Potential casting news for the film adaptation of Tom Rob Smith's Child 44, the first in a series of thrillers set in the Soviet Union in the 1950s.
Tom Hardy (Lawless, Inception) and Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) are negotiating to play the lead roles in the Ridley Scott-produced film. Daniel Espinosa (Safe House, Easy Money) is already on board to direct the adapted screenplay by Richard Price (Ransom, Clockers).
More about the book, below.
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Child 44
Tom Rob Smith
A Leo Demidov Mystery
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 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. Exiled from his home, with only his wife, Raisa, remaining at his side, Leo must confront the vast resources and reach of the MBG to find and stop a criminal that the State won't admit even exists.
Winner of the 2009 Thriller Award for Best First Novel.
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