Red Square (Arkady Renko Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

America's preeminent writer of Russian-based thrillers explores international crime and political upheaval in this 10-week PW bestseller
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

In this sequel to Gorky Park and Polar Star, set in August 1991, Special Investigator Arkady Renko investigates a mysterious explosion at a midnight Moscow black-market rendezvous. The trail leads to Munich and Berlin. Superbly told, with believable characters and the authentic feel of post-collapse Moscow and post-Wall Berlin. (Kirkus UK)

Inspector Arkady Renko, banished to a Soviet factory-ship in Polar Star (1989), returns to Moscow on the eve of the Coup - and steps into the kind of intrigue, atmosphere, and excitement not seen from Smith since Renko's megaselling debut in Gorky Park (1981). The winds of glasnost may have blown the insubordinate Renko back from exile, but they've also stirred up the Soviet Union's criminal class, which now rules the land hand-in-crooked-hand with the Party's panicking elite - as shown in the mesmerizing opening scene that has Renko meeting with an informer at Moscow's thriving nighttime black market. Minutes after Renko exits the informer's car, it explodes under the impact of two bombs. Why? Renko pursues leads that take him on a spellbinding tour of Moscow (here, a starving city spinning out of control) as he encounters the new Soviet capitalism (a shady entrepreneur who, with green paint and cutout trees, has transformed a bullet-casing factory into an indoor golfing range); the new Soviet mafia (the Chechens, Muslim gangsters ruled by a withered devil named Makhmud); and the old, power-grasping rear guard. A mysterious fax sends Renko chasing a further lead abroad to Munich, where he reunites with Irina, his forsaken lover from Gorky Park. Here, the narrative slackens into a lovers' awkward waltz between Renko and Irina, and between Renko and the material temptations of the West - though it picks up with a sidetrip to Berlin, the ghastly murder of Makhmud, and revelations of stolen art treasures at the root of the killings. The action climaxes on a note of astonishing grace and hope back in Moscow, as Renko concludes his case and joins the radiant masses facing down the tanks on the steps of Boris Yeltsin's White House. A bit long and choppy, but brimming with political insight and psychological nuance, and a powerful reaffirmation of Renko's love/hate for Russia as one of the great romances of thriller fiction. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; First edition (November 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345384733
• ISBN-13: 978-0345384737
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #592,945 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 3 in The Arkady Renko Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another riveting Arkady Renko tale..., April 30, 2005

By	Cynthia K. Robertson (beverly, new jersey USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Red Square is the third Martin Cruz Smith mystery in the Arkady Renko series. After Polar Star, Renko finds himself back in Moscow and restored to his former position as an investigator. The Soviet Union is on the brink of collapse, and five or six different groups of Russian Mafia are vying for control in Moscow. One man, Rudy Rosen, is a tie to these many groups as he serves as a "banker" to them all. He also is an informer for Renko. When Rosen is brutally murdered, Renko has the difficult job of trying to find the killer.

Renko's search takes him from Moscow to Germany, where the possible suspects include gang members, the KGB, a Russian businessman and even a Russian prosecutor. There are many shady situations in Russia as communism begins its freefall, and the waters are definitely clouded. But Renko is extremely intelligent and also, very observant. Through hard work and perseverance, the waters start to clear for him.

Reading about this period of Russian history is always fascinating. It is also interesting to read how Radio Liberty (sponsored by Americans) broadcast out of Germany. This was the only way Russians could discover what was really happening in the USSR.

My only complaint about Red Square is that it seemed rather disjointed for the first one hundred pages or so. It was often difficult to keep characters straight and to follow the plot. But things really picked up halfway through, and the remainder of the book was riveting. I couldn't put it down.

So while I think Red Square fell just a little short of Gorky Park and Polar Star, it is still a fine effort by Cruz Smith.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Again, tops by Smith., March 11, 2001

By	Sergio Flores (Orange, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The title is a play on words, and things have really changed in Arkady Renko's Moscow. He's an Investigator again; he has been rehabilitated. His concerns are the different mafias that rule the city's underground (and plenty of the above-ground) trade, and a radio program from Germany that connects him to his past. There are "bankers" in this new Moscow, and trade is in full swing. There are Audis, markets, chemical bombs, and charming Party-members who look like movie stars and get along with Americans because Americans love people who look and act like they do. The murder of a Jewish banker-informer takes Arkady and his partner to the outskirts of Moscow, to a collective farm that has not done much farming, to a Volvo ("a compact, well-made car" as Arkady thinks while looking for his partner) and to Stalin's villa. From there, right before the August putsch, Renko will go to Germany after the trail of the Russian mafia, after "Red Square," after the voice he listens to on the radio every night, alone in his apartment.

Full of intrigue and with a great plot, "Red Square" is also the most romantic of the Arkady Renko novels. Again, where so many of the genre writers fail miserably, Smith soars: the love between Arkady and Irina is poignant, believable, adult, and a bit childlish at the same time; the dialogues are realistic; the description is never trite or tired, but vital and fresh. Once again, Smith proves that he is not only a good genre writer who can churn out a superior mystery novel, but a great writer, period. In Arkady Renko he has created a person, not just a character, and his prose flows with ease. In "Red Square" Smith mixes the reality of the August coup and the barricades with the story of Arkady and Irina, and the pursuit of the truth regarding the deaths of an informant, a policeman, an affable Trabant-lover, and the smuggling of art. A Russian in Germany, a poor man from a poor country in a rich country not known for its hospitality to others, the real victors and the real losers from World War II, all this is part of the intricate but rewarding story of "Red Square." Whatever else Martin Cruz Smith decided to do with his detective in the next novel ("Havana Bay," most of which I did not approve of), he created a very tough-to-follow act with his Renko trilogy: genre novels, detective stories, that are well-written and presented with respect to the reader. These are true rarities in the crowded, low-quality mystery shelf. "Red Square," like "Gorky Park" and "Polar Star" before, stands out as top writing by a top writer.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent Russian Thriller, February 28, 2004

By	richard_t "richard_t" (Overseas) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

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This review is from: Red Square (Hardcover)

The third Arkady Renko novel by Martin Cruz Smith, Red Square is as strong as the first two. Smith's writing rises far above the typical spy / thriller genre. His characters are fully developed, flawed and nuanced. The dialogue is wonderful, down to Renko's self-effacing honesty and Irina's protective lies. Moscow detective Renko is heroic in a underdog sort of way. Here he confronts Russian mobsters in Moscow and Germany after the murder of an underworld financier and a fellow cop. It's simply good writing, good research, and a good plot. And Arkady's fans will be happy to see Irina again.