(hb; 2012: third novel in the Agent Leo Demidov trilogy)
From the inside flap:
"Leo Demidov is no longer a member of Moscow's secret police. But when his wife, Raisa, and daughters Zoya and Elena are invited on a 'Peace Tour' to New York City, he is immediately suspicious.
"Forbidden to travel with his family and trapped on the other side of the world, Leo watches helplessly as event in New York unfold and those closest to his heart are pulled into a web of political conspiracy and betrayal - one that will end in tragedy.
"In the horrible aftermath, Leo demands only one thing: to investigate the killer who destroyed his family. His request is summarily denied. Crippled by grief and haunted by the need to find out exactly what happened on that night in New York, Leo takes matters into his own hands. It is a quest that will span decades, and take Leo around the world -- from Moscow, to the mountains of Soviet-controlled Afghanistan, to the backstreets of New York -- in pursuit of the man who knows the truth: Agent 6."
Review:
Agent 6 is, with its multi-decade span and character development, a flirting-with-Sergio-Leone-esque-epic* read. It is imbued with the style and tone of its source novel Child 44 (more drama work than actioner), showing how tragedy, as well as others' hatred and manipulative patriotism, lead Leo down a path that results in him winding up in the hell trap that is Afghanistan (circa 1980), where the Russian government is mired in an ill-advised conflict with a country that has consistently defeated other would-be invaders: Alexander the Great (in 330 BC), the Mongols (in 1219), the British (1839, 1878 and 1919).
Leo knows if he tries to escape his militaristic-prison post that his surviving family members will be arrested, tortured and possibly killed. However, the mysterious circumstances of a close-to-the-heart murder haunt his every waking moment -- a mystery that he must solve, or die trying.
Agent 6 is a hard-to-put down, timely and entertaining (in a Russian-harsh way) story, one that lives up to the excellence of its predecessor novels, while expanding on the historical and time-scale structures of those novels. Its ending, like the lives and outlooks of many of its Russian and American characters, is dark, but sports a tender, all-is-not-lost effect. This is worth owning, like Child 44 and The Secret Speech.
(*particularly Leone's 1984 film Once Upon a Time in America)
(2009: second novel in the Agent Leo Demidov trilogy)
From the inside flap:
"Soviet Union, 1956. Stalin is dead, and a violent regime is beginning to fracture -- leaving behind a society where the police are the criminals and the criminals are innocent. A secret speech composed by Stalin's successor Khruschev is distributed to the entire nation. Its message: Stalin was a tyrant. Its promise: the Soviet Union will change.
"Facing his own personal turmoil, former state security officer Leo Demidov is also struggling to change. The two young girls he and his wife, Raisa, adopted have yet to forgive him for his part in the death of their parents. They are not alone. Now that the truth is out, Leo, Raisa, and their family are in grave danger from someone consumed by the dark legacy of Leo's past career. Someone transformed beyond recognition into the perfect model of vengeance."
Review:
The political is once again personal in this follow-up to Child 44. Leo Demidov and his wife Raisa are not only struggling with the tensions of living within a society where it is understood that relationships bear a fifty-percent chance of denouncement (meaning torture, imprisonment and death, or worse, being sent to a gulag, a prison camp) but the fact that one of their adoptive daughters (Zoya) is openly courting getting arrested via her rejection of Leo (who was present when her parents were brutally killed), her public denouncements of Stalin and other actions.
Zoya's actions place the Demidov family -- including her younger sister, Elena -- in grave danger, because State Security forces believe that where there's one rotten apple there must be more, even -- especially -- if the head of that family is the head of the homicide squad, an entity that is inherently offensive to many (after all, there is no murder in paradise, only foreign/Main Adversary* agents seeking to tear it down).
Secret, like its source story, is a cinematic-vivid work, with its no-wasted-scenes, editing and its effective, sudden (sometimes surprising) flashes of tenderness at the unlikeliest of moments or between the unlikeliest of people. Also, like Child 44, it is a conscious, if fictionalized, account showing the historic and political evolution of Russia, as it, on a larger scale, struggles with the changes and inherent harshness built into its system.
What sets Secret apart from its source novel is that Secret has a lot more action scenes. While Child 44 had its share of violence, it read like a bloody drama; Secret still has drama, but its pacing and edits make it read like an action novel.
This is an excellent and breakneck-paced book, one worth owning. Followed by Agent 6.
(*America)
(hb; 2008: first novel in the Agent Leo Demidov trilogy)
From the inside flap:
"Stalin's Soviet Union strives to be a paradise for its workers, providing for all of their needs. One of its fundamental pillars is that its citizens live free from the fear of ordinary crime and criminals.
"But in this society, millions do live in fear. . . of the State. Death is a whisper away. The mere suspicion of ideological disloyalty -- owning a book from the decadent West, the wrong word at the wrong time -- sends millions of innocents into the Gulags or to their executions. Defending the system from its citizens is the MGB, the State Security Force. And no MGB officer is more courageous, conscientious or idealistic than Leo Demidov.
"A war hero with a beautiful wife, Leo lives in relative luxury in Moscow, even providing a decent apartment for his parents. His only ambition has been to serve his country. For this greater good, he has been arrested and interrogated.
"Then the impossible happens. A different kind of criminal -- a murderer -- is on the loose, killing at will. At the same time, Leo finds himself demoted and denounced by his enemies, his world turned upside down and every belief he's ever held shattered. The only way to save his life and the lives of his family is to uncover this criminal. But in a society that is officially paradise, it's a crime against the State to suggest that a murderer -- much less a serial killer -- is in their midst."
Review:
Child is an excellent and thrilling novel, with relatable characters (who are realistic in their mix of darkness and light), its historic and Russian milieu, as well as its fictionalized/time transposed use of real-life child murderer Andrei Chikatilo. Not only that, there is romance in this harsh tale, which is sometimes tender (often at unexpected moments).
Great read, this -- followed by The Secret Speech.
#
The resulting film is scheduled for April 17, 2015 stateside release. Daniel Espinosa directed the film, from a screenplay by Richard Price.
Tom Hardy played Leo Demidov. Noomi Rapace played Raisa Demidov. Fares Fares played Alexei Andreyev. Jason Clarke played Anatoly Tarasovich Brodsky. Gary Oldman played General Mikhail Nesterov. Tara Fitzgerald played Inessa Nesterov.
Vincent Cassel played Major Kuzmin. Joel Kinnaman played Vasili. Paddy Considine played Vladimir Malevich. Charles Dance played Major Grachev. Vlastina Svátková played "Rostov Parent #1".
