Customer Reviews

Polar Star (Arkady Renko Novels)

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
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The second novel in the Arkady Renko series is the one I actually read first. Renko has escaped his enemies by going to work in a factory ship, the 'Polar Star.' Here, he will have to use his talents to solve the murder of a young Georgian (Soviet Georgian, that is) woman who had been in contact with Americans. As in "Gorky Park," the Americans are not portrayed too kindly, which only adds realism to the story. The most extraordinary thing about this book is the absolute control that Smith has of its setting. Once again the author has proven that he can not only tell an interesting tale, but that he can do it with enviable talent: the ice, the cold weather, the trapped ship, the people who lie to Renko for their own reasons, the plots within plots, all of this is masterly interwoven by Smith with apparent ease. Although "Polar Star" does not advance the story of Arkady and Irina (for those with a touch of the romantic in us), it does provide the credible setting for the investigator's return home, opening the way for the third book. The Renko novels are all good, even if the fourth one goes against my romantic streak, and Smith only proves that he is one of the best American writers today, period.

Polar Star by Martin Cruz Smith is the second in his Arkady Renko series, and the sequel to his bestselling book, Gorky Park. Things ended badly for Moscow investigator Renko in Gorky Park. He's been fired from his job and removed from the party. Polar Star opens with Renko relegated to as close to a modern day Siberian work camp as you can get-a fishing factory ship called the Polar Star in the Bering Sea. Renko has spent a good part of a year stuck on the "slime line," where he guts and cleans fish.

Events change quickly for Renko when a young, flirtatious cafeteria worker is scooped up in a fishing net, murdered. Renko is called on by the ship's captain to help assist as Renko is the only person on board with a background in investigation. At first, the officer running the investigation tries to convince everyone it was an accident. But Renko knows better, and finally convinces enough people that he is allowed to investigate independently.

The Polar Star is working on a joint fishing expedition alongside American ships, and the possible suspects include not just Russians, but also, Americans. But as more crew members turn up dead, Renko's job becomes more perilous and his life is in danger. There aren't too many good places to hide on a fishing boat. The last chapters will have you on the edge of your seat!

I am amazed that Cruz Smith can write about Russian characters in a way that penetrates their psyche in such a convincing manner (especially considering he isn't Russian). Polar Star is also fascinating in that it takes place during the tail end of the Soviet Era, and we get a glimpse of how Russian's struggled to "see things in a new way." Usually, this "new way" was contrary to communist doctrine. Also, not much is known about these joint US-Soviet fishing expeditions. Americans and Russians certainly make for strange bedfellows. The KGB and CIA are always lurking in the background as they each try to spy on the other. Polar Star is also interesting in that it fills in the gaps since Gorky Park. Renko had many unresolved issues at the end of book one.

Only one thing would have improved this almost perfect book-a map of the Bering Sea and the surrounding lands. This is not exactly an area well known to most of us. Otherwise, I think that Cruz Smith is one of our finest mystery writers today, and I already have Red Square waiting in the wings.

Set at the start of Glasnost in the late '80s, this second book in the Arkady Renko series (following Red Square) finds the gruff Soviet ex-policeman aboard a factory ship deep in the Bering Sea. Having antagonized powerful figures in that previous adventure, he's been on the run inside the Soviet Union, trying to hide in its deepest darkest corners. And it doesn't get a whole lot deeper or darker than the "slime line" on the factory ship, where he spends his long shifts gutting fish and avoiding any attention. The ship is part of a U.S. Soviet joint venture operation, and when a 40-ton fishnet disgorges the body of a female Russian crew member, someone decides it would be handy to have former cop Renko look into the matter.

Eager to keep a low profile, Renko tires to duck out of the duty, but in the end is ordered to comply-thus setting off an a highly atmospheric and very complicated story involving a long cast of characters. Almost immediately, Renko discovers that the woman's woman's death was no accident, and that she was stabbed. However, the implications of this are politically incorrect, and the ship's slimy political officer tries to squash any investigation until to ship returns home to Vladivostok. Yet, a mysterious "ship electrician" somehow manages to ensure Renko's continued involvement, and soon Renko is consumed by the matter.

Renko's quasi-official investigation revolves around trying to understand the dead woman, a Soviet Georgian with a yen for life on the other side of the Iron Curtain, Western consumer goods, Pink Floyd, etc. As Renko pokes around the ship and interviews everyone aboard it and the smaller fishing vessels that accompany it, the plot gets increasingly complicated. Unseen assailants try and kill Renko, Cold War espionage enters the picture, drug smuggling crops up, as do several more bodies. Indeed, the book's one flaw is that it's perhaps too complicated for its own good, with so many angles crammed in. There's even an obligatory unlikely romantic interlude that rings a very false note.

