"Our world was not a world for weakness. It was a world for strength and survival." 1930. In the remote forests of the Ukraine the people live in fear. They fear the closed in dark forests and its nightmare inducing inhabitants. They fear the cold and the looming hunger. And finally they fear outsiders because a knock on their doors in the dead of night could mean the end of families or lives. This is an age of terror that is consumed by paranoia and madness that has been incited by the new regime. In this world Luka Mikhailovich Sidorov tries to escape the suffocating emotions and poisoned whispers from the small village of Vyriv and also seek refuge from the negative thoughts that threaten to seep from the corners of his mind by traveling onto the punishing snowy steppes and hunt for small game. It is during one of these excursions an outsider is sighted walking toward the village but is this stranger a possible ally or the beginning of the end for Luka and his family? The cross-hairs of Luka's rifle are centered on the stranger and he must make a decision that will ultimately change his life and his family's... The Child Thief is an excellent Historical thriller that immediately pulls the reader in and conveys the raw emotion of the time period. Details of the era are shared with the reader and lead to seamless distinction of what historical period the novel is set. In a vintage fashion that is reminiscent of Jack London the descriptions of the frozen landscape and character portrayal is something not to be missed. Characters are built with flaws, and lead to a real potential connection with the reader. The use of one of the most prominent fables of the setting of the novel may be a surprise and delight any reader who is familiar with the tale of Baba Yaga. The only possible negatives I can report are that at times a few major points in the novel could be easily predicted and sadly the ending was disappointing for this reviewer. Negatives aside, above all The Child Thief is a suspenseful journey that has many dark twists and turns that will have readers enjoying long into the winter nights so the interested reader may want to pull out their favorite blanket. -read and purchased on kindle -EGP/December 2013 Comments are closed.
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