Authors > Tom Rob Smith

Tom Rob Smith
Photo Credit: Jerry Bauer

Tom Rob Smith

Tom Rob Smith was born in l979 to a Swedish mother and an English father and was brought up in London where he still lives. He graduated from Cambridge in 2001 and spent a year in Italy on a creative writing scholarship. Tom has worked as a screenwriter for the past five years, including a six-month stint in Phnom Penh storylining Cambodia's first ever soap. His first novel, CHILD 44, was longlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and the inaugural Desmond Elliott Prize, and won the Crime Writers' Association's Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for best adventure/thriller novel of 2008, and the American edition won Best... Read full bio

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    1. Tom Rob Smith: The Secret Speech
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    2. Hear Tom Rob Smith's chilling research for CHILD 44
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    3. Tom Rob Smith: The Secret Speech
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    4. Tom Rob Smith: CHILD 44
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    5. Tom Rob Smith: Tips for new writers
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    6. Tom Rob Smith: The writers who influenced CHILD 44
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    7. Tom Rob Smith: The Research behind CHILD 44
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    8. Tom Rob Smith: Child 44 Audio Clip
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    9. Tom Rob Smith: How CHILD 44 evolved
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    10. Tom Rob Smith: The Influences behind CHILD 44
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    11. Meet Tom Rob Smith
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    12. Tom Rob Smith: Secret Speech
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The Secret Speech will be released on February 18, 2010 in Trade Paperback, Mass Market Paperback
Feb 04, 2010
Jan 29, 2010
The Secret Speech will be released on October 01, 2009 in Trade Paperback
Oct 01, 2009
The Secret Speech is now available in Trade Paperback
Oct 01, 2009
Jun 09, 2009
Jun 04, 2009
Audio Excerpt:
Child 44 CD
May 22, 2009
Excerpt:
Chapter 1 from The Secret Speech
Apr 08, 2009
The Secret Speech will be released on April 06, 2009 in Hardcover
Apr 06, 2009
The Secret Speech is now available in Hardcover
Apr 06, 2009
The Secret Speech will be released on April 06, 2009 in
Apr 06, 2009
The Secret Speech is now available in
Apr 06, 2009
Child 44 will be released on April 01, 2009 in
Apr 01, 2009
Child 44 is now available in
Apr 01, 2009
Excerpt:
Chapter 1 from Child 44
Mar 31, 2009
Mar 17, 2009
Mar 17, 2009
Mar 16, 2009
Mar 16, 2009
Mar 16, 2009
Child 44 will be released on February 19, 2009 in
Feb 19, 2009
Child 44 is now available in
Feb 19, 2009
Brightcove:
Meet Tom Rob Smith
Dec 03, 2008
Child 44 will be released on May 06, 2008 in
May 06, 2008
Child 44 is now available in
May 06, 2008
Child 44 will be released on March 03, 2008 in
Mar 03, 2008
Child 44 is now available in
Mar 03, 2008

Authors on the Web

Livemint.com, January 29, 2010
...a clever plot and plenty of blood and gore. I couldn’t wait to devour Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith, described by a The Times of London blurb as a “stylish, intelligent and gripping Cold War thriller” shortlisted for the Man Booker prize. Seventeen...
Times Online, January 15, 2010
...are women and 7 attended UEA The 17 include Tash Aw, Diana Evans, Tahmima Anam, Nikita Lalwani and Tom Rob Smith all contenders in the Costa First Novel Award since 2005. Tash Aw went on to win the category with The Harmony Silk Factory Adam Foulds,...
Times Online, January 15, 2010
...are women and 7 attended UEA The 17 include Tash Aw, Diana Evans, Tahmima Anam, Nikita Lalwani and Tom Rob Smith all contenders in the Costa First Novel Award since 2005. Tash Aw went on to win the category with The Harmony Silk Factory Adam Foulds,...
Suite101.com, December 26, 2009
...Child 44, a debut novel by Tom Rob Smith, has become an international bestseller, gathering acclaims from both Europe and the US. Readers immerse themselves into the world of the Soviet Union, from the Ukrainian peasant famine...
