Surveyed the devastation with grim satisfaction. While his fellow countrymen wept as hometowns crumbled around them, he'd Anything that might have been requisitionedīy the invading Wehrmacht he'd rushed to destroy. Set indefensible refineries ablaze, dicing the skyline with columns of burning oil. Someone transformed beyond recognition into the perfect model of vengeance.įrom the streets of Moscow in the throes of political upheaval, to the Siberian gulags, and to the center of the Hungarian uprising in Budapest, The Secret Speech is a breathtaking, epic novel that confirms Tom Rob Smith as one of the most exciting new authors writing today.ĭ URING THE G REAT P ATRIOTIC W AR he'd demolished the bridge at Kalach in defense of Stalingrad, rigged factories with dynamite, reducing them to rubble, and 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. The two young girls he and his wife Raisa adopted have yet to forgive him for his part in the death of their parents. Its promise: The Soviet Union will change.įacing his own personal turmoil, former state security officer Leo Demidov is also struggling to change.

A secret speech composed by Stalin’s successor Khrushchev is distributed to the entire nation. 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.

Tom Rob Smith-the author whose debut, Child 44, has been called “brilliant” ( Chicago Tribune), “remarkable” ( Newsweek) and “sensational” ( Entertainment Weekly)-returns with an intense, suspenseful new novel: a story where the sins of the past threaten to destroy the present, where families must overcome unimaginable obstacles to save their loved ones, and where hope for a better tomorrow is found in the most unlikely of circumstances.

The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith