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Gorki Park

(Arkady Renko #1)

Martin Cruz Smith,

Jacques Post (Translator)

4.04 · Rating details · 64,247 ratings · 1,206 reviews

In de vroege lente wordt in het Moskouse Gorki-park een verbijsterende ontdekking gedaan. Gevat in sneeuw en ijs worden de lijken van 3 mensen aangetroffen, op afschuwelijke wijze verminkt en onherkenbaar gemaakt. Arkadi Renko, een methodische en ambitieuze politieman, krijgt opdracht dader en motief te achterhalen. Vanaf dat moment gebeurt er veel in Moskou, want zowel Ar ...more

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Paperback, 479 pages

Published 2012 by Anthos (first published 1981)

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Jul 02, 2008 Kemper rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-0, crime-mystery, 2014-reread, over-there, renko

Between watching the ‘80s era Soviet spies in FX’s The Americans, and tensions running high over Russian activity in the Ukraine, it almost seems like Cold War never ended. In fact, because of a European consulting firm being brought into my workplace, I’m seeing Russians all over my building. Hopefully things don’t hit the point where I have to take to the hills and go all Red Dawn. Wolverines!!

With all this red scare stuff going on, it seemed like a great to time revisit this old favorite. It’ Between watching the ‘80s era Soviet spies in FX’s The Americans, and tensions running high over Russian activity in the Ukraine, it almost seems like Cold War never ended. In fact, because of a European consulting firm being brought into my workplace, I’m seeing Russians all over my building. Hopefully things don’t hit the point where I have to take to the hills and go all Red Dawn. Wolverines!!

With all this red scare stuff going on, it seemed like a great to time revisit this old favorite. It’s the early ‘80s and three bodies have been found under the snow in Moscow’s Gorky Park with their fingertips removed and their faces peeled off to prevent identification. Militia chief homicide investigator Arkady Renko finds an enemy of his from the KGB on the scene showing an interest in the bodies, and that can mean nothing but trouble. As he reluctantly begins to investigate the murders and discovers that one of the bodies was an American, Renko wants nothing more than to dump the case on the KGB since he’s pretty sure they killed those people anyhow. However, Renko soon finds himself embroiled in schemes that may mean that he’s the only who gets punished for trying to be a detective in a society that doesn’t want to admit that crime exists at all.

So the hook here is that it’s a mystery set in the Soviet Union, and even though that era has come and gone, it’s still incredibly interesting to get this peek behind the old Iron Curtain. Martin Cruz Smith didn’t just give us a procedural of how Soviet cops worked, he also provided a view of an entire country living under a system where covering your own ass had become an art form and logic rarely entered in to it. It’s kind of like working for a corporation only a corporation can’t ship you off to Siberia if you rock the boat too much. (Or at least they can’t yet. I probably shouldn’t give them any ideas….)

Even though this has plenty of Soviet political intrigue and an international aspect to it this doesn’t feel like a spy story, and that’s mainly because of Arkady Renko. During this reread I found myself comparing Renko to one of my favorite fictional detectives, Matt Scudder, because they’re both pragmatic men who don’t see the point in fighting a system that’s inherently corrupt, but there’s a quiet streak of idealism in both that believes that some crimes have to be answered for. Renko is stubborn with a sly talent for screwing up the plans of powerful people, and there’s a great worn down but not beaten element to the character.

Smith also had excellent timing when he created Renko because through the next several decades he could use his detective to give us mysteries that are also glimpses of what it’s been like for Russians through the fall of the Soviet Union and the aftermath today.
...more

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Sep 08, 2020 Fergus rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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 w ...more

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May 23, 2016 Idarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

“‘There are not many road signs in Russia, you know.’ He laughed. ‘If you don’t know where the road goes, you shouldn’t be on it.'” — Arkady Renko

When Gorky Park was first published in 1981, it was immediately banned in the then Soviet Union because of its apt depiction of everyday Soviet life. Though I’ve never been to Russia (my only immersion into the culture was the year I spent trying unsuccessfully to learn the language), its image is intricately linked with the glamorous Moscow of the fil ...more

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Sep 29, 2018 Bill Kerwin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-c-amer, detective-mystery

Martin Cruz Smith’s Gorky Park (1981) is the first book in series set in the Soviet Union and featuring Arkady Renko, a homicide investigator for the Moscow city police. It is an unusual work, for it gives the reader a unique glimpse into the difficulties facing a detective who is forced to operate in a police state.

