Agent 6 (The Child 44 Trilogy) [Hardcover]

Tom Rob Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 5, 2012 | Series: The Child 44 Trilogy

THREE DECADES.
TWO MURDERS.
ONE CONSPIRACY.

WHO IS AGENT 6?

Tom Rob Smith's debut, Child 44, was an immediate publishing sensation and marked the arrival of a major new talent in contemporary fiction. Named one of top 100 thrillers of all time by NPR, it hit bestseller lists around the world, won the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award and the ITW Thriller Award for Best First Novel, and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
In this spellbinding new novel, Tom Rob Smith probes the tenuous border between love and obsession as Leo Demidov struggles to untangle the threads of a devastating conspiracy that shatters everything he holds dear. Deftly capturing the claustrophobic intensity of the Cold War-era Soviet Union, it's at once a heart-pounding thriller and a richly atmospheric novel of extraordinary depth....

AGENT 6

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 events 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 one man who knows the truth: Agent 6.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best Books of the Month, January 2012: To solve the murder that splintered his family, ex-KGB officer Leo Demidov escapes the ruins of Stalinist Russia through opium-soaked 1980s Afghanistan to New York's underbelly. Smith secures his place in the pantheon of crime writers with this taut, enthralling conclusion to the trilogy he brilliantly began with Child 44 and The Secret Speech. --Mari Malcolm

Review

"In [the] first two volumes, Smith brilliantly illuminated the horrors of Stalin's Russia and the Gulag. He also gave readers Leo Demidov, duty-bound, introspective, enduring, and ultimately a figure both tragic and heroic...another first-class, must-read crime novel." (Booklist (starred review))

"A gripping, relentless whodunit plot...Most readers will reach the final page with regret and in awe of Smith's uncompromising vision of the realities of a police state and the toll it takes on those caught in its meshes." (Publisher's Weekly (starred review))

"An old-fashioned thriller that would do Ludlum and le Carré proud...A big book, in every sense, that's sure to draw attention." (Kirkus (starred review))

"When a trilogy is as unpredictable and riveting as Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 series, set as it is both in the harsh Russian landscape and the dense thicket of the human soul, expectations quickly evaporate in a page-turning frenzy....Smith, a young British screenwriter turned best-selling novelist, has created in Leo Demidov a Kafkaesque modern hero for our times, a good man trapped in a corrupt, manipulative system, forced to choose between loyalties to family, country and conscience. With a cinematographer's eye for settings and historical detail, Smith uses Leo's journey to examine larger issues, especially the political, social and religious systems that both unite and divide us."
(BookPage)

"Fortified by formidable details of Soviet history, Smith's closing volume of the Leo Demidov trilogy (Child 44; The Secret Speech) knits together iconic characters and elements...Fans of Smith's first two books will avidly seek out the final chapter, though this one stands on its own as well. The Afghan interlude is a searing echo of today's headlines, while the buildup of suspense over several decades is the armchair equivalent of a jaw-jarringly extreme ride at an amusement park." (Library Journal)

"Agent 6 has all the elements that made the first two books in the series hits: relentless action, a flawed but fascinating protagonist and a clear-eyed view of the absolute brutality of an authoritarian government." (Dallas Morning News)

"A new talent who looks set to be entertaining and moving us for many decades to come." (The Scotsman)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (January 5, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446550760
• ISBN-13: 978-0446550765
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.5 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (118 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #434,932 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tom Rob Smith graduated from Cambridge University in 2001 and lives in London. His first novel, Child 44, was a New York Times bestseller and an international publishing sensation. Among its many honors, Child 44 won the ITW 2009 Thriller Award for Best First Novel, The Strand Magazine 2008 Critics Award for Best First Novel, the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award, and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Tom invites you to visit his website www.TomRobSmith.com and follow @tomrobsmith on Twitter.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

178 of 204 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Enough with the 1-star reviews that have nothing to do with the book itself! January 5, 2012

By M. McGinty

Format:Hardcover

Folks, I understand your outrage/displeasure/whatever over paying more for the e-version of the book than you expected. However, three 1-star reviews that have nothing to do with the quality of the book have dragged down its overall rating, giving everyone who comes to the page a false impression that the book isn't very good - and doing the author, who certainly deserves better, an immense disservice.

Do everyone a favor and keep your reviews on-topic. They are supposed to be about the book [plot, character, structure, style, etc.], not customer service, not Amazon pricing policies, and certainly not your wallet. There are other forums for that. Go post your off-topic rants there.

