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To survive as a detective in 1950s communist Russia, you have to put your country above all. Anything less is tantamount to high treason.

When your superiors tell you to investigate a possible spy, you go and apprehend him/her without stopping to think about the accuracy of the accusation: "Better let ten innocent men suffer than one spy escape."

If your subordinate thinks his son's tragic accident was in fact murder, you go and remind him of one of the fundaments of his society: "There is no crime".



So when he refuses to denounce his own wife as a traitor, MGB detective Leo Demidov knows that they'll both be executed. Stalin's sudden death however, grants them reprieve and an exile into the remote town of Voualsk, where they'll at least have one another. But then his wife Raisa shocks him, by suddenly confessing that she had married Leo out of fear, and in fact hates him.

A "routine" arrest in the case of a dead child, whose circumstances seem eerily familiar, gives Leo a new purpose. He decides to find the actual culprit, and not just allow the militia to pin it on an unfortunate scapegoat.



Having previously watched , I was not expecting to like the book so much.
The basic story about a disgraced MGB agent hunting a serial child murderer remains the same, but life in the cut-throat world of communist Russia, as well as Leo's past (view spoiler)[(and as such his connection to the killer) (hide spoiler)] are missing.

I especially liked Leo's character development.
In the movie, there is Tom Hardy who's running around and brooding handsomely, while the rest of the world is busy hating him.
In the book, we see Leo's life as a dedicated MGB agent, who would not hesitate to resort to drugs in order to keep doing his job, even when this comes with severe memory loss.



It was also quite fascinating to read about Leo's inner turmoil, when it came down to actually believing the communist propaganda that he enforces. At times, it was almost heart-breaking to see him attempt to brainwash himself, by repeatedly memorising communist slogans, when the methamphetamine-induced memory loss manifested itself.

And most of all, Leo's past is what left quite an impression on me. Despite the fact that the novel actually starts with a scene from his childhood, the reader doesn't find its relevance until after having gone through more than half of the book. The chilling conclusion of this first chapter is, nevertheless, an excellent way of catching the reader's attention.

Score: 5/5 stars

The first 5 star book this year.
Admittedly, I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information, when it comes to detailing life in 1950s Russia, but the manner in which it is described is definitely effective. I could barely put the book down, and even then I kept counting the hours I could pick it up again to continue.