Arkady Renko is introduced in this book as a Moscow investigator. There is a bizarre triple murder in Moscow. Three bodies are found, frozen, with their faces and fingers gone. Renko is the chief homicide investigator. He's brilliant, indefatigible, honest and, as cops everywhere are, cynical. He is heading through dangerous territory in his investigation, confronting the KGB, FBI and other authorities to find the truth.

Arkady Renko is introduced in this book as a Moscow investigator. There is a bizarre triple murder in Moscow. Three bodies are found, frozen, with their faces and fingers gone. Renko is the chief homicide investigator. He's brilliant, indefatigible, honest and, as cops everywhere are, cynical. He is heading through dangerous territory in his investigation, confronting the KGB, FBI and other authorities to find the truth.

I just finished reading Child 44 -- so excellent, the best book I've read this year and highly reccomended! On the dust cover it says that critics would compare it to Gorky Park, and because I liked Child 44 so much, I picked up a copy.

I primarily read literary works, and my standards for language and content are high. I do not usually read mysteries, so maybe I'm just not in the loop about what to expect from the genre. There are a lot of glowing praises for Gorky Park. I'm in a minority here, so if you read and love police fiction, please do not let me deter you.

I was not impressed that the killer is identified very quickly in the book and that there isn't really any doubt as to whodunit. Why the killer did it is more evasive but in the end, the true story of how everything came to be seemed unlikely to me. I will admit that the triangle relationship between killer, contact, and Arkady was intriguing. In my opinion, the ending reeked; I found *her* to be hypocritical and reprehensible. I disagree completely with the reviewer who said that this is the greatest novel in the last century. That's like saying that ham and swiss on rye is as good as filet mignon! They both might fill your stomach, but one is markedly better than the other. Of course there are better books than this on the shelves, including but not limited to: The Secret History, Gone with the Wind, Lord of the Flies, The Grapes of Wrath, Of Human Bondage, The Last Lion, I could go on and on. I digress, but I think that this illustrates how my idea of what constitues an enjoyable read may be different from other people's.

I will agree with other reviewers that it was interesting and mind-boggling to read about Russian policy regarding crime. However, the time period in which this takes place is far from the most interesting period of Russia's communist era. There were many unneccesary characters that contributed very little to the story and could have been removed completely with absolutely no detriment to the plot. BEFORE YOU READ ON, PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS THE FIRST IN A SERIES ABOUT ARKADY RENKO. I found it unrealistic that the pitiless government that, as the author went to pains to reiterate, would summarily persecute its citizens would permit Arkady to continue in his quest. I got bored reading it about halfway through because the whole thing felt futile and pointless. You knew that ultimately everyone was going to cross everyone else, the question was only why and how they would do it. That's not interesting to me. Except for Arkady, all the characters might as well have been cut out of the same mold.

Unfortunately for me, I must be missing some element that is intriguing and provocative to Cruz's readership. All I know is that I feel like I wasted a week reading this when I could have been reading something I enjoyed so much more.

This is hands down his best book. You cannot beat this through out any of his other books. I am a Martin Cruz Smith fan as I have read most of his books and I still continue to re-read this book.

This is, quite simply, the greatest novel of the last century. Not only is this a work of literary genius, the recorded reading by Henry Strozier is exceedingly well done.

Buy this, read it, read it once a year till you die.

Jon

The author introduces the reader to crime fighting in the USSR. In a land of subversion, and deceit, our hero is an earnest, truthful, and non malleable cop. The book captures the nuances of Soviet, and Russian humor. I was literally laughing out loud in the middle of a crime novel. It was fantastic. The characters are richly drawn, and tell the tales of living in the USSR at the height of the Cold War. I will certainly add him amongst my must reads: Harry Bosch, Lucas Davenport, Elvis Cole, and Jack Reacher.

An intricate and profoundly sad murder mystery that rises above genre conventions to be a literate story and great character study as well as a fascinatingly detailed look at the repressive Brezhnev years in the Soviet Union.

