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The secret speech
407 pages
A breathless, dread-soaked historical thriller where the ghosts of a brutal regime demand a devastating personal reckoning.
What it feels like
This intense, propulsive historical thriller plunges readers into a dread-soaked atmosphere of political upheaval and paranoia. The narrative moves at a breathless pace, sweeping across vast, unforgiving landscapes of a fractured empire in violent transition. It feels urgent and harrowing, wrapping a deeply personal story of guilt, fractured family dynamics, and desperate redemption inside a sweeping epic of societal collapse. The prose is gripping and cinematic, designed to keep the tension wire-taut as the sins of the past violently collide with the present. It is a perfect match for readers who devour suspenseful, high-stakes fiction where survival depends on navigating the treacherous, suffocating legacy of a brutal regime.
- Mood
- dread-soaked
- tense
- oppressive
- harrowing
- Tone
- intense
- suspenseful
- urgent
- gritty
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- sins of the past · political upheaval · familial fracture and forgiveness · vengeance and legacy · survival against the state
- The writing
- Gripping and cinematic, prioritizing breathless suspense and stark historical realism.
- The arc
- Moves from the suffocating weight of past guilt into a desperate, high-stakes struggle for familial survival and redemption.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave sweeping historical thrillers where personal redemption is pitted against brutal political regimes.
Content notes
- political violence
- imprisonment and gulags
- childhood trauma
- vengeance
About the book
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 SPEECHSoviet 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 Khrushchev 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.From 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.
Description from Open Library.
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