, but the wildly shifting socio-political-economic environment as well. Tom Rob Smith offers an earlier time (Stalinist and post-Stalinist USSR) and a detective grappling with internal State terror, the Cold War, and his own past as an officer of in the State Security (NKVD and MGB) forces during and after WWII. In Child 44, a disturbing but very well-crafted debut, Leo Demidov expertly navigates the political pitfalls of his agency -- including a boss he should not trust and a rival clearly out to destroy him. He becomes enmeshed in the discovery of a horrific series of child murders that will threaten his marriage, his career, and his life -- and the lives of his wife, parents and a widening circle of those he encounters.

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