The Child Thief: A Novel

I chose this book because other reviewers compared it favorably to Norwegian By Night--another book I really enjoyed. I can't agree completely with those comparisons. To me, the flavor and tone of The Child Thief had very little in common with Norwegian By Night. Instead, this title reminded me of Solzhenitsyn's One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich crossed with a healthy dose of the thriller by Sam Eastland--Eye Of the Red Tsar. A fairly complex--but intriguing and interesting mix.

At first I was disarmed by Pinchot's narration. It was so soft and quiet that I wasn't sure I would be able to tolerate being whispered at for 13+ hours. After about 15 minutes it all clicked, I adjusted to the voice and thought it was perfect for the story being told. It makes you feel almost as though you are inside Luka's head hearing his thoughts. An excellent narration that added positively to the book and the listening experience. Always a good thing.

Heart pounding storytelling, gruesome detail, edge of your seat action and thoughtful commentary on personal perspective, soldiers and war made this a wild ride. The book is definitely a thriller but at the same time it is much more than that. There is a strong thread of self-reliance and gratitude for the tiny bits of "luck" you find in your life. A tale of love and duty in a harsh, cruel and loveless time in Russia. I listened captivated absolutely every chance I had and recommend this book if you want to be swept up into a different world entirely. A winner.

Smith could have chosen any of the characters in his story to be his main character. He might have made it a "coming of age" tale and chosen one of the sons. Or a sinister tale of desperation and sorrow by choosing one of the children who were stolen. These days, it's become popular to have an "anti-hero" and make the villain the protagonist; in which case he might have picked the Baba Yaga to tell the story.

All of those plot lines have been done before, however, and some of them are getting quite tired. Instead, Smith chose to tell the story from the perspective of Luka, a father and retired Russian soldier living in the Ukraine- the result surprised me. Luka is one of the most well written characters I've ever come across.

Still, it's not just Luka's story. There is tremendous depth and subtlety everywhere you look here. It's clear how much thought Smith put into crafting this. Even the setting cold, quiet, and dangerous- is given a personality. The result is an utterly unique tale that is haunting me days after finishing it.

As for Bronson Pinchot- I fell in love with him as a narrator while listening to Larry Correia's Grimnoir Chronicles (for which I hear he's been nominated for an Audie- well done, sir). I cannot imagine a better actor to voice this story. In the beginning, the thick Ukrainian accent threw me. By the end, however, I could not help but marvel at how absorbed I became in the story- completely thanks to Pinchot's abilities. He successfully creates distinct men, teenagers, soldiers, women's and children's voices without distracting you. He voiced both the bark of command and the choked crack of despair during this novel- I really can't praise his work enough.

You will want to listen to this book. You will want to re-listen to this book. It is that good.

The opening scene in The Child Thief, the slow, portentous approach of a mysterious stranger across a frozen landscape, is riveting and absolutely perfect. Incredibly, the book manages to sustain the same mesmerizing, understated quality throughout until the last words of the story, prepared for and half-expected and yet still immensely powerful, leave the listener breathless.

Even as I was drawn inexorably into Dan Smith's dark, harrowing narrative, I had initial misgivings. It seemed to me that some of his characters acted in ways which were too foolish or ignorant for me to credit them even in a remote Ukrainian village paralyzed by fear of the imminent arrival of Stalin's GPU. Before long, however, these considerations had become irrelevant. Even though I occasionally doubted an action, I always believed and understood the emotional truth of the character, and the irresistible momentum of the events established their own logic and carried me along, completely fascinated and captive to the storyteller's voice. The result was the briefest thirteen hours I have ever spent listening to a book

There are a few author/narrator pairings which strike me as extraordinarily "right." Richard Ferrone reading John Sandford's "Prey" novels; Jo Nesbo's work read by Robin Sachs; Steven Pacey's masterful command of Joe Abercrombie's fantasy novels all come to mind. Bronson Pinchot's hypnotic, absolutely bone true first person voice telling Luka's story belongs in that company. It is as fine an example of voice acting as I have ever heard-- restrained, measured, almost painfully quiet and richly expressive of the man and his profoundly moving experience.

It is difficult for me to imagine a listener who would not be caught, entertained and often thrilled by this recording. I strongly recommend that you add it to your wish list, and I suggest you begin it when you have a nice stretch of free time so that you can savor it with few interruptions.