Guardian.co.uk, November 2, 2009
...Jaspreet Singh   Chef Curtis Sittenfeld   American Wife Paul Leslie Smith   Rainforest Tears ; a Borneo Story Tom Rob Smith   Child 44 Sasa Stanisic   How the Soldier Repairs the Gramaphone translated by Anthea Bell Garth Stein   The Art of...
Telegraph, November 2, 2009
...own past and realises that it is his soul that most needs awakening. Book – Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith Set in the Soviet Union in 1953, Leo Demidov is an officer of the Ministry of State Security who tries not to look too closely at the brutal...
Times Online, September 26, 2009
...War mission, Operation Chastise, was to destroy Ruhr dams. The Murder Exchange by Simon Kernick Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith: Stalin?s Government won?t admit that crime exists in communist Russia. Exiled war hero Leo Demidov becomes an enemy of the...
Shreveport Times, September 24, 2009
...The Stalin Epigram' by Robert Littell.'Cemetery Dance' by Douglas Prestion & Lincoln Child.'The Secret Speech' by Tom Rob Smith.'West of the Law' by Joseph A. West.'Boneman's Daughters' by Ted Dekker. CD, nonfiction'Always Looking Up' by Michael J....
Femail, September 19, 2009
... Last year Tom Rob Smith burst onto the literary scene with Child 44, the claustrophobic thriller set in Stalinist Russia, where a child killer is on the loose and one of the most...
Pride Source, August 29, 2009
...R. Zamora Linmark's sequel to 'Rolling the R's,' about young life, gay and otherwise, in Hawaii... TOM ROB SMITH'S Stalin-era Russian thriller, 'Child 44,' a novel with a substantial queer subplot, won Best First Novel earlier this year from the...
Tonight South Africa, August 20, 2009
...The Secret Speech By Tom Rob Smith Simon & Schuster R199,95 An unlikely hero, Leo Stepanovich Demidov is a Soviet cop in the late 1950s after Stalin's death. The 'secret speech' of the...
Gay.com, August 6, 2009
...There?s a sci-fi geek inside Tom Rob Smith -- the author known for his hair-raising novels, 2008?s Child 44 and its sequel, The Secret Speech -- and he?s unleashing it for a film adaptation...
Times Online, July 29, 2009
...journey from exclusively highbrow fiction to something more representative of what people actually wanted to read. Last year Tom Rob Smith?s Child 44 became the first thriller to be nominated. ?Now I think Me Cheeta proves that it?s absolutely...
Times Online, July 29, 2009
...journey from exclusively highbrow fiction to something more representative of what people actually wanted to read. Last year Tom Rob Smith?s Child 44 became the first thriller to be nominated. ?Now I think Me Cheeta proves that it?s absolutely...
Times Online, July 28, 2009
...journey from exclusively highbrow fiction to something more representative of what people actually wanted to read. Last year Tom Rob Smith?s Child 44 became the first thriller to be nominated. ?Now I think Me Cheeta proves that it?s absolutely...
411mania.com, June 27, 2009
...According to , award-winning British novelist Tom Rob Smith has been hired to write the script for Robotech, the big screen version of the popular anime/manga franchise. Smith released Child 44 in 2008, a novel about a...
Comic Book Resources, June 26, 2009
...ROBOTECH A report from Comics2Film claims that the anime/manga property has snagged award-winning novelist and UKÂ TV writer Tom Rob Smith to work on the screenplay. No release date announced. SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD Wardrobe and a grim glare,...
FilmForce, June 26, 2009
...fans have necessarily heard of before. The report comes from Comics2Film, whose sources say that award-winning British novelist Tom Rob Smith has been hired on to the project. Smith's 2008 debut novel Child 44 is about a series of child murders in Russia...
Vfxworld, June 25, 2009
... Mania.com reports that Tom Rob Smith has been hired to take another stab the live-action ROBOTECH feature. The film has been in development since 2007 with previous writers including Lawrence Kasdan and Alfred Gough...
Mania, June 23, 2009
...Award-winning Tom Rob Smith to pen live-action Robotech movie Source: Mania Comics2Film: Robotech © Mania The live-action film version of the popular anime/manga/game franchise 'Robotech' has a new writer, according to sources...
Guardian Unlimited, June 18, 2009
...as a trusted friend.' The shortlist for the adult independent booksellers' book of the year: Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks The Secret Scripture by Sebastian...
