Gorky Park (Volume 1): Martin Cruz Smith (The Arkady Renko Novels)

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The author demonstrated talent in describing scenes in the story whether it is in Moscow, a Russian dacha, or a dingy New York hotel room you could visualize it and feel as though you were right there.

Most of the officers on night duty were out on the annual push to clear the central city of drunks before May Day; conversely, on May Day it would be patriotic to be drunk. The last few chapters were a rollercoaster as the action decamps to the USA and I think I held my breath for the entirety of the penultimate chapter. Some characters were well fleshed out and Smith was great at describing the locale, making it easy for readers to visualize their surroundings, be they a Russian General's dacha or a dingy New York hotel room.In Gorky Park he has given us an excellent mystery that—although no indictment of humanity--is also a memorable portrait of the Soviet Union in decline. It was also fascinating to learn how foreign visitors to Russia were treated - pretty much given free rein, and welcomed with open arms, but monitored closely and recorded during the entirety of their stay. While I quite like the stylish 1983 film adaptation by British director Michael Apted (with Helsinki standing in for Moscow, as Western film crews could not film in Russia in those days), the novel is an ever deeper and richer fictive experience – a marvelous way for post-Cold War readers to be, for a time, back in the U. Our button-down management was then, as now, infiltrated by Me-Gen Bright Young Things, though I guess the bright kids now are products of a sleek, Can-Do Millennial education, beavering away at purging dark information.

The Guardian said that "the book's depiction of contemporary Soviet life was so alarmingly accurate, it was soon banned in the Soviet Union" and "became popular with dissident [Soviet] intellectuals. Despite being born into the nomenklatura himself, Arkady exposes corruption and dishonesty on the part of influential and well-protected members of the elite, regardless of the consequences.the murders in the park were a good beginning to the book but it soon became so wrapped up in Russian politics, mixed with corrupt Americans and a slut that had the morality of an ally cat and the intelligence of a Barbie doll. But I enjoyed Arkady and look forward to what's at the bottom of the cliff he just left us hanging from. we do not, but because he has thought more deeply and more interestingly about the information we both have. My second Goodreads recommendation, this one from KATHRYN IN FL, and I'm in her debt for putting this book back on my radar.