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Fiction. Literature. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML: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 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 tr… (more)
User reviews
Arkady Renko burst onto the scene in 1981 in "Gorky Park" and he has been a favorite of mine over the decades. After a gap of 6 years after "Tatiana" in 2013, Arkady is back following Tatiana on an assignment to wintertime Siberia where he dances with a bear and meets a shaman.
This is
It's not a long book, or a heavy one, but for anyone with connections with Russia, it's quite a treat.
I received a review copy of "The Siberian Dilemma" by Martin Cruz Smith from the publisher Simon & Schuster through NetGalley.com.
It's very short. It starts at a zoo, and quick thinking police detective saves the day by bringing down an escaped bear with a nerves of steel, last second shot. Somehow we know we'll see more bears in subsequent chapters. And we do. And Tatiana is there, waiting rescue by guess who? "Siberian Dilemma" (SD) has timely issues including Putin, elections, etc. Tatiana is writing an article that will not be well received, and Arkady and his factotum go to her rescue in icy Siberia. Those pages were best with some very vivid and interesting descriptions of driving cars on frozen lakes, surviving a bear attack, surviving a helicopter crash and more.
And now I have three mini un-spoilers for you: Putin wins the election, Arkady survives a modern day version of a SD, and nobody knows what a factotum is. Amusing but still Arkady-lite
Arkady is back!!!! And Victor, his partner, who “was an excellent detective when he was
Tatiana is missing and Arkady flies to Irkutsk, Siberia to look for her. And, while there, he also has to interrogate a man who shot at Prosecutor Zurin. Double the fun! I really liked Bolot, the factotum/shaman! And I just really enjoyed the book - the bears, the oil, and the oligarchs! Hoping for a #10!!!
“Better to do something than nothing.”
“The Siberian dilemma,” Arkady said.
Over the
Cruz-Smith's latest is an odd duck. It's a sparser novel then previous entries and his writing has become more streamlined. Almost like a Russian Ken Breun. No small compliment.
The plot is relatively inconsequential, as it is the characters, along with Siberia itself, that drives the story. This is another novel masquerading as a crime book, when the subject is really life itself. Check it out, you won't be disappointed.
Arkady Renko is a special investigator in Moscow. When his girlfriend, investigative journalist Tatiana Petrovna fails to return home as promised, he travels to Siberia to search for her. He believes she is there working on a
Indeed, it's Tatiana, the journalist Arkady loves, who sets the plot in motion by disappearing somewhere in southern Siberia while working on an expose of Russian oligarchs. By the time Arkady catches up to her, she is in deep with an oligarch with a frenemy fellow oligarch. Is one or both of the oligarchs corrupt? Is there a dimension of their rivalry that goes beyond control of oil fields? Will someone start taking potshots at Arkady?
Of course.
I loved Gorky Park.
The Russia of this novel is very different from that on Gorky Park, but the corruption and cynicism of the authoritarian figures looming over the story are much the same. Renko is despatched by his surly boss to Irkutsk, in Siberia, where he is to bring back a suspect who had been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder (the intended victim being Renkos’ boss himself). This mission is almost providential as Renko’s current partner, investigative journalist Tatiana Petrovna is also in Irkutsk, where she is following two oil-rich oligarchs, one of whom might be mounting a political campaign with a view to ousting the current President. Tatiana’s editor in Moscow had already alerted Renko to his concerns about her, as she seems to have slipped out of view, and hasn’t made any contact for several days. As usual, Renko finds himself in a situation where nothing is as it seems, and he grapples with two particularly complex mysteries that seem to be closely related to each other.
Unfortunately, I fear that my sparse synopsis above is actually more exciting than the book ever manages to be. I feel that Renko might be due a well-earned retirement, to put him out of everyone’s misery.
The author provided a convoluted plot, with some sneaky twists, but largely, Renko is more of a puppet responding to unclear schemes behind his back. The action falls into a series of fits and starts, with interludes that seem disconnected. However, there are enough good pieces to make this worth reading ~ if you've enjoyed other Renko novels. Not up to the standard of Gorky Park or Red Square, for example, but Bolot, the 'factotum', is excellently drawn and brings the best of the story into an enjoyable read.