The Siberian Dilemma Quotes

“I looked you up, Arkady. You have a checkered career."
"I'm flattered. I was unaware of having any career at all.”
― Martin Cruz Smith, The Siberian Dilemma

“Arkady was an Investigator of Special Cases, and if a bear running loose in the heart of Moscow was not a special case, he didn't know what was.”
― Martin Cruz Smith, The Siberian Dilemma

“Everyone is too young when their mother dies.”
― Martin Cruz Smith, The Siberian Dilemma

“A nurse the size of a shipping hazard peered over him and smiled. Some of her teeth were missing, some were gold, and the sight was so unnerving that Arkady hoped he wouldn’t give her cause to smile again.”
― Martin Cruz Smith, The Siberian Dilemma

“The smell of flowers was overwhelming. They were all imported, some presumably from vast distances. Arkady saw orchids, chrysanthemums, hydrangeas, roses, and tuberoses, splashes of color against winter’s gray.”
― Martin Cruz Smith, The Siberian Dilemma

“The one thing that stung Zhenya was the insinuation that he ducked the best players,
"Anyone I play it's their choice," Zhenya said. "I can't help it if I'm better than they are. Sometimes I play a rook or a bishop down. What could be fairer than that?"
"They never know what hit them," Sosi said; her eyes grew as round as moons. She looked like the perfect fanatic to encourage a leap into a volcano. She rolled a rook back and forth on the Formica, as if she were gathering an electric charge. "Zhenya can turn any game into a slaughter."
It was like visiting the Macbeths, Arkady thought.”
― Martin Cruz Smith, The Siberian Dilemma

“Kuznetsov was always on. Every interaction was weighted with a demand, an order, a calculation, well hidden behind his undeniable charisma. Arkady wondered if Kuznetsov ever just was, at work or at home.”
― Martin Cruz Smith, The Siberian Dilemma

“Bolot and Tatiana laid him down in the back of an old panel truck on blankets and pillows and covered him up. There was something to be said for this, Arkady thought, this outsourcing of literally every decision to someone else, this total lack of personal responsibility.”
― Martin Cruz Smith, The Siberian Dilemma

“All I ask is that people follow their conscience, not their fears.”
― Martin Cruz Smith, The Siberian Dilemma

“Are you a fan of Mongolian wrestling? Timur here can unscrew a man’s head.” “He must be handy opening bottles.”
― Martin Cruz Smith, The Siberian Dilemma

“He couldn’t stand the prospect of eating alone, just as he couldn’t stand company.”
― Martin Cruz Smith, The Siberian Dilemma

“They did not speak until the reception at the Marriott. The walls were edged with tables of blini, fish pie, and piroshki.”
― Martin Cruz Smith, The Siberian Dilemma