For example—and this makes for a noteworthy variation on the typical policier—Renko at first tries not to solve his case, but instead to find some piece of evidence—of foreign invol
Martin Cruz Smith’s Gorky Park (1981) is the first book in series set in the Soviet Union and featuring Arkady Renko, a homicide investigator for the Moscow city police. It is an unusual work, for it gives the reader a unique glimpse into the difficulties facing a detective who is forced to operate in a police state.

For example—and this makes for a noteworthy variation on the typical policier—Renko at first tries not to solve his case, but instead to find some piece of evidence—of foreign involvement or some form of conspiracy—that will allow him to dump the whole vexing affair in the lap of the KGB. The vodka-fueled bludgeonings he usually investigates are easy to handle, but these three frozen corpses in Gorky Park—two men and one woman shot to death, their faces and fingertips removed to prevent identification—are another matter entirely. This is definitely something that might attract the attention of his superiors. And that kind of attention is something Arkady Renko does not desire.

One of the best things about Smith’s book is his portrait of the Soviet bureaucracy: suspicious and hypocritical, deceptive and self-deceptive, filled with outmoded beliefs and threadbare traditions, always ready to betray the loyal and the naive for the good of “the institution.” Now what exactly did Smith’s description of this society remind me of? The Republican Party? The Roman Catholic Church? Yes, of course, those too, but they weren’t exactly the institutions I was thinking of. And then it hit me: Smith’s Soviet Union reminded me of John le Carre’s “The Circus,” his fictionalized portrait of British Intelligence in the post WW II world.

In 1979, John Le Carre completed the last volume of his highly esteemed “Karla Trilogy” (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; The Honourable Schoolboy; and Smiley’s People), in which he depicts in detail the culture of the British Spy Network. (And more than a little about the Soviet Union too) Two years later, Gorky Park was published.

Le Carre, a writer of genius, transforms his jaundiced view of the “circus” of spies into a metaphor for an even greater fraud: humanity itself. Martin Cruz Smith, although no genius, is an accomplished writer of thrillers who knows how to learn from a master. In Gorky Park he has given us an excellent mystery that—although no indictment of humanity--is also a memorable portrait of the Soviet Union in decline. ...more

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Aug 16, 2010 Joel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, audiobooks

There's this concept in fantasy writing, world-building? Sci-fi too. It's pretty self-explanatory: because these books are not taking place in our universe, it's up to the author to give us all the details -- to paint the picture, provide shading in just the right places, ensure we can tell what we are supposed to be looking at. Economics, politics, interpersonal relations, language, gender roles, humor... This can be done well, emphasizing just here and embellishing just there, so the empty spa ...more

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Feb 11, 2017 aPriL does feral sometimes rated it liked it · review of another edition

Well. Sigh. I'm deciding what to write. Ok. Truth.

I'm disappointed with 'Gorky Park', book one in the Soviet Union's Inspector Arkady Renko series. Oh, it's a fine inventive entertainment for a mystery, with a lot of twists and near death escapes, tons of corrupt cops and officials, and so many betrayals and hidden motives I am amazed the body count wasn't higher considering the undrained swamps that Renko wades through in not just Russia, but also in New York City. But.

In Russia, many different Well. Sigh. I'm deciding what to write. Ok. Truth.

I'm disappointed with 'Gorky Park', book one in the Soviet Union's Inspector Arkady Renko series. Oh, it's a fine inventive entertainment for a mystery, with a lot of twists and near death escapes, tons of corrupt cops and officials, and so many betrayals and hidden motives I am amazed the body count wasn't higher considering the undrained swamps that Renko wades through in not just Russia, but also in New York City. But.

In Russia, many different official police, prosecutor and spy departments want Renko to not really solve the murders of the three bodies found in Moscow's Gorky Park. Instead, they each want him to say he solved the crimes with a falsified story pointing fingers in a direction each department head wants. Each has a devious plan to force or trick Renko into lying about the murders. After Renko ‘solves’ the murders the way each department wants him to, they each plan to file a report of Renko’s sudden death. They hope to say Renko committed suicide, or was killed by an enemy of the state, or he himself confessed to the murders or he confessed to working as a corrupt double agent.

