Books
THE SECRET SPEECH
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.
‘This is a fantastic read from the acclaimed author of Child 44 … The author’s gripping storytelling and talent for visceral description draw you into a world that can be extremely brutal and completely senseless, but he refuses to let you go until you have lived through the worst of times with Demidov and his family’
WATERSTONE’S BOOKS QUARTERLY
‘A powerful page-turner’
GQ
‘Explosive … Smith writes with finesse and authority’
USA TODAY
‘If it’s thrills you’re after, this book delivers’
GUARDIAN
‘The Secret Speech continues the headlong pace of Child 44’
WALL STREET JOURNAL
‘An epic journey across the blasted Siberian landscape to the dreaded Gulag 57. As with Child 44, Smith’s historiography is exact and his early career as a scriptwriter shows in his feel for the necessary rhythms of plot. The feints, bluffs and reveals keep it all rattling along’
HERALD
‘Smith paints a chilling picture of post-Stalinist Russia, and never lets the pace flag as Demidov tries to save his family from foes out for vengeance’
LONDON PAPER