When a Hunter Gets Captured by the Game

But that's only a quibble. The thriller plot moves briskly along from start to finish. Equally important, "Child 44" achieves its other aim of debunking the myth that police states at least have the virtue of wiping out crime. In a system built on the premise that anyone who becomes a suspect must be tortured into admitting guilt, many real criminals go free. As his eyes are opened, Leo lurches toward redemption. His may be an improbable journey, but Smith convinces us that it just might have happened. And we're cheering Leo on all the way.

Nagorski is the author of "The Greatest Battle: Stalin, Hitler, and the Desperate Struggle for Moscow That Changed the Course of World War II."

© 2008