There are scenes of meetings between nefarious officials and underworld characters which made no more sense to me than they did to Renko, other than establishing confusing relationships or misdirections as to with whom Renko is friendly. Later, in America, Renko is manhandled and passed around in the custody of the FBI, the New York City police, the KGB, and a rogue triple agent. I am still scratching my head over the supposed reason for the Soviets to allow Renko to travel to America and the Big Finish reveal. It did not ring true at all.

But the biggest complaint I have is the story has too much squirrelly plotting! I could not suspend disbelief after I was 60% into the story. Instead I began to feel I was reading a sneaky tongue-in-cheek joke mystery or an overcooked Dashiell Hammett The Maltese Falcon! ‘Gorky Park’ is a great summer blockbuster script, one which might have been ordered on spec by a Hollywood producer.

So. Other than the fact I was snorting and guffawing when I wasn't supposed to, it IS a well-written mystery. Three stars for the good writing and wily twists. Maybe you won't guffaw, gentle reader. I am going to read the next one, 'Polar Star' because I am wondering what new mystery/spy plot inventions the author can possibly have left after tossing in every mystery genre plot mechanism that has ever been created into this book. ...more

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Jul 13, 2013 Armada Volya rated it did not like it · review of another edition

A little bit of actual research would've been nice. I am very forgiving when it comes to getting things wrong about USSR; after all, not everyone lived there and not everyone knows the culture. I was able to forgive the misuse of names and the word comrade. I was able to forgive the fact the the author seems to think that Moscow is located at the north pole. Factories suing each other though.... come on. Who doesn't know that in communism all factories belong to the state? That would mean that t ...more

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Mar 27, 2019 Lyn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A mesmerizing police procedural / murder mystery that also explores Soviet Russia and the dichotomy between east and west.

Set in the late 70s (the book was first published in 1981) this is the SOVIET UNION, Leonid freaking Brezhnev, and still some old pre-revolution folks running around Moscow.

Chief Inspector Arkady Renko is tasked with solving the murders of three people found in Gorky Park, their bodies frozen and killed weeks earlier, hidden by the snow. Their faces have been mutilated and fi ...more

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Nov 15, 2020 Roman Clodia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The thing is, despite some flaws (the book goes on too long, there's a vast coincidence that Arkady's father holds one of the clues, we have yet another beat-up middle-aged loner with whom a young beauty falls in love...) this is still easily a 4-star book. MCS nails the atmosphere of snowy, repressive Moscow in the 1980s when history still looks back to Stalin, WW2 and the siege of Leningrad. In the present, corruption is rife, dissidents are persecuted and the Cold War may still be on, but gre ...more

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Oct 22, 2014 Jim rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-2017, mystery-suspense-thriller

This novel was originally published in 1981. Almost 36 years ago. I believe that I attempted to read the book once before, perhaps shortly after it's publication, but did not finish. I wish I had read it then. Reading it today I find it is dated. The author demonstrated talent in describing scenes in the story whether it is in Moscow, a Russian dacha, or a dingy New York hotel room you could visualize it and feel as though you were right there. What I found difficult to believe was the level of This novel was originally published in 1981. Almost 36 years ago. I believe that I attempted to read the book once before, perhaps shortly after it's publication, but did not finish. I wish I had read it then. Reading it today I find it is dated. The author demonstrated talent in describing scenes in the story whether it is in Moscow, a Russian dacha, or a dingy New York hotel room you could visualize it and feel as though you were right there. What I found difficult to believe was the level of corruption and conspiracy. Basically everyone.

Arkady Renko, a chief homicide investigator, is assigned to a case involving three corpses found in Gorky Park, an amusement park in Moscow, who have had their faces and fingertips cut off. It is a cold case ... no pun intended. The victims had been buried in the snow and only revealed when the snow started to melt. Renko is smart and sensitive. He is also a victim. His wife doesn't love him and is having an affair. His superiors use him. Life in the Soviet Union is like an insane asylum. In the Soviet Union dissidents are labeled as mentally ill and forcibly treated with psychotropic drugs. Renko exposes corruption and dishonesty wherever he finds it, including on the part of influential and well-protected members of the elite, regardless of the consequences. The consequence being that he finds himself described by a KGB agent as mentally ill ...

"You have unreal expectations… You overestimate your personal powers. You feel isolated from society. You swing from excitement to sadness. You mistrust the people who most want to help you. You resent authority even when you represent it. You think you are the exception to every rule. You underestimate the collective intelligence. What is right is wrong and what is wrong is right."

