Tom Rob Smith’s debut novel, Child 44, was one of the runaway successes of 2008 and his follow up novel is equally gripping. Set in the Soviet Union of 1956, Stalin is dead and when a secret manifesto is released, to the nation, claiming he was a tyrant and murderer and the Soviet Union must transform, cracks that were already forming in this fragile society start to break wide open and who to trust is impossible to know. From the streets of Moscow to the Siberian gulags this fast paced thriller will keep you hooked on the action from the start. A brilliant look at what might have been.
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.