If you want to capture someone’s attention, don’t shout – whisper. In the midst of so many thrillers that shout – with fast action, chases, violence and gore - The Child Thief is all the more riveting because it is so quiet. Even Bronson Pinchot’s narration is hushed, compelling you to hang onto every word. The search for the kidnapper is quiet in a landscape muffled with deep snow that silences footsteps, but captures footprints, and the chase is a dangerous chess game of “come and get me if you dare”.

While the landscape is vast, the viewpoint is small and detailed, as if even a person’s soul can be seen through the sniper’s scope on Luka’s rifle. A study of good and evil and of individuals struggling to save what is human in themselves through the search to save someone else. To me Luka is heroic in the best sense – someone who stays true to himself and his family in the face of mob madness, danger from the Red Army, and unthinkable evil from the child thief. One of the strongest characters I have read in a very long time.

This book is simply mesmerizing. I bought this based on the positive review of one of the reviewers I follow, and am so glad I did. The setting is bleak: Ukraine, Winter, 1930. Soviet repression, neighbor turning on neighbor. But Luka, whose viewpoint we inhabit, is, in his imperfect way, ultimately compassionate and humane, and he fosters this humanity in the people he loves and in those he comes across by chance and misfortune. It's a remarkable book, and Bronson Pinchot more than does it justice. The narration is some of the best in the Audible universe. Take a good, long, deep breath before you begin listening, because you may not be able to exhale until it's finished. Very, very highly recommended.

This is both a great thriller as well as historical thriller. Set in the Ukraine during WWI and WWII it is much about the child thief as it is about the terror of living in Stalinist Russia. This was the period of collectivization, where peasants were forced off the land they had sometime worked for generations. The hero of the book spends as much time hunting the child thief as he does dodging the Stalinist officials. It also can be considered as a survivalist book because the hunt takes place in the frozen forest of Russia in the middle of winter. The story does bog down for a few chapters with page after page of torture scenes. This is one of my more favorite listens of the year.

This is out of my usual genre, I normally don't choose anything that is about war or holocaust. There were parts that surrounded the Russian Purge of the 1930's that were disturbing but helped to set the scene surrounding the story. I connected and cared about the characters from the very beginning, and the hunt for "The Child Thief" was interesting and exciting. The mystery behind the missing child, the tempered bonding between father and sons, and the rigorous tracking, made this listen fascinating and worth the credit. Dan Smith's illustration of the Ukrainian tundra was elegant. The images he brought to mind were beautiful but at the same time harsh and unforgiving.

Bronson Pinchot's narration was genius as usual, each voice was distinct and the characters personalities were brought to the forefront. All in all this was a good listen and memorable in its uniqueness.

I have been telling people about this book ever since I started listening - and have told everyone to LISTEN rather than read it. This narrator was brilliant and brought Dan Smith's amazing story up to another level. I didn't want to miss a sentence in this book and if I thought I had, I went back. Tragic and yet hopeful. Painful and yet inspiring. One of the best books EVER from Audible.

Historical story of a time in the Ukraine that I'd not known about . . . when Stalin's Soviet regime oppressed, overtook and starved millions of Ukrainians, running them from their own farms, not allowing them to eat their own grain or animals, a horror as great as or greater than the Holocaust, it has come to be known as Holodomor . . . and driven mad by starvation, some people did the unthinkable . . . they ate their dying children . . . I had to look all this up, after listening to The Child Thief . . . I had to research the horror . . . and it's true . . . but the story of The Child Thief is much, much more . . . It IS about a time in history and a place that is so different than I could have ever imagined . . . but it's also about the fears, the depth of emotions, the GOOD that exists, FOR ALL TIME . . . and IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES . . . that which we all must draw upon to remain human beings . . . to remain connected to one another and to our God . . . a spark of paranoia, a spark of fear, a taste for a "rush", a taste for blood . . . oh, where it leads a weaker man . . . In the coldest of winters, starving and pursued, Luka treks in search of The Child Thief . . . almost giving up, almost ready to close his eyes and surrender to the cold . . .

What a find!
First I was unfamiliar with the author. Second the story was unique and about a time and place I knew little about (Ukraine about 1930). Third the characters seemed to really care about each other. There was genuine affection between family members. None of the drunken beatings common in many stories of that area.
Smith's writing is delightful. The details are so vivid, it's hard to believe he didn't live the experience.
Bronson Pinchot's performance is stunning. It just couldn't be better.