A very absorbing and entertaining Russian/American crime/spy thriller indeed. I first read this when I was a teenager and have a distinct memory of absolutely loving it. However, as the years have passed, I couldn't remember a single solitary thing about the plot. So, it was basically a from-scratch reread for me. Had I known there were more books in the series back then, I'm sure my teenage self would have devoured them in an instant. But alas, I didn't, so I guess I'll have to do it now.

It's pretty obvious that this book was written by an American. This fact made the descriptions of Russia seem like images filtered through an American lens. It didn't feel completely ludicrous, but at the same time, it didn't feel fully authentic either. And the portrayal of the American cop being bigger, tougher, smarter, and more badass than our Russian MC cop was a bit disappointing. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the character of Arkady and look forward to uncovering what lies at the bottom of the cliff he just left us hanging from.

I've been longing to read this book for an extremely long time.

However, it was truly disappointing to discover that it wasn't as enjoyable as I had anticipated.

Certainly, some of the characters were very well-developed. Smith did an excellent job of描绘 the locale.

Whether it was a Russian General's dacha or a shabby New York hotel room, readers could easily visualize their surroundings.

Nevertheless, what really bothered me was its pacing.

The story had a complex and convoluted conspiracy where it seemed that almost everyone was in cahoots with everyone else.

Despite having only 365 pages, the book felt as if it dragged on forever.

I will likely read more Arcady Renko books in the future, but it might be some time before I do so. ✭✭✭½

This one had been on my wishlist for the longest of time. The idea of a police procedural set in Soviet Russia instantly drew me in.

Yet, it's only now that I finally got around to reading it. I must confess that it has left me with mixed feelings.

There are things about this book that I really liked. One was the starting premise of the investigation that Arkady Renko initiates after finding the dead bodies in Gorky Park. As chief investigator of the Moscow militia, Renko only wants to lead the investigation to a point where he can happily hand over the case to the KGB. I thought this was lovely as it makes Renko a reluctant hero and turns the "dogged investigator" stereotype on its head. Of course, as the case progresses, Renko is pulled deeper and deeper into the mystery, and eventually he does evolve into the dogged investigator. Still, it was cool.

I also loved the way the author used linguistic flourishes to describe scenes, characters, and emotions. Smith is a very good writer, and many descriptions almost had a touch of poetry in them. The scene I remember best is the one where Renko is sitting on a Ferris wheel in the park and ruminating about his childhood. I thought the writing captured the moment as well as all of Renko's life, ambitions, and hopes.

On the flip side, the mystery itself was not something that I liked a whole lot. The bad guys are identified and tagged even before the halfway mark, and the twist in the tale lies uncovered at the two-thirds stage. So the denouement really takes a long time, and by the end of it, I was just looking to finish the book so I could move on to a new one. Not a nice thing to say about a book. The only reason I really persevered till the end was the quality of the writing, I guess.

What also put me off at times was the infuriatingly convoluted plot and a roundabout style of storytelling. Characters like the NYPD cop Kirwill had backstories that didn't seem to matter, and a lot of time is spent on stuff that really doesn't take the story forward. Towards the final stages, we get entire chapters about Renko bonding with Major Pribluda of the KGB over potato gardening and mushroom farming, or Renko sitting in a hotel room and thinking about his life with lady love Irina. Extremely boring bits.

I sometimes got the feeling that Smith really didn't intend this book to be a thriller but more of a commentary on the surface-level differences between Soviet Russia and America and the deeper similarities between the two when it came to the extent of rot within. All in all, I am not sure if I will read another Arkady Renko book again. If I do, it will probably be for Smith's control over language, scene, and setting.

A Mesmerizing Police Procedural and Murder Mystery

Set in the late 70s, during the era of Leonid Brezhnev in the Soviet Union, this story takes readers on a captivating journey. Chief Inspector Arkady Renko is faced with the task of solving the murders of three people found in Gorky Park, their bodies frozen and hidden by the snow for weeks. Their mutilated faces and removed fingertips add to the mystery and hinder identification.

What follows is not just excellent crime fiction but also an in-depth examination of the communist revolution. It delves into the good, the bad, and the ugly of human nature, regardless of ideology, and finally explores the juxtaposition of "us" and "them."

