Rating: 
Summary: disappointed
Review: Read the review in FTL Sun Sentinel and this was a waste of money.....
Rating: 
Summary: The Best Arkady Renko novel yet...
Review: There are very few authors, in my judgement, who give a sense of time and place like Martin Cruz Smith does in his Arkady Renko mystery novels... this book is to be read slowly and savored, as Arkady shows up on the book shelves so rarely. Mr. Smith, thanks so much for my visit to Cuba during the "special period." When life becomes too complicated, there is always Arkady Renko to add a touch of sanity...
Rating:
Summary: Bravo! A page turner that finally gets Cuba right
Review: As a frequent traveller to Cuba I have been put off by any novel that uses Cuba as mere background. Martin Cruz Smith's characters, whether Cuban, Russian or American- are as richly rendered as Graham Greene's. Inspector Arkady is fragile yet effective. Present day Havana is felt on every page- the faded colors, the changing light, the evocative scent. Havana Bay is a novel full of surprises- it returned me to Cuba and well beyond. The author's brilliant portrayal of Fidel Castro in the climax is both riveting and revealing. -Al Gowan, author of SANTIAGO RAG, a novel of the Spanish-Cuban-American war of 1898, also available at Amazon.com
Rating:
Summary: Martin Cruz Smith can do better than this!
Review: I have enjoyed Martin Cruz Smith's books in the past, especially Gorky Park and Polar Star. This was a disappointment. The characters and plot were boring. I put the book down 3/4 of the way through it and wondered why I went that far.
Rating: 
Summary: Wish an Arkady Renko really did exist!
Review: I will read any book that Martin Cruz Smith stars Arkady Renko. I wish people in real life were that caring. This book is not as good as, of course, Gorky Park (I also loved Polar Star), but again I could not put it down as with the others (Red Square, also); It always made me wonder what was going to happen next; I just read and read and I hate when his books end, even though I'm dying to know the ending!I can't wait for the next Arkady Renko story, but please, Mr. Cruz Smith, promise us you will never turn our Arkady into silly putty the way Thomas Harris did to Clarice Starling in that awful book, Hannibal.
Rating: 
Summary: Rich on atmosphere, but the plot is a mess
Review: I liked the descriptions of Cuba -- evocative and interesting. It was a good idea to put Arkady in Cuba, a country that is connected to Russia in its shared history, but is its polar opposite in culture and climate. I was frustrated with the story because it meandered, confused and, after plodding through it, the ending was disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: A real disapointment
Review: I loved Polar Star, Red Square and Gorky Park, but this book was a real disapointment. The plot was ridiculous. In the middle of this "thriller" I was trully bored. This is a mere shadow of Smith's earlier works.
Rating:
Summary: Lacks fire and direction
Review: I ordered Havana Bay and The Triumph and the Glory last week. You win some and you lose some, I guess. Triumph was very good but I was disappointed in Havana Bay. I expected Renko to be at the center of a suspenseful plot, like in Gorkey Park, and Red Square, but the book just kind of fell flat. The book might as well have been called standing around in Havana with nothing to do.
Rating:
Summary: Deja Vu All Over Again
Review: While reading Havana Bay, I had the feeling that I'd read it all before. In fact I had; it's just that it was previously titled Gorky Park and Red Square. Cruz has simply written the same book for a third time. There are the same old elements, lurid details about a death, an evil American business man, a poor and decaying country that affords lots of gallows humor about starvation and totalitarian government. He even copied the trick used in Red Square of making the title refer to multiple objects in the the story. Smith is undoubtedly a skilled writer, but isn't it time he wrote a new book?
Rating:
Summary: Lousy sequel to Red Square and Gorky Park
Review: I enjoyed both Gorky Park and Red Square but was immensely disappointed by both Polar Star and Havana Bay, which follow these books respectively in the Renko series. Whereas GP and RS tended to be fast moving thrillers, I felt bored by the over descriptiveness found in Havana Bay and by the lack of action. The suicidal Renko character in this book is no help either. Putting a Russian character that doesn't speak Spanish in Cuba was a huge mistake that Cruz-Smith was unable to overcome. In short don't bother with this book.
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