Child 44: 1 (Child 44 Trilogy)

"Sensational...crackling...Smith's prose is propulsive...his real genius is his careful potting...an elaborate mystery."--Entertainment Weekly

"One of the rare pleasures of the book-reviewing trade is first hearing all sorts of advance hype about a novel and then finding out that every word was true."--Chicago Tribune

The New York Times bestselling novel that inspired the major motion picture starring Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace

In a country ruled by fear, no one is innocent.

Stalin's Soviet Union is an official paradise, where citizens live free from crime and fear only one thing: the all-powerful state. Defending this system is idealistic security officer Leo Demidov, a war hero who believes in the iron fist of the law. But when a murderer starts to kill at will and Leo dares to investigate, the State's obedient servant finds himself demoted and exiled. Now, with only his wife at his side, Leo must fight to uncover shocking truths about a killer-and a country where "crime" doesn't exist.