Writer Martin Cruz Smith's greatest achievement, in my opinion, is his superb characterization. Renko is a complex and tormented character, dealing with social and moral angst. Smith populates the story with a Dickensian cast of fascinating players. Irena and Kirwill are well-developed, but the chief antagonist, John Osborne, an American capitalist who personifies wealth and corruption, is the most compelling. The dialogue between him and Renko at the end is reminiscent of the scene between Rakolnikov and Porfiry in Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment.

This book is highly entertaining and comes highly recommended.

There seemed a kind of a hush all over our fifth-floor coffee and smoking lounge as I cracked open this then-new release on my lunch break, back in the early eighties.

And as I entered the crime scene with our dishevelled and grumpy Arcady Renko, deep within the famed Moscow park - in a fairytale midwinter scene of icily glittering snow - I saw how expertly the scene had been set for “doom, deep and darker than any sea-dingle!”

For the doom of widespread corruption is apocalyptic in its scope. It pervades every aspect of society, tainting institutions and undermining the very fabric of trust.

It was an electrifying experience, and if you haven’t already done so, I suggest you read it. This novel not only takes you on a thrilling journey through the underbelly of Moscow but also makes you reflect on the state of the world around us.

But, you know - reading it in the eighties, I was concurrently witnessing colossal transformations in the same office which was the milieu for my reading - strikingly similar to changes occurring now. Our button-down management was then, as now, infiltrated by Me-Gen Bright Young Things, though I guess the bright kids now are products of a sleek, Can-Do Millennial education, beavering away at purging dark information.

You see, managers and politicos both had learned from the much-ballyhooed corruption of the seventies. They knew that in order to survive and thrive, they had to tighten the rules and the apron strings. They had to get an iron grip on everything.

The Communist Empire was teetering. The posthorns were announcing the imminent collapse of the fagged fox. And the hounds were closing in close behind.

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And we aging Boomers, fagged like the flagging fox at the snarls and yelps of an inhuman onrush of an exponentially new set of rules in the name of Blind Progress, now have to admit we’re flummoxed and finished. Do you see my point?

The real rush to the kill came at the time Gorky Park was published. This novel showed us deep corruption at all levels, like that of the eighties, and it told us: the Powers that Be would soon discretely fold it all up and put it out of harm’s way.

And that was prescient - for we are now at the penultimate point - Standing in the Lengthening Dark Sunset Shadow of the Deep State which will now - in November 2024:- cast its shadow over the Entire Globe.

Goodbye; Pax Americana.

Alas, I'm again the outlier.

It seems that no matter where I go or what I do, I always find myself on the fringes, apart from the crowd. I look around and see others easily fitting in, forming groups, sharing common interests and experiences. But for me, it's a constant struggle to find that sense of belonging.

I try to participate, to engage, but there's always something that sets me apart. Maybe it's my unique perspective, my different way of thinking. Or perhaps it's just a matter of bad timing. Whatever the reason, being the outlier can be a lonely and isolating experience.

But despite the challenges, I also find a certain strength in my individuality. I know that I have something special to offer, something that others may not have. And I'm determined to embrace my differences and use them to my advantage. Maybe one day, I'll find my place among the outliers and create a community of my own.

#2016-aty-reading-challenge--week-16: a book from the top 100 mystery novels.

How strange it is that it took me so many years to read this particular book! I had to select a book from the list of top 100 mysteries for a reading challenge, and this one was among the few that I hadn't yet read. Perhaps the initial gap in my reading was due to the fact that the book was published when I was occupied with having and raising babies!

The mystery, "Gorky Park," was released in 1981 and is set in Russia during the height of the Communist regime. Three mutilated, snow-covered bodies are discovered in the Moscow park, and Chief Inspector Arkady Renko of the militia must conduct an investigation. At first, his greatest hope is to be able to pass the case on to the local branch of the KGB, led by his nemesis Major Pribluda. He is well aware that they are observing his every move through an informant on his team. If only he can prove that one of the victims is a foreigner! However, Renko is blocked at every turn: by the mistrust of potential witnesses who claim to 'know nothing', by the constricting departmental and inter-agency rules and politics, and by the obstacles put up by his own prosecutor, who claims to admire Arkady, stating, "There's not another investigator with your powers of intuition, your resourcefulness, or your integrity."

The atmosphere of the story has that delightfully dreary feeling of noir that we have come to anticipate from mysteries set in Russia. And even though it is not a spy novel in the strictest sense, we are given the sense, that intuition, that there are invisible strings being pulled behind the scenes.

Arkady Renko is an unforgettable character - an honorable, intelligent man, a bit beaten down by life. And now that I've finally taken the plunge, I look forward to reading more of his adventures.