Which is a bit of a shame, since the book is otherwise very strong in atmosphere and characters. The claustrophobic atmosphere of the Soviet ship is palpable, along with the freezing cold, the rank smells, and bitterness all around. The fishing operation and the ship itself are very well-described, making an oppressive setting that would work wonderfully on film. It's also somewhat surprising some 15-20 years later to be reminded of how Soviet people would yearn for Western goods, and how even the junkiest watch or cassette tape was like gold for them. The awkwardness with the Americans is well-handled too, with the Soviets hearty and desperate to please and appear magnanimous as the Americans smirk. The book is reminiscent of thrillers such as Smilla's Sense of Snow, where the plot pales in comparison to the atmosphere and attention to detail the author brings. Definitely worth reading for the unusual setting, cast of characters, and glimpse into the recent past.

Polar Star was better than Gorky Park, introducing a more diverse array of characters. I especially like the accurate portrayal of Americans and Russians. Finally, a Cold War book by an American that doesn't glorify Americans and villify Russians! Arkady Renko is a character that one can relate to. Great work Mr. Smith!

I have just read the first three Arkady Renko novels (Gorky Park, Polar Star, and Red Square) by Martin Cruz Smith, and am currently enjoying his fourth featuring the Moscow investigator (Havana Bay). I found Polar Star to be an extremely enjoyable read. It is uniquely set on a factory ship on the Bering Sea which consequently infuses a claustrophobic atmosphere into every page. In Arkady Renko, Cruz Smith has created an intriguing and realistic hero. Never before has a leading character been so easy to identify with and warm to. And in Polar Star, Cruz Smith has, in my view, exceeded the standard set by the brilliant Gorky Park. It is extremely well written, with an absorbing plot that gathers momentum as it hurtles towards a gripping climax. In summary, unputdownable.

Part 2 of the holy Renko trilogy finds Arkady stuck in the belly of a Soviet trawler off the coast of Alaska. He again stumbles upon more than he bargained for as he investigates the murder of a Georgian girl. As a sometimes-writer myself, I always rue the time that I spend re-reading my Smith novels rather than something new, but they're so good. The attention to detail and complex characters that Smith fills his book with are just so realistic and accurate, he absolutely nails it. Renko's inner thoughts are golden-whether he's getting thrown across a room by the trawlmaster Karp Korobetz or intellectually sparring with Party slug Volovoi, Arkady never fails to amuse or enchant with his musings. You can taste the salt spray get enveloped by the intrigue. I should stop memorizing these books and go do something productive-but it's just too much fun!

I picked up a copy of Polar Star when I was 12 and now, 2 years later, I still think it's one of the best book I've ever read. As I had not read Gorky Park, I found the concept completely unique. The main character's past, up to the events on the Polar Star, were helpfully refreshed by the superb literary skills of the author. I was able to quickly understand the story (and misfortunes) of Arkady Renko. In short, a body is pulled out of the sea by a Soviet fishing ship called the Polar Star. Captain Marchuk calls upon Renko to investigate into the case. He soon finds his superiors bullying him inot wrapping up the case, and sees something sinister is afoot. The story kept me enthralled right until the final confrontation in the frozen waters of the Bering Straits. Martin Cruz Smith is a genius of thriller writing. I also recommend Red Square (which I thought was the final Arkady book until I saw the Havana Bay reviews on this very site.)

This is a superb mystery/adventure/thriller which shows Martin Cruz-Smith's ability to place a sympathetic "hero" in an offbeat, unusual locale that he invests with so much life that you're there with the lead character, in the scene, experiencing what he experiences and moving with him inexorably toward a completely satisfying resolution of the mystery. I found Polar Star totally engaging, almost impossible to put down, and absolutely fascinating. Who could ask for more?

During the early days of Glasnost, the fishing-factory ship "Polar Star" sails the polar waters of the North Pacific in a cooperative deal with the Americans. With the Soviet State still in existence, communism is still the rule. The agreement with the Americans is therefore on thin ice. When the body of one of the ship's crew, a beautiful and bold Georgian girl named Zina, comes up with the latest catch of Pollack, the Captain calls for investigation. Unfortunately, the only man capable of running the investigation is a disgraced, and probably fugitive former Moscow investigator named Arkady Renko.

