Book Journey

Rick Springfield, pop star of the 80’s, actor in soap operas and movies.  People pictured him living the life of a king, huge homes and money to burn.  But that was not the truth.  Rick battled demons all his life – self-esteem, sexual addiction, lack of closure from his father’s death, and depression.  Instead of money to burn and big homes during his prime he was staying in seedy motels and wondering how he would afford to get to his next gig…

This is Rick’s story the good… and oh yeah, the bad… and certainly the ugly.

watch?v=u2T7wKdQsTo

If you were to ask my husband what my favorite song is, to this day he would answer “Jesse’s Girl” by Rick Springfield.  This… has never been true.  While I like the song, yes, very much – it was never my favorite song and I am not even sure where Al (hubby) gets that it was.  I have however always enjoyed Rick Springfield’s music and admit to finding him to be “hot” (80’s word) and sexy back in the day. 

I have listened to and enjoyed many memoirs over this past year and really like hearing the deeper, behind the scenes stories of the people who I admired from the speakers of my stereo (yup… again, 80’s) or from the screen of my tv. 

I think Rick’s story was good – but, and maybe this is because he is my first rock star memoir, a bit more language and the constant pursue of sex – whenever and whoever then I had anticipated or enjoyed listening about chapter after chapter after chapter.  While that was a large part of the memoir, if you can dig through the crud there is a good story there.  Rick does have one girl who he returns to time and again, eventually even marries and has two sons with.  While he is brutally honest about how many times he has cheated on her – before and after children and I appreciate the honesty, I would be lying if I said it didn’t affect how I felt about Rick as a person.  Rick himself says in the audio that if you are going to judge him for what he has done to her that we (I) was not an understanding person – but I think I am and I still don’t get the “Oh poor me… I cheated again” attitude. 

In Rick’s defense, it is true I do not know much about sexual addiction so maybe what he is sharing is spot on correct behavior and I struggle because I do not and not understand.

“nuf about that.

It was interesting to hear the stories behind the album titles (much more thought goes into this then I knew!) and even the story behind Jesse’s Girl (my – fo-favorite) which was never supposed to be a hit. 

In the end, I think fans of Rick will enjoy this memoir and if you go with the audio version like I did, you do have the privilege of having Rick narrate which is always a plus for me and I think you would enjoy it too. 

Leo Demidov lives a life in Russia with his beautiful wife Raisa being loyal to the country he is a war hero of.  He wants to serve his country and serve it well.  But Leo is not without his secrets – both past and present… dark and far back into his childhood there was this time… with his brother… but that was then and this is now.  At times he looks upon his wife still a beauty and wonders if she has ever really loved him.

Loyal to a fault Leo goes about his days starting early working late.  And then a series of child murders start to happen and Leo, who has never had children of his own but has always wanted them can not imagine such a  hideous unthinkable crime.  When his very State seems to sweep these happenings under the rug looking at the fact that this could be happening as an embarrassment to their very country therefore it must not be acknowledged, Leo knows he needs to take a stand. 

When Leo starts to investigate these crimes further than his country would like he becomes a criminal against the state and before he knows it he and Raisa are running for their very lives, trying to uncover the truth before they are captured and killed.

Sometimes the truth is closer than you think.

Why did I want to read this book?  Many years ago a friend of my husband and I mentioned that this was a book he enjoyed very much.  On his recommendation I purchased the book but never a big fan of political issues or war type books I left it on the shelf for a long long time.  I knew I always wanted to read it, I just did not know when.  When recently I came into owning the second and third books of this trilogy, I felt it was time to begin. 

Child 44 reminded me a lot of a book I read when I was in my teens (and I read it to impress a boy I liked but well… you know) Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith which honestly surprised me how much I got into it, and really as I type this now think I should have that book in my collection just because it holds some pretty amazing memories for me. 

The beginning of this book captures you right from the start you get a piece of information that at first I didn’t connect it but later you will find in a mind exploding sort of way how that is so important to the story itself, it is moments like these that I really appreciate an authors talent to surprise and inform all at the same time.  Truly… awesome.

The story line never lags, there is always something going on weaving in and out of Leo and Raisa’s life to the mind of the killer himself.  When it switches to the killer stalking a child, planning the next move – I really got chills of anticipation of the capture…. certainly someone had to put a stop to this! 

In the end the book was really a pleasure to read and one I can not wait to share with our friend that I finally took the time and read it.  Child 44 has won many awards: 2009 Thriller Award for Best First Novel, The Strand Magazine 2008 Critics Award for Best First Novel, the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award, and was long listed for the Man Booker Prize.  It was released in 2008 and the second book in 2012, and the third in January of 2012.  It could easily be read as a standalone book, but I am curious of where it will go in the second book, The Second Speech.

Note:  I did wind up listening to this on audio as I have been traveling a bit lately and needed a good story for the car time.  Narrator Dennis Boutsikaris had a wonderful voice for this book.  I really enjoyed listening to him.