Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as previous installments in the series
Review: The main protagonist in this series, and the series itself, seem to have run out of steam. Arkady Renko was always a semi-mythical creature to me - the only person with integrity in a corrupt world. He seems now to be perpetually depressed and his motivation to pursue this investigation was quite obscure. The author didn't really persuade me that there was a compelling enough reason for Renko to want to get to the bottom of the death of his friend. Added to that was a plot that was unnecessarily confusing and obtuse.
Rating: 
Summary: Cold War Writer Finds Himself
Review: After a few uneven novels, compelling story teller Martin Cruz Smith has plucked Arkady Renko, the hero of "Gorky Park," "Polar Star" and "Red Square," out of freeze to take on the rouges once again. By sending Detective Renko to Havana to identify the body of his old friend Sergei Pribluda, Smith sets himself a considerable challenge: Not only must he provide the sophisticated whirls of intrigue for which "Gorky Park" is famous; he has to make the country seem real from a Russian's perspective. Arkady has to assimilate language, customs and even a little Cuban forensicology at a dizzying rate. But the tropical locations of "Havana Bay" reward both the author -- who meets the challenge by grounding the book with precise, credible detail -- and his inexhaustible protagonist. In Havana, a cabal of Cuban police officers wants to prevent Arkady from identifying the body, and, if possible, to prevent him from going home alive. Only one officer, a single mother named Ofelia Osorio, comes to his assistance, and together the two try to get to the heart of an international conspiracy of venal, murderous thugs. Smith has a delicately layered touch with this novel. Along with a love story, he takes the reader along with Arkady on a hairpin-curve tour through the topics of Russo-Cuban relations, Santeria and the local conventions of hustling with the unsentimental deftness of a seasoned guide. Smith, like other Cold War writers, has had some difficulty in the past few years finding the emerging markets for intrigue. His 1992 novel "Red Square" was an interesting but somewhat shallow dive into Moscow's organized crime problem; his novel, "Rose," was an ambitious piece of historical fiction about the perils of coal mining in England. So while Smith's writing hadn't suffered much, it hadn't excelled, either. Now it has. Enjoy this solicitous, lascivious, at times, sleek-sleaze ride.
Rating:
Summary: Very good...yet disappointing
Review: The first three novels about Arkady Renko were strengthened by a powerful story arc that developed throughout the books--his banishment from and return to mainstream Russian society and the slow development and eventual cosummation of his romance with Irina. Irina's presence figured heavily in Arkady's life throughout those books; even when she was not present, her presence was strongly felt. With those story arcs concluded, "Havana Bay" feels a bit superfluous. Worse than that, Irina has been eliminated before the events of the novel even begin. Was this really necessary? For those of us who followed Arkady as he struggled through that difficult romance, this is a very disappointing choice on the part of the author. Couldn't Irina have been waiting at home while Renko had his Cuban adventure? Is the idea of a happy Renko so intolerable? Cut the man a little slack, Mr. Smith! Nevertheless, this book is very enjoyable. The mileau is perfect: decadent, sleazy opportunists scheming in the midst of a crumbling society. Although Martin's Cuba isn't as fully realized as his European locales, his eye for telling detail and interesting local color remains sharp. Arkady's ally, Ofelia Osorio, is a fascinating protagonist--I would be happy to read a book about her alone. She possesses the passion for finding the truth that seems to be somewhat dimmed in Renko this time around.
Rating:
Summary: Renko takes a couple of weeks off in Havana- so should you!
Review: In Havana Bay, Martin Cruz Smith delivers a fourth detective mystery based on the exploits of Arkady Renko, the Moscow chief investigator that cannot leave any question unanswered. This time an enigmatic call for help brings Renko to Havana where his former KGB nemesis Sergei Pribluda (recall Gorky Park) is missing. Again Renko assumes his role of protagonist as the investigator no one seems to understand or wants to have on the case. Devotees of Renko will find all the literary devices they've become accustomed to in the previous three novels- the resistant love interest, antagonists that become unlikely allies and conspiring that reaches to the highest level of intrigue. There is no doubt that Smith is playing a formula here, but that may be the secret of a great detective series. Doubtless Arkady Renko could join with Sam Spade, Hercule Poirot among others in starting a new generation of unlikely gumshoes. As with Polar Star and Red Square, Gorky Park is the logical and helpful prerequisite to gaining the most out of reading Havana Bay. In this third sequel to Gorky Park, Renko seems to arrive at a greater sense of himself, a little less dark, a little more hopeful. As someone that enjoys the moodiness, manner and method of Renko, Havana Bay met all my expectations and became a pleasant aside from the usual Russian environment the earlier novels were set in.
Rating: 
Summary: Viva Renko!!