I had a difficult time deciding on how many stars to give this book. At times I found myself into it and the story. Other times though it seemed to drag and I just wanted it to end so I could move on to the next book. Maybe in 1981 before the collapse of the Soviet Union I would have been more deeply into the book. Today though it just felt outdated. IMHO. ...more

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Jul 23, 2018 Alex Cantone rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2018, russian-themed

(Arkady) had a sense that something was happening, but he didn’t know what or where. In the halls his footsteps sounded ahead of him like another man’s. Most of the officers on night duty were out on the annual push to clear the central city of drunks before May Day; conversely, on May Day it would be patriotic to be drunk. Timing was everything...

Gorky Park introduces Arkady Renko, Chief Investigator with the Moscow militia, set during the former Soviet Union under Secretary Brezhnev. His fathe ...more

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Feb 03, 2017 Tom Mathews rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, video-adaptation, read-in-2017, mystery-crime-thriller, group-reads

I've been wanting to read this book for a very long time so it was disappointing t0 find that it wasn't quite as enjoyable as I'd hoped. Some characters were well fleshed out and Smith was great at describing the locale, making it easy for readers to visualize their surroundings, be they a Russian General's dacha or a dingy New York hotel room. What did bother me was its pacing and it's labyrinthine conspiracy where it seems that almost everybody was colluding with everyone else. For a book with ...more

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Apr 24, 2017 Gary Inbinder rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, crime-fiction

First read more than thirty years ago, this novel held up well on a recent second reading. It's an excellent police procedural/thriller with a compelling narrative, strong characterizations and fine descriptive detail of crime, forensics and detection in Moscow toward the end of the Soviet Era. ...more

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Dec 20, 2017 Bill Lynas rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Martin Cruz Smith's novels featuring Chief Investigator Arkady Renko have long been favourites of mine. As there hasn't been a new Renko book since Tatiana in 2013 I thought I'd return (for the fourth time) to the beginning.
Yet again I'm still thrilled by the excellent plotting, the well drawn characters & the author's ability to create a fascinating portrait of Russia.
Gorky Park is not only one of my favourite novels it is also one of my all time favourite films. When I was young I had the fil ...more

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Oct 21, 2020 Susan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I have meant to read this novel forever and I am astonished that I only just got around to it now, but I am glad that I did – even if it was not quite what I had expected.

It begins with three bodies in the park and Arkady Renko, our main character, and senior homicide investigator, sent to the crime scene. However, KGB Major Pribluda is there before and damages the crime scene. Now we have our main characters and the scene – the Soviet Union of the Cold War, with all of the secrecy, informers an ...more

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Feb 17, 2014 Ioana rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: eastern-block-lit, fiction, espionage, mystery, communism

This is probably my most favorite "detective" novel read to date, because it is so much more than a mystery--it is really a masterfully written, poignant, cynical, realistic, and all-too-palpable portrayal of life behind the Iron Curtain. Having been born and raised in this part of the world before 1989, I almost cannot believe how well an American author was able to capture the dreary, corrupt, existentially-dispiriting and hopeless atmosphere of the era, without moralizing and without futile a ...more

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Apr 30, 2019 Martin Clark rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

My second Goodreads recommendation, this one from KATHRYN IN FL, and I'm in her debt for putting this book back on my radar. Beautifully written and perfectly paced, Gorky Park deserves all the praise it's gotten over the years, and it holds up like a bona fide classic. ...more

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Mar 16, 2008 April rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: russia

If only there were Russian men like Arkady Renko! What a hero. Martin Cruz Smith, despite making up an implausibly wonderful Russian man in Arkady Renko, just totally nails some things about Soviet Russia. I get nostalgic even thinking about it.
Got a plane ride coming up? If you haven't read this - GO NOW! BUY IT! I promise you won't regret it. ...more

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Dec 20, 2012 Gary rated it liked it · review of another edition

After an intriguing start the novel drifted and became very drawn out. At one point I found that I didn't really care what was happening and very nearly gave up. 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. ...more

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Nov 19, 2011 Jennifer rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, 2008-reads

In 1981, when Smith published Gorky Park, the Berlin Wall had yet to fall, and Glasnost wasn't yet a twinkle in Gorbachev's eye. Perhaps in that climate, nearly 40 years into the Cold War, a thriller set largely behind the Curtain, exploring how the Red half lived, was enough to titilate an audience. Because the effusive praise heaped on this one surely isn't due to the writing. Gorky Park is a messy narrative at best, a willy-nilly hodgepodge of Soviet cliches at worst. Most disappointing is t ...more

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Aug 22, 2009 Brad rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, read-in-2018, soviet, police-procedural, in-the-shower, detective

I always held back from reading Gorky Park -- despite its decades long service as a dust collector on my shelf -- for fear that an American author during the Cold War could only deliver the shabbiest form of propaganda if writing about a Moscow cop circa the early 80s. And all this even though I remember William Hurt's turn as Arkady Renko (Gorky Park's relentless protagonist) with fondness.

