Gorky Park

Rating:
Summary: A delightful detective novel with a dash of Cold War chill
Review: I've always been a great fan of detective, spy and Cold War novels. This book brings out the best of all 3 worlds, but unlike so many American Cold War novels, Smith looks at the three dead bodies in Gorky Park and beyond (and out of Moscow to New York City) through the eyes of the main character--detective Arkardy Renko, a cynical Ukrainian who works hard at his job with honesty and with conviction in Moscow--and not some unkillable CIA hero. The story is filled with intrigue, cunning plot twists and wonderfully-crafted characters.

Rating:
Summary: The best detective novel of the 80's!!!
Review: I've read many detective novel and so far Gorky Park is the best I had ever read. The story is thrilling you never know what happen next. When you read this book you will never put it down until to the end.It entertains you from the first line until the last line of the story.

Rating:
Summary: the best book i have ever read
Review: I've read this book more times than I can count. It possesses an intriguing and complicated plot, extraordinarily well-developed and interesting characters, gives an amazing portrayal of Soviet Moscow, and is exciting and suspenseful. I highly recommend it. Main character Arkady Renko is both brilliant and cynical. He was interesting to read about, and was one of the reasons I liked the book so much. The book has many good elements-love, friendship, death, corruption, greed, suspense, and the violence that comes with the position of Chief Investigator of Moscow, which Renko holds. The KGB is heavily involved, it seems, and Arkady wonders if they are laying a trap for him. (His earlier attempt at arresting Major Pribluda of the KGB for the assassinations of the "Kliazma River" bodies and his thinly disguised comtempt for the Party and its machinations give them a motive for this action.) The plot has many twists and turns, and by the end of the book, the KGB, Moscow Militia, FBI, and an NYPD officer are all involved, in a complicated and satisfying plot stretching all the way around the world to the U.S. Two other books I have read and enjoyed are "The Monkey House" and "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold". I also enjoyed other books by John Le Carre (Gorky Park was every bit as good as "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and as good as le Carre's astounding "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold", though Tinker Tailor was more difficult to understand and required more concentration on my part). In addition, I liked every book I have read by this author, Martin Cruz Smith--Polar Star, Red Square, Havana Bay (all which are in the Gorky Park series) Stallion Gate, and Rose. If you liked any of those books, I'm sure you will like Gorky Park.

Rating:
Summary: start of a terrific series
Review: It was unfortunate I saw the Hollywood version of "Gorky Park" before reading the novel. The film does not do justice to the main character or the storyline. It cannot compare to the book! After reading "Polar Star" and Red Square", the second and third installments of the series, I picked up the original and loved it. More recently, "Havana Bay" was published, and later this year a long-awaited fifth novel, "Wolves Eat Dogs", will be released. Arkady Renko, the protagonist of the series, is an honest, dedicated, hard-working Ukrainian cop. When he was Chief Homicide Inspector for the Moscow Prosecutor's Office, he took charge of a grisly murder case involving the international fur trade. Very quickly, he fell afoul of the KGB. That's how his troubles began, which pursue him throughout all four novels. I recommend this series highly. The settings are supurbly drawn -- from snowbound Moscow to an Arctic Sea fish processing ship, from a steam-filled banya to the steamy port of Havana. Wherever he goes, Arkady brings his cynical love-hate relationship with the Soviet system which often impedes his work. Like Columbo, he outsmarts the sly evil-doers while seemingly fumbling his way along the investigation. And he has more lives than the proverbial cat as his sleuthing lands him in the most lethal stews! Author Martin Cruz Smith has created one of the most likable protagonists in police fiction. Cleverly writing the character as just "Arkady" -- intimately using his first name -- helps endear him to the reader. We care for Arkady because of his moral strengths, his humility and compassion, and despite his weaknesses. Along the way, Arkady has fallen obsessively in love with the most unsuitable woman imaginable: an obnoxious, abrasive dissident who not only treats him like dirt and breaks his heart, but is the cause of his political woes. It is hard to lament in the least her later demise! But we sympathize with our hero's suffering and rejoice in his small rewards. Reward yourself by reading this exceptional series, beginning with "Gorky Park"!

Rating:
Summary: start of a terrific series
Review: It was unfortunate I saw the Hollywood version of "Gorky Park" before reading the novel. The film does not do justice to the main character or the storyline. It cannot compare to the book! After reading "Polar Star" and Red Square", the second and third installments of the series, I picked up the original and loved it. More recently, "Havana Bay" was published, and later this year a long-awaited fifth novel, "Wolves Eat Dogs", will be released. Arkady Renko, the protagonist of the series, is an honest, dedicated, hard-working Ukrainian cop. When he was Chief Homicide Inspector for the Moscow Prosecutor's Office, he took charge of a grisly murder case involving the international fur trade. Very quickly, he fell afoul of the KGB. That's how his troubles began, which pursue him throughout all four novels. I recommend this series highly. The settings are supurbly drawn -- from snowbound Moscow to an Arctic Sea fish processing ship, from a steam-filled banya to the steamy port of Havana. Wherever he goes, Arkady brings his cynical love-hate relationship with the Soviet system which often impedes his work. Like Columbo, he outsmarts the sly evil-doers while seemingly fumbling his way along the investigation. And he has more lives than the proverbial cat as his sleuthing lands him in the most lethal stews! Author Martin Cruz Smith has created one of the most likable protagonists in police fiction. Cleverly writing the character as just "Arkady" -- intimately using his first name -- helps endear him to the reader. We care for Arkady because of his moral strengths, his humility and compassion, and despite his weaknesses. Along the way, Arkady has fallen obsessively in love with the most unsuitable woman imaginable: an obnoxious, abrasive dissident who not only treats him like dirt and breaks his heart, but is the cause of his political woes. It is hard to lament in the least her later demise! But we sympathize with our hero's suffering and rejoice in his small rewards. Reward yourself by reading this exceptional series, beginning with "Gorky Park"!