Arkady Renko is a thirtyish, down-trodden investigator who is burdened with a triple-homicide that no one seems to want him to solve: three murder victims, missing their faces and fingerprints, are dumped in the middle of the popular Gorky Park in Moscow. Renko, while enduring the dissolution of his marriage to a selfish woman, tries to prove an international link so that the KGB will take the case off his hands.

By the time he actually can prove this, he wants to solve the case and has fallen in love with mysterious Irina, a dissident who seems implicated somehow. Unforgettable.

I first read this while the cold war was still going. It is a fascinating insight into Russian culture and Arkady Renko is a marvelous character. Read this and Red Square and Polar Star to really get to know this fellow. Always a page turner.

I saw the movie. I read the book twice. I think I finally figured out what was going on. The book picked me up and twisted me around like a cyclone even after I had finished. Martin Cruz Smith is one of my favorite authors.The protagonist, Arkady Renko is so richly drawn that I felt I was inside his head.
This particular book is so good I have no more words to describe it.
Just read it (as many times as necessary to understand it)
When you are finished read the rest of the Renko saga.

Arkady Renko is the Chief Investigator for homicides in the city of Moscow when three bodies are discovered frozen in the ice of Gorky Park. In an American city, the investigation might or might not be difficult, but in the Soviet Union it is practically impossible. Seemingly everywhere Renko turns, he is interfered with, attacked, or ignored. The book paints a partial portrait of Moscow life and the nature of being an investigator in Soviet Russia and it's not a pretty picture.

The pace of Gorky Park was very uneven. The first third of the book is dry and slow moving. Then the story hits a turning point and is quite compelling until it builds to a climax where Renko has confronted the murderer as well as a death trap aimed at both him and his girlfriend. Sadly, after this climax the book limps on for another 100 pages before building to a second, much less satisfying ending. The novel would have benefited immensely if the author had cut the story at the obvious ending point, with perhaps one chapter to wrap things up.

All in all, this book was something of a disappointment but it does have its merits. I would only recommend it if you have the stomach for a bleak read, because this is not light-hearted fare. It also is peppered with sociological commentary condemning both America and the Soviet Union as corrupt. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but it isn't everyone's idea of a detective story either.

I read "Stalin's Ghost" as my first Renko novel, and decided to go back to the headwaters with "Gorky Park", not having any knowledge of the movie, either. It is clear why GP launched a series that lives today, from one side of the breakup of the Soviet Union to the other. The contrast between the two novels when read close together is substantial, given how different Russia is today from the Soviet era. However, in many other ways, it's the same old scene, ripe for observations light and dark about Russians, corruption, politics, vodka and the dreary nature of everyday life.

With all the years in between, the Renko of the latter novel remains true to the Renko who debuted in Gorky Park. He is intelligent and a shrewd investigator underestimated by his enemies and rivals, he loves Russia while cynical about its flaws, he eschews the political games, he is persistent and dedicated to his craft while surrounded by corruption and slackers, and he appreciates attractive, mysterious women. He sounds like my kind of guy. I agree with another reviewer that Renko compares well with Harry Bosch of Michael Connelly's collection.

The story itself has an excellent plot. The bad guys are not that hard to decipher, yet Smith keeps everything moving and sufficiently obscure. The identification of the dead threesome seemed rather easy, as did the quickness with which Renko hooked up with the young Irina. Osborne and some other supporting characters are finely drawn, and Smith also captures some essence of NY City for the eyes of a new foreign visitor.

One advantage of the age of the novel and its setting: Renko succeeds more-or-less the old fashioned way. This is not CSI with fancy technology doing the work. Renko's brain was the main device. I must say, though, that the dwarf's reconstruction of the deceased's head did have a bit of 21st-century CSI touch about it.

4.5 stars, rounded up

Smith brings new life to the Dashiel Hammett/Raymond Chandler strain of this genre by relocating his lonesome detective/white knight from Los Angeles to Brezhnev's Moscow. Delightful, rich, atmospheric, and original.