Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith

Arkaska "Arkady" Renko is one of Moscow’s best investigators. Son of a military general, his name is known throughout the KGB and the Party Elite. Three mutilated bodies have turned up in Moscow’s well known Gorsky Park and Arkady is assigned the daunting task of solving the crime. His hunch is a KGB rival who he tried to convict of murder several years ago, but as the clues begin to unravel, so does his life.

Arkady’s gymnast wife leaves him for a fellow teacher. His mentor and superior, Iamskoy, seems reluctant to reassign the case to the KGB where it should be. Doggedly, Arkady plugs on, gradually figuring out the identities of the 3 corpses which leads him to Irina. She doesn’t want to talk to him, she refuses to cooperate and next thing Arkady knows is he has fallen in love with this potential witness/suspect and Russian dissident.

The frozen waters of Moscows rivers become murkier as Renko reluctantly sides with detective Kirwell from New York City. Kirwell is nothing but condescending about Arkady’s efforts in the investigation. Eventually, Renko finds himself in New York City with Irina, Kirwell, Osborne and the FBI and things are messier than when he began with three dead bodies in the snow.

I don’t know how to sum up what I thought about this book. I generally liked the character of Arkady Renko. I liked the grittiness of the Russian setting - this was timed after Stalin and before Peristroika. I enjoyed the feeling of Russia in the winter time (cold and snowy) which gave the book a dark ambiance overall. I liked the twistedness of the whole Russian bureaucracy, how everyone is drinking vodka all the time and talking Party talk.

What I didn’t like was the three endings. It seemed to drag on excessively long when the last 150 pages could have been made more succinct and tighter. I thought (all things being my humble opinion) that Arkady started out as this strong, determined, sarcastic character and ended up being a wuss. That was a bit disappointing. Irina was a twit and the whole romance thing was just silly, but I suppose it made the Renko character more human somehow. I think Smith tried to make the American characters more "American" to the Russian characters but it ended up being more of a cliche than anything.

So, I liked bits and pieces of this book enough that I’m going to find Polar Star just to see what happens to Arkady. Best place to read Gorky Park? Waiting for a plane...