Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith is part historical fiction, part political intrigue, and part murder mystery. I would rate the novel highly in the first of those two genres (and highly overall), but if you're a reader on the hunt for a great murder mystery, you may be a bit disappointed.
Leo Demidov is a cog in Stalin's Soviet Union, a rising member of the MGB, the State Security Force. As an investigator, Leo lacks imagination and blindly follows orders, never questioning whether the State might be wrong. In this world murder does not exist, and those who are suspected of crimes against the State are always guilty and must be rooted out and removed from society.
However, in this "crime-free" society, a serial killer is on the loose. His targets are defenseless children, their bodies abandoned near train tracks. This serial killer is given refuge and ultimately unfettered freedom to kill by the State because the State would rather sacrifice a few than allow the spread of fear by acknowledging that any murders have even occurred. This, of course, is an interesting philosophy in a society that we all now know was ruled by fear.
When Leo questions what is happening, he too is quickly recast as an enemy of the State and turned out. Rather than bending to the will of the State, Leo sets out on a lonely and dangerous path to find the truth and stop the serial killer from striking again. This quest for truth costs him dearly, but he is ultimately successful in tracking down and rooting out the killer. The mystery is relatively easily solved, but I don't think Smith intended to write a complex murder mystery, as his story is about so much more.
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