Philippines Daily Tribune, June 17, 2009
...with 'how to solve' instructions. It's an addictive puzzle that's winning fans worldwide. Set in 1956, Tom Rob Smith's thriller The Secret Speech depicts the paranoia of the Soviet Union after the newly installed regime leaks a secret speech laying out...
Lakeland Ledger, June 2, 2009
...the Violin," Andrea Camilleri, Stephen Sartarelli [Trans.], read by Grover Gardner (Blackstone Audiobooks) THRILLER/SUSPENSE: "Child 44," Tom Rob Smith, read by Dennis Boutsikaris (Hachette Audio/ Books on Tape) DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION:...
PR Newswire via Yahoo!, May 30, 2009
...Live Audio Executive Producers: Alisa Weberman and Alfred Martino Director: Alisa Weberman Thriller / Suspense Child 44 By: Tom Rob Smith Read by: Dennis Boutsikaris Publisher: Hachette Audio Executive Producer: Michele McGonigle Producer/Director:...
STLtoday.com, May 22, 2009
...Post-Dispatch Book Editor Digg Yahoo! Del.icio.us Facebook Reddit Drudge Google Fark Stumble It! Like to have a bookseller recommend a great beach read? Here?s a whole ?nuther listto add to our summer book story that runs in print on Sunday (May...
Examiner.com, May 19, 2009
...by Stieg Larsson [Knopf] Death of a Cozy Writer by G.M. Malliet [Midnight Ink] Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith [Grand Central] Best Paperback Original The First Quarry by Max Allan Collins [Hard Case Crime] Money Shot by Christa Faust [Hard Case Crime] State...
The Times, May 17, 2009
...Charles Cumming, Henry Porter and Tom Cain explore it in print. Meanwhile, writers such as Alan Furst and Tom Rob Smith are shedding new light on espionage history; I hope to do the same with my own novels set in the cold war. How espionage will develop...
Philippine Star, May 16, 2009
...consist of a sophomore effort by one of the Young Guns that made his mark last year ? Tom Rob Smith, and the debut novels of Daniel Depp and 70-year-old Alan Bradley, names that avid fiction readers would do well to remember. From totalitarian Russia...
China Post, May 11, 2009
...New York Times bestseller and winner of the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award, Child 44, dbut writer Tom Rob Smith takes the thriller genre and provides an unsettling glimpse at a bleak outlook that has been reality before. Long-listed for the Man...
Forbes.com, April 13, 2009
...The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox (Harcourt). -- Marisa de los Santos' Belong to Me (William Morrow). -- Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 (Grand Central Publishing). -- Ethan Canin's America America (Random House). -- Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows' The...
RBC Dain Raushcer, April 13, 2009
...The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox (Harcourt). -- Marisa de los Santos' Belong to Me (William Morrow). -- Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 (Grand Central Publishing). -- Ethan Canin's America America (Random House). -- Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows' The...
In The News.co.uk, April 4, 2009
...outstanding achievement, while Kate Atkinson won the best read award for When Will There Be Good News and Tom Rob Smith was named best newcomer for Child 44. Name Location Email Comment Enter the text shown to the right...
Telegraph, April 4, 2009
...and journalist left unpublished when he died in 2004. The New Writer of the Year Award went to Tom Rob Smith for Child 44, a murder mystery set in Soviet Russia. The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher won Kate Summerscale the Popular Non-Fiction Award and the...
BBC, April 3, 2009
...Richard and Judy best read award went to Kate Atkinson for When Will There Be Good News while Tom Rob Smith took the newcomer prize for his murder mystery, Child 44...
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, March 10, 2009
...Tremain, Diana Athill, Costa prize winner Sebastian Barry and Aravind Adiga, who picked up the 2008 Booker prize. Tom Rob Smith's thriller Child 44 gets nominations in both the newcomer and the crime thriller categories. Kate Atkinson's When Will There...
Guardian Unlimited, March 10, 2009
...by Julie Walters Books Direct Crime Thriller of the Year The Business by Martina Cole Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay Revelation by CJ Sansom When Will There Be Good News?...
BBC, March 9, 2009
...Tremain, Diana Athill, Costa prize winner Sebastian Barry and Aravind Adiga, who picked up the 2008 Booker prize. Tom Rob Smith's thriller Child 44 gets nominations in both the newcomer and the crime thriller categories. Kate Atkinson's When Will There...