While I didn't always have a great time reading this novel, I'm still glad I did it.

Just for that fictional peek into Soviet Russia during the Cold War, it was worth it.

The beginning was so interesting, but then the book got really long-winded.

I was only anticipating a police procedural set in Russia, but this novel was so much more.

It was a cat and mouse game, a story of fugitives and bandits, a look at Soviet "justice," a tale of torture, a social commentary on America by a Russian narrator, a political thriller, and a love story all rolled into one.

Even though some parts were a bit slow, I can't really complain because of all its ambition.

Also, this book taught me a colloquial Russian phrase that seems to fit almost any situation, "fuck your mother."

So yay for this book increasing my worldly knowledge, and fuck your mother.

An excellent book with above-average writing that actually kind of caught me off guard!

It's not always an easy read. This book always shows rather than tells, and it requires some extra effort by the reader sometimes, but in a good way.

It seems like a good warm-up for the John le Carre buddy read I’m doing in a few days. The story took turns and went in directions that I never saw coming.

Now I definitely understand Stephen King’s reference to this book in The Institute. I will definitely be checking out Polar Star. 4.25/5, full review coming.

A little bit of actual research would've been nice.

I am quite forgiving when it comes to inaccuracies about the USSR. After all, not everyone lived there and not everyone is well-versed in its culture. I could overlook the misused names and the incorrect usage of the word "comrade". I could even forgive the author's strange belief that Moscow is located at the North Pole.

However, the idea of factories suing each other is just absurd. Everyone knows that in communism, all factories belong to the state. This would imply that the government was suing itself, which is simply not possible.

I also couldn't forgive the claim that the KGB would have to cover up the killing of people accused of treason. I had a family member who died because he was a suspect, and I knew many others whose family members met the same fate. Trust me, the KGB didn't need to cover up anything. Killing "traitors" and "enemies of the people" was part of their job.

The article in the teacher's newspaper at the beginning of chapter 2 was also full of nonsense. Why would a government put Stalin, who was Georgian, and Khrushchev, who was Ukrainian, in power if the policies were so racist against non-Russians? Of all the problems the USSR had, racism was not one of them. In fact, the USSR used racism in its propaganda against the US. There were movies made specifically criticizing the US for segregation.

The "pop babies" propaganda did exist in the USSR, but it wasn't to make Russians the dominant race. It was because during WWII, almost an entire generation was killed, and they needed to repopulate the country.

Great as always. I've read this book several times over the years and it is always better than the last time.

It has a truly remarkable beginning that sets the stage not only for the main character but also for the entire series.

The way the author introduces the character is engaging and captivating, immediately drawing the reader in and making them eager to learn more.

From the very first page, you can sense the potential and depth of the character, and you know that this is going to be a journey worth taking.

The series as a whole builds upon this strong foundation, developing the character and the story in ways that are both unexpected and satisfying.

Each book adds new layers and dimensions, keeping the reader hooked and eager for more.

Overall, this is a must-read for anyone who loves a great story with well-developed characters and an engaging plot.

Highlights from the final review that can be found on my blog

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Arkadi is the kind of character who can very easily be taken as a model by readers. He is intelligent, determined, and strong, a real man. Of course, his charm grows exponentially considering the characters he meets throughout the story and he can't help but impress and be a successful figure. However, Arkadi is not exceptional only because of the antagonist or the circumstances. Arkadi is also exceptional because he is an easy anti-hero because he is a convinced communist. He does his job as it should be not necessarily out of a police conviction but because, although he is not a party member who excels in political practice, it can be seen that communist Russia with its morality and laws suits him. He feels like a fish in water in communism. His way of speaking sometimes seems to be torn from the communist propaganda books. The way he justifies some of his actions during the investigation is, again, with the specificity of a Moscow militiaman. For the country, this is Arkadi's motto, even if it is not so obvious at first glance.
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In addition to the mentioned qualities, Arkadi's character is further developed through his interactions with other characters. His relationships add depth and complexity to the story. The way he deals with different personalities and situations showcases his adaptability and resourcefulness.

Moreover, the setting of the story in communist Russia provides a rich backdrop for Arkadi's adventures. The political and social context influences his actions and decisions, making his character even more interesting.

Overall, Arkadi is a fascinating character who draws readers in and keeps them engaged throughout the story. His combination of intelligence, strength, and communist beliefs make him a unique and memorable protagonist.