Rating:
Summary: start of a terrific series
Review: It was unfortunate I saw the Hollywood version of "Gorky Park" before reading the novel. The film does not do justice to the main character or the storyline. It cannot compare to the book! After reading "Polar Star" and Red Square", the second and third installments of the series, I picked up the original and loved it. More recently, "Havana Bay" was published, and later this year a long-awaited fifth novel, "Wolves Eat Dogs", will be released. Arkady Renko, the protagonist of the series, is an honest, dedicated, hard-working Ukrainian cop. When he was Chief Homicide Inspector for the Moscow Prosecutor's Office, he took charge of a grisly murder case involving the international fur trade. Very quickly, he fell afoul of the KGB. That's how his troubles began, which pursue him throughout all four novels. I recommend this series highly. The settings are supurbly drawn -- from snowbound Moscow to an Arctic Sea fish processing ship, from a steam-filled banya to the steamy port of Havana. Wherever he goes, Arkady brings his cynical love-hate relationship with the Soviet system which often impedes his work. Like Columbo, he outsmarts the sly evil-doers while seemingly fumbling his way along the investigation. And he has more lives than the proverbial cat as his sleuthing lands him in the most lethal stews! Author Martin Cruz Smith has created one of the most likable protagonists in police fiction. Cleverly writing the character as just "Arkady" -- intimately using his first name -- helps endear him to the reader. We care for Arkady because of his moral strengths, his humility and compassion, and despite his weaknesses. Along the way, Arkady has fallen obsessively in love with the most unsuitable woman imaginable: an obnoxious, abrasive dissident who not only treats him like dirt and breaks his heart, but is the cause of his political woes. It is hard to lament in the least her later demise! But we sympathize with our hero's suffering and rejoice in his small rewards. Reward yourself by reading this exceptional series, beginning with "Gorky Park"!

Rating:
Summary: Martin Cruz Smith creates a great character in Arkady Renko
Review: It's Arkady Renko at odds with power, corruption and intrigue. Martin Cruz Smith hit the nail on the head with this story. Not just your typical spy-crime thriller, Gorky Park delves into the heart and mind of what it meant to be a Russian approaching the era of new capitolism.

Renko, investigating a grisly triple murder in the heart of Moscow's famous Gorky Park, is certain he has stumbled into the work of the KGB. He is the prototypical man of principle awash in a compromising world, where the rules change daily, power and influence corrupt on both sides of the Atlantic, and pargons of virtue pose a threat to all.

I guarantee that you will love this book and quickly continue on with the following three sequels.

Rating:
Summary: martin Cruz Smith's at his BEST
Review: Many writers today find a successful formula and stick to it... over and over. The only thing the same from Martin Cruz Smith's works are their high level of excitement, interesting characters and plot development. Gorky Park is Smith's BEST work to date. What he does best is gives the reader an insiders' view of a society totally different than what the audience is used to. And introduces his characters to his readers as if we had been their friends (or enemies) for years.
Whether it be Los Alamos during the development of Man's deadliest weapon in Stallion Gate, Cuba in Havana Bay, Japan in December 4th: A Novel, or Moscow in Gorky Park, with his characters on the verge of an exciting adventure for the reader to be a part of.
I enjoy Smith's books. Gorky Park is THE mystery novel I judge all other mysteries and mystery writers by. Some mysteries I consume like potato chips or pretzels. Very, VERY few do I savor each page as I did Gorky Park!

John Row

Rating:
Summary: martin Cruz Smith's at his BEST
Review: Many writers today find a successful formula and stick to it... over and over. The only thing the same from Martin Cruz Smith's works are their high level of excitement, interesting characters and plot development. Gorky Park is Smith's BEST work to date. What he does best is gives the reader an insiders' view of a society totally different than what the audience is used to. And introduces his characters to his readers as if we had been their friends (or enemies) for years.
Whether it be Los Alamos during the development of Man's deadliest weapon in Stallion Gate, Cuba in Havana Bay, Japan in December 4th: A Novel, or Moscow in Gorky Park, with his characters on the verge of an exciting adventure for the reader to be a part of.
I enjoy Smith's books. Gorky Park is THE mystery novel I judge all other mysteries and mystery writers by. Some mysteries I consume like potato chips or pretzels. Very, VERY few do I savor each page as I did Gorky Park!

John Row

Rating:
Summary: Worth getting through it - I think
Review: Mine was a hard cover book. After reading about 1/3 of the book, I almost gave up. However, after completing the book, I must admit that it was very interesting and different from anything I have ever read. My husband has read the long, long Russian novels so he encouraged me to persevere.

The plot was a wonderful mystery with great character development. I found myself reading very slowly. Often, I read sentences over again. Sometimes, I never understood what was going on but isn't that the way the world really is for most of us?

For me, time will tell as to whether or not it was 'worth getting through it," as I may read another novel by this author. If I do, I'll be interested to find out what I think then.