A Little Ludwig Goes A Long Way, January 28, 2010
...Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith. Excellent tale of a Stalin-era security officer in Moscow trying to unravel a series of murders while his own loyalty to the state is under question. He comes...
PETRONA, January 22, 2010
...In February, we can look forward to Fever of the Bone by Val McDermid , The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith (guiltily, I still have Child 44 unread on my shelf), Skin and Bones by Tom Bale (a very good, exciting thriller), and The Missing by Jane Casey...
MYSTERIES in PARADISE, January 13, 2010
...THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, Stieg Larsson - 4 ARCTIC CHILL, Arnaldur Indridason - 3 CHILD 44, Tom Rob Smith - 3 A CARRION DEATH, Michael Stanley - 2 * A CERTAIN MALICE, Felicity Young - 2 DEVIL'S PEAK, Deon Meyer - 2 DOG ON IT, Spencer...
MYSTERIES in PARADISE, January 8, 2010
...HILL Peter Lovesey 4 ALONE IN BERLIN Hans Fallada 3 AMONG THE MAD Jacqueline Winspear 3 CHILD 44 Tom Rob Smith 3 DOG ON IT Spencer Quinn 3 FIFTY GRAND Adrian McKinty 3 IN THE WOODS Tana French 3 NEMESIS Jo Nesbo 3 SHADOW Karin Alvtegen 3 SLAMMER Allan...
Coffeespoons, January 4, 2010
...Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson I usually base my favorites of the year not on the rating I gave them but on the memory...
Too many books, January 1, 2010
...24. The Most Wanted- Jacqueline Mitchard 25. The No Spin Zone- Bill O'Reilly July 26. Child 44- Tom Rob Smith 27. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince- J. K. Rowling (reread) August 28. The Civil War in Fairfax County- Charles Mauro 29. Free-Range...
literatehousewife.com, December 22, 2009
...last minute Christmas stuff, I spent some time catching up on my reviews. * The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith I don’t know about you, but every so often I’m in the mood for a thriller.  I don’t read  them often, but there comes a...
Ask MetaFilter, December 6, 2009
...MeFites, help! Need more books to read. /book-recommendation-filterI'm currently about halfway through my to-read list, and want some book recommendations. Help me out here, MeFites!Books that I've enjoyed thoroughly:- The Historian, by Elizabeth...
PETRONA, November 19, 2009
...enjoyed but am about three behind. Moving to the "major sellers" category, we have The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith (Pocket, £7.99), his follow-up to the amazingly successful Child 44; and The Given Day by Dennis Lehane (Black Swan, £7.99), not...
Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind, October 17, 2009
...Opening Ceremonies. THE BARRY AWARD Best Novel: DRAINING LAKE by Arnaldur Indridason Best First Novel: CHILD 44 by Tom Rob Smith Best Thriller: THE DECEIVED by Brent Battles Best British Novel: THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Stieg Larsson ...
Mystery Fanfare, October 16, 2009
...the Barry Awards Best Novel: The Draining Lake , by Arnaldur Indridason (Minotaur) Best First Novel: Child 44 , by Tom Rob Smith (Grand Central) Best British Novel: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo , by Stieg Larsson (MacLehose/Quercus) Best Paperback...
The Scrapping Librarian, October 5, 2009
...biggest package to arrive at my house recently was a box from Hatchett books: The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith Kill for Me by Karen Rose The Book of Lies by Brad Meltzer Any Minute by Joyce Meyer Julie and Julia by Julie Powell A Summer Affair by...
Kesher Talk, September 13, 2009
...Song List for an Imaginary iPod | Home September 13, 2009 Pick to Click: "The Secret Speech" by Tom Rob Smith On Friday I finished reading "The Secret Speech" by Tom Rob Smith, his smashing sequel to the justly praised "Child 44," about a serial killer...
J. Kaye's Book Blog, August 29, 2009
...and Canada residents only •First person to post on Twitter : @J_Kaye – Send THE SECRET SPEECH by Tom Rob Smith wins! You can click the Twitter button below and it will automatically send the message. QUICKIE TWITTER AUDIO BOOK GIVEAWAY of THE...