Review: Though "Havan Bay" takes place far from the cold and inhospitable climes braved by intrepid investigator Arkady Renko in Martin Cruz Smith's other Renko novels ("Gorky Park", "Polar Star" and "Red Square"), the famed and unloved Moscow detective finds himslef feeling right at home - which is to say that nobody wants him around. Ostensibly in Cuba to identify the body of Renko's one-time enemy and savior, KGB Col. Pribluda, Renko meets expatriate Russians, exiled American hippies and a host of Cubans who endure their island nation's gradual disintegration. The body Pribluda, who saved Renko's life after "Gorky Park", is barely recognizable, but nobody expects the visiting Moscow detective to challenge official Cuban story that the washed up, disintegrated body is Pribluda's, or that the old KGB officer's death was anything more than an accident. Renko, all but clinically depressed folowing the sudden death of his wife, is in no mood to make friends or follow official decisions on anything. Unlike previosu novels, Renko has no official responsibility to find the truth, or any ulterior motive to do so. Unlike the situation in "Polar Star", set aboard a floating fish factory in the Glasnost days before the collapse of the USSR, there is no hidden room where KGB officers control the situation. Nevertheless, Renko presses on. The clues don't fit together as neatly as they do in "Polar Star", and the portrait of a decayed Havana doesn't offer the reader as much as say the newly reunified Germany of "Red Square" (for that matter, it doesn't offer much to the Cubans either), but the plot never dips and Smith's prose never cease to surprise.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: An enjoyable, well written and well plotted thriller. The book entertains as well as paints a marvelous picture of modern-day cuba. This is not "literature" but is enjoyable, well written fiction.
Rating:
Summary: I'm so confused!
Review: I had to shuffle back and forth when I reached the ending to get what happened finally! This is the fourth novel in the series and it is the least best. The start was very good and it went on until the end when I was expecting a more dramatic ending. If you are a fan of Arkady Renko or Martin Cruz Smith then you must read this one. The decadence of the environment is sexy (yes! I find it very sexy!) and all four books have that X factor! But the end was just not what I wanted it to be or expceted it to turn out. A letdown for me in other words. I would say that "Gorky Park", is the best then followed by "Red Square" then "Polar Star" and then this. But I wish that the series will not end with this one. I want more sexy decadence and depression please!
Rating:
Summary: Luminous setting - murky plot
Review: Havana Bay, like many of Martin Cruz Smith's books, works becasue he recreates the milieu of his story so well - and because it is so interesting a setting. The plot itself is so dense that it recedes behind the scenery. Arkady Renko, Russian and self-conscious to the core, stands out like a sore thumb in Havana. His clothes, his attitude, his singular search for the truth about what happened to his late 'friend', all set him apart from those around him and propel him to the less than exciting conclusion that Cruz serves up for the reader. Far from the best of the Renko series, Havana Bay is still an interesting story and deserves to be read. Cruz can conjure up locale and scene better than any writter I know. If for no other reason than a vicarious trip to contemporary Havana, I would recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Above average mystery thriller
Review: This is the latest installment in a series starring the Moscow investigator Arkady Renko. For those familiar with this series, this book is most similar to the second installment, Polar Star. Like all of Cruz Smith's books, this is a well written and capably plotted mystery. As with all the books in the series, the plot involves murder, political intrigue, and official corruption. Neither Havana Bay nor its two predecessors approach the quality of the original book in the series, Gorky Park. That book was a particularly stylish and imaginative variation of the classic American detective novel developed by Raymond Chandler in which the protagonist is the only decent individual, or at least the only individual interested in the truth, in a corrupt milieu. In Gorky Park, Renko's preoccupation with finding the truth makes him into a virtually heroic figure in Soviet Moscow. In the subsequent books, Renko appears more passive. This is particularly true in Havana Bay, where the suicidal Renko's grip on life has become tenuous and his interest in the truth seems more a matter of habit than passion. Cruz Smith does not apparently have the ability to make Renko's despair realistic enough to make the characterization compelling. The most interesting character is Renko's Cuban counterpart and love interest, a female detective caught in the contradictions of her idealism and the reality of post-Cold War Cuba. Still, this is a decent read and better than most books in this genre.
Rating:
Summary: A Solid Thriller
Review: This was a pretty reasonable book. The plot was good, although the ending was a bit anit-climatic. Like many modern novels, I found this one to have a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde character. The beginning was very interesting and kept you reading, but once characters had become established and you felt "comfortable" with the atmosphere, the story just kind of puddled out. There were two aspects of this book that I found very interesting. First, the main character is highly depressed (although the author kind of forgets this about half way through the story)and we get to the see the world through the eyes of a protagonist who seems "dead". Second, I really enjoyed seeing the interactions between the old Cold War allies. The Eastern bloc et al. has always fascinated me and it was fun to a glimpse of thier now less-than-friendly relations.
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