It turns out I needn't have worried. I can't say how accurate Martin Cruz Smith's portrayal of Moscow and ...more

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Sep 20, 2011 Perry rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Stealthy Police Procedural set in Moscow prior to Perestroika and Dissolution of U.S.S.R.

Back in the U.S.S.R.:
Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the West behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Georgia's always on my mind
Lennon-McCartney, 1968
****
Arkady Renko is chief homicide investigator for Moscow's Soviet militsiya (the city's civilian police force). When investigating the murder of three American college students found frozen in the snow of Gorky Park, faces and ...more

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Jan 30, 2013 Steve rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Great as always. I've read this book several times over the years and it is always better than the last time. I great beginning to the character and the series. ...more

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Mar 31, 2011 Dem rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: russian-history, war

Was really looking forward to this book as loved Child 44 and thought that Gorky Park would be a great read. I was very disappointed with this novel I felt the plot and the characters were very flat and story just seems to plod along.

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May 01, 2020 Paul Haspel rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: soviet-union, cold-war

Gorky Park – officially, the Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure (Центральный парк культуры и отдыха имени Горького)– plays a role in Moscow life similar to that of Central Park in New York City. In both cases, the park offers green space for rest and renewal in the middle of a major city, along with recreational opportunities. Yet while Gorky Park was named for the Soviet writer Maxim Gorky, it is today best known for its associations with an American writer – Martin Cruz Smith, who made ...more

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Nov 08, 2010 David Jackmanson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

One of my favourite noir novels ever, a story I keep coming back to. The first time I read this book I thought it was just typical USAian triumphalism over the Soviet Union, but I was wrong. The USA is shown as a place where it's a little easier to breathe, but it's dominated by the rich and powerful just as the Soviet Union is.

Arkady Renko is a prosecutor's investigator for homicide in Moscow in the late 1970s. He is called to a murder scene in Gorky Park, Moscow's favourite place to forget the One of my favourite noir novels ever, a story I keep coming back to. The first time I read this book I thought it was just typical USAian triumphalism over the Soviet Union, but I was wrong. The USA is shown as a place where it's a little easier to breathe, but it's dominated by the rich and powerful just as the Soviet Union is.

Arkady Renko is a prosecutor's investigator for homicide in Moscow in the late 1970s. He is called to a murder scene in Gorky Park, Moscow's favourite place to forget the world for a little, where three bodies with their faces cut off and their fingertips sheared have lain for several months. He desperately tries to get out of the case, supposing that the victims were killed by the KGB, whose Major Pribluda is an enemy of Renko. But the case sticks to him like a friend who needs a loan, and Renko is forced into intrigue and lies so he can either do his job, or avoid it.

Suspicion falls on a visiting USAian businessman, a fur dealer, whose aura of money and power make the drabness of Moscow even duller than it really is. But while this seems the perfect excuse to shunt the case over to the KGB, Renko still is stuck with it.

Gorky Park is a book about power, about what people who have it are like and what they get to do to people who don't. The details of everyday life in Moscow are fascinating, and the murder is gruesome enough to excite people who like that sort of thing but these are ultimately side issues. Martin Cruz Smith's book is about what it's like to live in a world where the rich and powerful can get away with almost anything - and he's not just talking about the Soviet Union.

NB: For an essay that perfectly explains why I enjoy noir fiction, see Raymond Chandler's The Simple Art of Murder:

The realist in murder writes of a world in which gangsters can rule nations and almost rule cities, in which hotels and apartment houses and celebrated restaurants are owned by men who made their money out of brothels, in which a screen star can be the fingerman for a mob, and the nice man down the hall is a boss of the numbers racket; a world where a judge with a cellar full of bootleg liquor can send a man to jail for having a pint in his pocket, where the mayor of your town may have condoned murder as an instrument of moneymaking, where no man can walk down a dark street in safety because law and order are things we talk about but refrain from practising; a world where you may witness a hold-up in broad daylight and see who did it, but you will fade quickly back into the crowd rather than tell anyone, because the hold-up men may have friends with long guns, or the police may not like your testimony, and in any case the shyster for the defense will be allowed to abuse and vilify you in open court, before a jury of selected morons, without any but the most perfunctory interference from a political judge.

