In his first time at bat, Smith has hit a home run with Child 44. The plot is riveting, the prose is spot on, the narrative is engrossing, and the characters are fully developed. Smith weaves his tale in such a way that I, as the reader, felt I was right in the middle of all the action with the main characters. Basically, Child 44 is the story of Leo Demidov, a rising prominent officer in Stalin’s Soviet Union State Security force during the 1950′s. Demidov is a former war hero whose only ambition is to serve his country, to defend the worker’s paradise, and to guarantee a secure life for his parents and for his wife. Ideological crimes — crimes of disloyalty, crimes of thought and crimes against the revolution — are forcefully suprressed without question. And then the impossible happens; in that a different kind of criminal — a murderer — is on the loose, killing at will. At the same time Leo finds himself demoted and denounced by his enemies. The only way for Leo to save himself and his family is to uncover this criminal. From this point on be ready to be unable to get up from your chair until you finish this exciting, extremely well-written story (which is based on fact). If you pay careful attention to the early details in Child 44, I think you will (as I did) be able to guess who the murderer is in advance of the ending. This, however, does not detract from the riveting reading experience that Smith has provided in his debut thriller. Child 44 is one of the best fiction books I’ve read in a while and I highly recommend it to you. Enjoy!