Stalin's Ghost: An Arkady Renko Novel
by Martin Cruz Smith
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Book Reviews of Stalin's Ghost: An Arkady Renko Novel
Book Review: Modern Russia v. Arkady
Summary: 4 Stars
Arkady still fights very bad guys while trying to help resolve slowly slipping, losing causes. And he is still, in his traditional Russian way, a man of many sorrows. While the book fictionalizes some real & very concerning crime headlines regarding poisonings & whistle-blowers' deaths, it develops intriguing twists that ironically challenge Renko's professional spririt & frustrated personal life. In general, Arkady must deal with Russia's new threats & realities of terrorism, along with hard questions concerning war crimes & cover-ups.
Although the book has an intriguing start, it lapses into a somewhat slow plot build-up. However, M. Cruz Smith does bring his readers unusual plot twists, dead ends, & his usual resolutions to tragic strands of a series of mysteries & criminals making the plots finally tie together in a good finale, just frayed enough to let us hope there is another Renko book-in-waiting. Although this is not his very best book yet, it flashes a picture of some of the unsettling changes in the newest unfolding chapter of Russia's history and is well worth reading.
Sunburn Warning: Don't consider this as a beach book. You'll reach a point where you can't put it down, and even SPF45 won't save you over the course of your reading!
Book Review: Smith writes about oligarchs and Chernobyl, Havana and Russian trawlers, and all of it with a convincing patina of authenticity
Summary: 3 Stars
I've been a fan of Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko series since the first novel -- Gorky Park -- appeared as an paperback original in 1982. His Moscow investigator is cynical but dogged, and over the years we've seen through his eyes as the menacing USSR of the cold war has been transformed into the menacing Russia of the 21st century. He's written about oligarchs and Chernobyl, Havana and Russian trawlers, and all of it with a convincing patina of authenticity. I haven't a clue if Smith really knows Russia well enough to take his word for it, but I suspect that he does. In Stalin's Ghost, Renko investigates reports that the dictator appears to riders of the day's last subway train in a station of the Moscow Metro where he took shelter during the Great Patriotic War against the Nazis. Also caught up in the story are the homeless 12-year-old chess prodigy Renko has taken under his wing, the Ukrainian physician and Chernobyl survivor he has taken into his bed, and a group of Chechen War veterans who may have been a death squad. The background is the rise of the new authoritarian Russian patriotism movement and the American political operatives hoping to make it work for their candidate.Book Review: More Accurately, "Cruz Smith's Ghost"
Summary: 3 Stars
I enjoy Smith's Renko books but, I must confess, mostly for the description of life in modern Russia. Renko, I'm afraid, is becoming a caricature and maybe Smith is becoming a ghost of his former virtuoso self. Renko, one of modern thrillerdom's most committed masochists, careens around Russian life and manages to get smacked down wherever he goes. Then, after playing the fool all throughout the book, he emerges victorious and heroic in the end. While this book was intriguing in its descriptions, it was much less so in its plotting, which was vague and unfocused. I also am disappointed that Smith too often resorts to that refuge of mediocre writers -- serendipitous coincidence. Whenever he gets his character into a jam he introduces some convenient plot event which gets him out. If you're gonna do that, you gotta be subtle about it. Smith isn't. I'll continue to read Renko novels as they come out, but I know I will get that same let-down feeling that I get whenever I finish a Renko book.Book Review: Arkady Is Back!
Summary: 4 Stars
And so is Martin Cruz Smith! A common criticism of his previous novel "Wolves Eat Dogs" was that it was as much a travelogue of the Chernobyl area as it was a mystery novel. There was some truth in this. "Wolves Eat Dogs" was a bit slow, and, when it came down to it, Inspector Arkady Renko didn't do all that much. But "Stalin's Ghost" shows beyond doubt that Martin Cruz Sith still has the chops for writing a great mystery. Arkady is as broodingly compelling as he has ever been. The supporting characters are alternately, and sometimes simultaneously, endearing and infuriating. All of this makes for a heady mix with Smith's noire, snow covered Moscow streets. You might think you have the mystery solved pretty early, but hold on because "Stalin's Ghost" has several truly bold plot twists coming at you. "Gorky Park" remains the truly best novel in this series, but "Stalin's Ghost" is certainly the best novel Smith has written since "Red Square". Arkady is back!Book Review: Remarkably good at details of Russian life
Summary: 4 Stars
Martin Cruz Smith wrote a few detective novels taking place in Russia. His knowledge of Russia is intimate and he knows things about the country that are inaccessible to academic researchers.
Stalin's Ghost is a good story with detective Renko solving a very complicated plot, in real life perhaps with a bit optimistic end. It is a compulsive reading and I recommend it to all who also want to know a bit about contemporary as well as the Soviet Russia.