45 of 51 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting, poignant ending to the series July 31, 2011

By Kathy Kaiser VINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition

Tom Rob Smith's final book in his excellent series went in directions I wasn't expecting. Events unfolded that kept me on the edge of my seat, unprepared for the harrowing, frightening, and ultimately bittersweet denouement of a great story. I closed the book with a sense of deep sadness that I wouldn't be visiting Leo in the future, but satisfied with how Smith concluded Leo's journey. Leo's bravery and honor in the first two books are tested and beaten down in the beginning of Agent 6. Eventually, Leo finds his way back and resolves the issues that almost destroyed him. I'm not being specific in order to prevent spoilers, but let me say that readers of the first two books will stay thoroughly involved in Leo's struggles and search for revenge. Also unexpected, Smith brings a tenderness to the finale that left me in tears. He's done a masterful job with all three books. I'm hoping that he continues to write, imbuing a new series of books with the same insightful, well-researched, character-driven stories as he has done with these three. Bravo Mr. Smith.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I am confident that AGENT 6 will be on several "Best of the Year" lists January 9, 2012

By Bookreporter

Format:Hardcover

It is much too early in the year to even begin discussing such things, but I am confident that AGENT 6 will be on several "Best of the Year" lists. The concluding volume of a trilogy that includes the haunting CHILD 44 and the unforgettable THE SECRET SPEECH, it continues Tom Rob Smith's penchant for exhaustive detail and claustrophobic atmosphere.

Leo Demidov's career as a Moscow secret policeman shapes and informs the events that take place, even as he makes a life for himself outside of the law enforcement arena. AGENT 6 begins in 1950, telling the story of how Demidov first met his beloved wife, Raisa. The narrative continues through 1965, when Demidov, who has become a respected manager of a small factory, loses everything he holds dear in the space of a heartbeat. Grieving and seeking revenge, he is prevented by the Communist state from investigating the cause of the tragedy or the impetus behind it. But he is not one to be denied, as those familiar with CHILD 44 and THE SECRET SPEECH know all too well. Over the course of the next 15 years, Demidov relentlessly follows a complex and tortuous path, one that takes him from Russia to the war-torn mountains of Afghanistan and finally to New York.

Along the way, the author captures the mood and the era scrupulously against several different backdrops. One knows, almost from the beginning of the book, that things are not going to end well, as the Soviet Union passes from the terrifying and murderous rule of Josef Stalin through Leonid Brezhnev's rearrangement of the deck chairs on the Soviet ship of state as he steered it resolutely into the economic iceberg that had been its destiny from the beginning. Demidov is older and exhausted, yet more resolute than ever, while at the same time he is arguably more flawed.... As with the best literature, the "current" events of AGENT 6 are tied to the acts of the past, erroneous and otherwise. And while the actions of Demidov's past contribute to the tragedies of his present, they also enable him to achieve a draw of sorts at the book's conclusion, however bittersweet it may be.

What is undeniable here is that Smith has emerged from the publication of the final volume of his trilogy as a major and masterful literary talent who is capable of infusing even the most offhand scene or sentence with foreboding, relieved only occasionally with a grim but sharp humor. His ability not only to transform his research into an irresistible and compelling narrative but also to capture the atmosphere of the times and places of which he writes is made more astounding by his relative youth (he is in his early 30s). What he describes in AGENT 6 is not unlike the stories I heard from Stalin-era babushkas when I lived in San Francisco in the 1970s. Smith's wordcraft makes the stories even more memorable and, yes, more horrific.

Where will Smith go from here? I'm hoping for more, as there is something in his work that appears to indicate that as grand as his accomplishments have been thus far, his best books are yet to come. For the immediate future, though, there is AGENT 6, to be savored and re-read.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub Read more ›

24 of 31 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars `Dreaming of a better world was not without its dangers.' September 28, 2011

By J. Cameron-Smith TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Kindle Edition

Agent 6 is the concluding book in a trilogy featuring Leo Demidov, a former Russian Secret Service agent (the other two books are `Child 44' and `The Secret Speech'). The book opens with a flashback to the younger Leo in 1950: a committed, idealistic, member of the secret police who has discovered the secret diary of a young artist, Polina Peshkova. A single sooty fingerprint led Leo to deduce that the diary may be hidden in the chimney. The consequences of the investigation begin a journey which takes Leo into a different life by 1965, when we meet him and his family in Moscow.

Leo discovers Elena's secret diary, but stops himself from reading it. He will have cause to regret this. Leo's wife, Raisa, and daughters Zoya and Elena, have been chosen to travel to New York as part of a `Peace Tour' meant to foster better relations between the USSR and the USA. Leo is forbidden to travel with them. Leo's paranoia about this proves to be prescient. A tragic crime is committed in New York, and Leo is determined to find the truth.

The action in this novel takes us from the civil rights unrest in the USA in the 1960s, to the USSR's involvement in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Leo is working as an adviser in Kabul, still a long way from solving the central mystery in the novel. The mystery is eventually solved, after a number of interesting but at times frustrating diversions. The plot is complicated, and some of the twists and turns detracted from the overall story. While I kept turning the pages, I found this story less interesting than the earlier novels in the trilogy: Leo Demidov is a less compelling and more deeply flawed anti-hero. I think that, ultimately, the action overwhelmed the story....

I'm glad I read it, but I think that it is by far the weakest link in the trilogy.

`I don't know what he is going to say so I can't predict what I'm going to do.'

Jennifer Cameron-Smith Read more ›