The Secret Speech by Tom Rob SmithMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Good story, brightly coloured characters, and the great idea of the book - how evil done and revenge mastered destroy lives. And generally the author demonstrates profound knowledge of Russian history of the XXth century. Of course, there are some inaccuracies, like most of the things related to 'vory', e.g. 'derzhat mast' is not a noun, 'chiffir' is not a drug requiring massive recovery, the Emergency Hospital No. 31 was built in Moscow in mid-90s etc. And I also can hardly imagine Soviet elite using ice cubes for their drinks or a private bakery serving Kosher bread in 1950s. But if, for instance, a Russian writer would write a book about a vengeful prisoner somewhere in Sussex in 1956, I assume the number of innacuracies would be much higher. And also, sometimes all the spirit of total evil and paranoia in Russia seems a little bit exaggerated - but isn't fiction about exaggerations in order to provide a good story? Anyway, it's a good read and I do recommend it.
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