Yeah, that's right, the guy from "Gorky Park" (who would also go on to witness the abortive 1991 coup in "Red Square" and post-Soviet Cuba in "Havana Bay"). If you haven't read any of those books, I see no reason why you can't start with this one - though they're all worthy reads. Renko, a loyal soviet police detective, proved too loyal by the end of "Gorky Park", in which he unmasked a conspiracy involving murder and sable-smuggling. In "Star", we learn that Renko was locked away in an asylum - probably to keep him from implicating any higher-ups in the events of "Park". He is sprung from prison by an unlikely ally - KGB General Pribluda, a man Renko once tried to implicate in multiple murder. Free, after a fashion, Renko knows that he's marked, and wisely flees Moscow, braves the wastes of Siberia (where car engines run all night long to keep from freezing) and manages to arrive in Vladivostok. Desperate to elude re-capture, Renko takes the lowest job on ship - the "slime-line". By the time of Zina's death, Renko hasn't left the ship in a year. Dragooned by Captain Marchuk into the investigation, Renko pursues leads that may implicate the Americans in smuggling drugs, or the "Polar Star's" communist masters in using the ship to spy on the Americans. Now out of the ship's hold, Renko's search for answers brings him to Nastasha, a beautiful but loyal communist "with eyes as black as Stalin, but nice", Susan, a golden girl who seems to symbolize the promise of American prosperity, and Karp, a viscious thug with a penchant for murder and a grudge against Renko. Though Karp is an obvious suspect, Renko finds plenty of reason to suspect just about everybody - and soon all begin to regret calling him to the case.

"Polar Star" excels on its full-blooded and sympathetic characters and wonderfully nuanced perspectives. (Is Karp really bad? We're not sure. Regardless of the answer, he's a presence we can't forget). The mystery, the setting and the characters make "Polar Star" poles apart from lesser novels.

Following his "politically incorrect" investigation of several murders in Moscow's Gorky Park, the dour but conscientious Arkady Renko has been deprived of his Communist party membership and his job. After escaping from the psychiatric hospital where he was being "treated," he has taken a series of low-level jobs in remote areas of the Soviet Union, trying to stay under the political radar--working in a slaughterhouse, a construction site, and now, on the "slime line" of the Polar Star, a gigantic Soviet fishing ship on the Bering Sea, preparing and freezing fish. Co-operating with the Eagle, a smaller American ship, the Soviets are trying to find common ground for understanding, or so they say.

When Soviet fishermen bring up a netful of fish, they discover the body of a flirtatious young kitchen worker from the Polar Star. The political information officer aboard the ship immediately concludes that she has committed suicide, and the ship "doctor" is unable to determine a realistic time of death. The captain, however, decides he wants a real investigation, and he assigns Renko to investigate the manner and motivation for her death before the ship docks at Dutch Harbor.

Renko is a fascinating character--close to Dostoevsky's Raskolnikov in his feeling of entrapment by a chaotic world--but as he investigates, he begins to develop a sense of purpose, long missing from his life, and he soon discovers that no one and nothing are as they appear to be. The two ships' involvement in spying, counter-spying, smuggling, and drug manufacturing are revealed during the investigation of the young woman's death, and other deaths soon occur. Renko, unwilling to gloss over the truth, makes powerful enemies, both on the Soviet and on the American ship, and though he can accept his beatings by those in charge as a "normal" way of doing business by the authorities, his life, this time, is in mortal danger. Sadly, he accepts this, too, as "normal," and even his own death as inevitable.

Cruz Smith is astonishingly gifted in his ability to describe nature and convey atmosphere, and the cold and the fog near the Arctic Circle add to the bleak mood and the symbolism of an uncaring state. Renko himself, a solitary man, arouses sympathy in the reader as he tries to keep himself going in a system which often "suggests" that he play a different game from what he believes is right. The book lacks a love story to humanize or soften the harsh actions aboard the ship, however, and parts of the story are sometimes confusing. Actions often lead to surprising violence and over-the-top and unrealistic plot twists. This is a fine continuation of the Renko character, however, a character who will later appear in four more Cruz Smith novels. n Mary Whipple

Red Square (Arkady Renko Novels), #3 in the series

Havana Bay: A Novel (Mortalis.), #4

Wolves Eat Dogs (Arkady Renko Novels), #5

Stalin's Ghost: An Arkady Renko Novel, #6

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