Off the Page, August 26, 2009
...me if I play catch up here...but attention must be paid to the winners. Richard Price and Tom Rob Smith took The Strand Magazine’s Critics Awards for Best Novel and Best First Novel. The judges were book reviewers from several of the nation's top daily...
Literary Kicks, August 4, 2009
...to worrying about murdering her mother. Later, Jeffery Deaver, John Lescroat, Lisa Gardner, Jennifer McMahon, Joe Hartlaub, and Tom Rob Smith guided by session leader Carla Neggers discuss notching up the thrills with reversals and plot twists. In one...
MoneySavingExpert.com Forums, June 3, 2009
...one of these great books to get you started: The Paris Enigma , Pablo De Santis The Secret Speech , Tom Rob Smith The Highest Tide , Jim Lynch The Twisted Heart , Rebecca Gowers As a thankyou, everyone who enters will recieve a voucher for 20% off...
West of Mars -- Win a Book!, May 23, 2009
...- click here . Cemetery Dance by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child - click here . The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith - click here . The Way Home by George Pelecanos - click here . Labels: Books and Needlepoint , Douglas Preston , George Pelecanos , Lincoln...
Read Street, May 18, 2009
...offers personal anecdotes and glimpses of his guests when the cameras have stopped rolling. The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith (Grand Central, $24.99) While Leo Demidov, the Russian detective from Child 44, no longer works as an MGB agent, his past...
Blogging The Classics, May 6, 2009
...Child 44 (2008) Tom Rob Smith Pocket Books, 470pp Tom Rob Smith’s debut thriller, Child 44, received much media attention when it was long-listed for the 2008 Man Booker Prize, the first mainstream...
Dear Author: Romance Novel Reviews, Industry News,, May 1, 2009
...PUP –Christopher Buckley CEMETERY DANCE –Preston & Child THE WAY HOME – George Pelacanos THE SECRET SPEECH – Tom Rob Smith INTO THE BEAUTIFUL NORTH – Luis Alberto Urrea THE SCARECROW –Michael Connelly...
51stories, April 12, 2009
...enough to finish all three of them! Meanwhile I’ve picked up something completely different: Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith , and I’m reading it for pure enjoyment, the story, which is really quite gripping.   This was on the short list for Costa First...
Writers' & Artists' blog, April 7, 2009
...be Jonathan Creek to me!), and the ‘just authors’ to accept them (including Sebastian Faulks , Kate Summerscale and Tom Rob Smith). Despite his winning ‘Tesco Biography of the Year’, there was no sign of Barack Obama , alas. Something to do with...
Literary License (short reviews, real opinions), April 5, 2009
...the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson Popular Fiction - Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks New Writer - Tom Rob Smith for Child 44 Children's Book - Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer...
dunia buku (beta), April 5, 2009
...Non-Fiction Award The Suspicions of Mr Whicher - Kate Summerscale (Bloomsbury) Waterstone’s New Writer of the Year Tom Rob Smith for Child 44 (Simon & Schuster) WHSmith Children’s Book of the Year Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer (Atom...
A Work in Progress, April 4, 2009
...at the library).  Most are either very recently released or are coming out soon. The Secret Speech , by Tom Rob Smith.  I really liked last year's  Child 44 (which I wote about, but now I can't find the post--must get better at tagging or find a...
Bart's Bookshelf, April 4, 2009
...The Suspicions of Mr Whicher - Kate Summerscale (Published by Bloomsbury) Waterstone’s New Writer of the Year Tom Rob Smith for Child 44 (Published by Simon & Schuster) WHSmith Children’s Book of the Year Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer (Published...
IT'S A CRIME! (OR A MYSTERY...), April 3, 2009
...closely related - and boy, there are a few of them. Waterstone’s New Writer of the Year - Tom Rob Smith for Child 44 (Simon & Schuster); Books Direct Crime Thriller of the Year - the late Steig Larsson for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (MacLehose...
Anthony Rainone, April 1, 2009
...for the 2008 Critics Awards for Best Mystery Novel and Best First Mystery Novel Michael Connelly, Joseph Wambaugh, Tom Rob Smith, Kate Atkinson, and David Levien, are among the nominees for The Strand Magazine Critics Awards for Best Novel and Best First...