Gorky Park (Volume 1): Martin Cruz Smith (The Arkady Renko Novels)

Product Information

And they would be right to be afraid; the murky past of a close relative, one whisper from a vengeful neighbor, or even owning a Bible would be enough to get one into trouble with the KGB. It did get better and I appreciate that my point of view is different to many others but the end of the book was very welcome. Martin Cruz Smith, despite making up an implausibly wonderful Russian man in Arkady Renko, just totally nails some things about Soviet Russia. A triple murder and Arkady Renko son of a Soviet Hero is put on the case and he really tries to put the case into the hands of his KGB colleagues but they seem not to interested. What he isn’t prepared for are the three frozen bodies found in Gorky Park, with their faces skinned and fingertips cut off.

As Renko is forced to question everything he’s believed in and trusted, he discovers more about himself than he thought possible, or even wanted. The story, to me, was besides the point (perhaps its main point, though, was illustrating the futility of seeking "justice" when immense power is at stake-on both sides of the Curtain).Before I come around to picking that one up though, there are many books to read and many reviews to share. Those characters include John Osborne, a wealthy and well-connected American businessman who regularly travels to the U. Gorky Park isn’t the easiest read, but it’s definitely an interesting one – to the extent that, in spite of feeling a little lost at many points, I wouldn’t mind reading more from Martin Cruz Smith, and am definitely going to follow the story of Arkady Renko.

However, it is not a thriller full of page-turning non-stop action (even though there are a few dramatic action scenes). I understand I can change my preference through my account settings or unsubscribe directly from any marketing communications at any time.The dialogue between he and Renko at the end is reminiscent of the scene between Rakolnikov and Porfiry in Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. When investigating the murder of three American college students found frozen in the snow of Gorky Park, faces and fingers removed, Renko faces resistance from the KGB, FBI and NYC police. Published in 1981, in one of the chilliest periods of the Cold War, Gorky Park begins with the discovery of three bodies in the Moscow park that gives the novel its title. In explaining how he came up with smuggled icons for the motivation to murder, Arkady says that it's about Marxist dialectic: "We are now in an intermediate stage of communism where there are still criminal tendencies resulting from relics of capitalism in the minds of some individuals.

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.While Renko is complicated and tormented by social and moral angst, Smith populates his story with a Dickensian cast of fascinating players. Cleverly and intelligently told, The Girl from Venice is a truly riveting tale of love, mystery and rampant danger.