It is not a very fragrant world, but it is the world you live in, and certain writers with tough minds and a cool spirit of detachment can make very interesting and even amusing patterns out of it. It is not funny that a man should be killed, but it is sometimes funny that he should be killed for so little, and that his death should be the coin of what we call civilization. All this still is not quite enough.

In everything that can be called art there is a quality of redemption. It may be pure tragedy, if it is high tragedy, and it may be pity and irony, and it may be the raucous laughter of the strong man. But down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective in this kind of story must be such a man. He is the hero, he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor, by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world.

...more

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Nov 21, 2013 Eric rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: detective-mystery, audiobooks

While I didn't always love the experience of reading this novel, I am glad to have read it, if only for the fictional glimpse of Soviet Russia during the Cold War. I didn't enjoy how drawn out the book became after such an intriguing start. But then, I was only expecting a police procedural set in Russia. This novel was much, much more -- a cat and mouse game, a story of fugitives and bandits, a view of Soviet "justice," a story of torture, a social commentary on America by a Russian narrator, a ...more

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Oct 15, 2013 Cphe rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: russian-mystery-thriller, reviewed-on-amazon

A well written police procedural, thriller that has stood the test of time. Arkady Renko is a charismatic character, patriotic, intelligent, intense, but also flawed and strangely vulnerable. He's a good police officer trying to investigate a horrific crime within the boundaries of a corrupt and rigid system.

It's the setting, the glimpse of Russian life, politics and culture, along with Arkady Renko that make this atmospheric and quite intricate story so compelling. Well worth a look at. ...more

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Mar 19, 2018 DeAnna Knippling rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: top-100-mystery-novels-mwa, top-100-crime-novels-cwa

A 1980 Russian investigator is directed to solve a crime. He'd rather dump it on the KGB; it smells political. But no, they're leaving him holding the bag...

The mystery is too complicated. The plot takes too many irrelevant turns. The romance makes no sense. And yet...perfect. Not a typical mystery plot at all; much more like a shamamic journey than anything else. I loved the ending. ...more

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Oct 28, 2013 Shatrujeet Nath rated it liked it · review of another edition

This one had been on my wishlist for the longest of time because the idea of a police procedural set in Soviet Russia drew me instantly. 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, and things that just didn't make sense. Of the things I liked, one was the starting premise of the investigation that Arkady Renko initiates after finding the dead bodies in Gorky Park -- as chi This one had been on my wishlist for the longest of time because the idea of a police procedural set in Soviet Russia drew me instantly. 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, and things that just didn't make sense. Of the things I 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 because it makes Renko a reluctant hero and stands that "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... but 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 and 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 even 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 a finishing 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 (to me, the character himself didn't seem necessary to the story) 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. ...more

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About Martin Cruz Smith

Martin Cruz Smith

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AKA Simon Quinn, Nick Carter.

Martin Cruz Smith (born Martin William Smith), American novelist, received his BA in Creative Writing from the University of Pennsylvania in 1964. He worked as a journalist from 1965 to 1969 before turning his hand to fiction. His first mystery (Gypsy in Amber – 1971) features NY gypsy art dealer Roman Grey and was nominated for an Edgar Award. Nightwing was his breakt ...more

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Quotes from Gorki Park

“Proust said that you could seduce any woman if you were willing to sit and listen to her complain until four in the morning.” — 9 likes

“Stalin gothic was not so much an architectural style as a form of worship. Elements of Greek, French, Chinese and Italian masterpieces had been thrown into the barbarian wagon and carted to Moscow and the Master Builder Himself, who had piled them one on the other into the cement towers and blazing torches of His rule, monstrous skyscrapers of ominous windows, mysterious crenellations and dizzying towers that led to the clouds, and yet still more rising spires surmounted by ruby stars that at night glowed like His eyes. After His death, His creations were more embarrassment than menace, too big for burial with Him, so they stood, one to each part of town, great brooding, semi-Oriental temples, not exorcised but used.” — 7 likes

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