From the award-winning, bestselling author of Gorky Park and Tatiana comes a breathtaking new novel about investigator Arkady Renko–“one of the most compelling figures in modern fiction” (USA TODAY)–who travels deep into Siberia to find missing journalist Tatiana Petrovna. Journalist Tatiana Petrovna is on the move. Arkady Renko, iconic Moscow investigator and Tatiana’s part-time lover, hasn’t … investigator and Tatiana’s part-time lover, hasn’t seen her since she left on assignment over a month ago. When she doesn’t arrive on her scheduled train, he’s positive something is wrong. No one else thinks Renko should be worried–Tatiana is known to disappear during deep assignments–but he knows her enemies all too well and the criminal lengths they’ll go to keep her quiet.
Renko embarks on a dangerous journey to find Tatiana and bring her back. From the banks of Lake Baikal to rundown Chita, Renko slowly learns that Tatiana has been profiling the rise of political dissident Mikhail Kuznetsov, a golden boy of modern oil wealth and the first to pose a true threat to Putin’s rule in over a decade. Though Kuznetsov seems like the perfect candidate to take on the corruption in Russian politics, his reputation becomes clouded when Boris Benz, his business partner and best friend, turns up dead. In a land of shamans and brutally cold nights, oligarchs wealthy on northern oil, and sea monsters that are said to prowl the deepest lake in the world, Renko needs all his wits about him to get Tatiana out alive.
The Washington Post has said “Martin Cruz Smith is that rare phenomenon: a popular and well-regarded crime novelist who is also a writer of real distinction.” In the latest continuation of his unforgettable series, he brings us to the inside world of shadowy political figures and big wig oil oligarchs providing us with an authentic view of contemporary Russia, infused with his trademark wit.
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All of Martin Cruz Smith’s Arkady Renko novels are superlative, and this is no exception. Renko has taken readers through the problems of operating as a police officer in the Soviet Union and through its downfall and now in the perhaps more dangerous world of oligarchs and rampant greed. The Siberian Dilemma takes him to—where else?—Siberia, “where strange things happened and stranger things were just around the corner… It was a zone on the edge where planes of existence overlapped. Nothing was inexplicable.”
Cruz Smith’s writing is exceptional, almost lyrical at times, and often funny. The series invites readers into a history of modern Russia as told by a somewhat tired participant in the drama, sometimes ironically, always interestingly. Highly recommended.
Always good to have another installment of the adventures of Arkady Renko. His dead pan, matter of fact, ironic sense of humor always amuses and I feel that I get a sense of what is happening in Russia today. The subplot of shamanism could have been explored more, although interesting, it somehow feels a if the author could have gone deeper with it . Still, it was an entertaining, quick read.
4 stars for another enjoyable read by Martin Cruz Smith. This is #9 in the Arkady Renko series and it can be read as a stand alone, but would probably work better if you have read the previous books in the series. Arkady is a police investigator for the Moscow Police. His supervisor is Prosecutor Zurin, who is a cunning, ruthless man willing to break the rules if it helps his career. Arkady, on the other hand, is a honest man who struggles to do the right thing in Putin’s corrupt Russia.
Arkady is concerned about his lover Tatiana’s disappearance to someplace in Siberia. He goes to her newspaper supervisor Obolensky and asks where she is. Obolensky doesn’t know where she is. She told him that she was working on a story and did not tell him any more. She has done this before. Obolensky says that she disappears for a few weeks and comes back with a story–usually about corruption.
Then Prosecutor Zurin sends Arkady to Irkutsk, Siberia, to transport a prisoner to a transit prison, interrogate and prosecute him with a resulting good long sentence. Arkady finds Tatiana and 2 rich oil barons, Boris Benz and Mikhail Kuznetsov, both connected to the story that Tatiana is working on. Arkady is first shot at and later left for dead in the Siberian wilderness but survives both times. There are twists and turns in the story and a Siberian dilemma for Arkady.
One quote from Arkady’s Siberian factotum, Bolot, speaking to Arkady: “”Isn’t it time for dinner? Distances are longer when you haven’t eaten,” said Bolot as they got back to the car “You never eat, do you.? I’ve noticed that when you do, you just rearrange your food. You know, you need calories to stay warm.”
Thank you Martin Cruz Smith and Simon and Schuster for sending me this eARC through NetGalley.