Independence Square: Arkady Renko in Ukraine
Martin Cruz Smith
(Author)
21,000+ Reviews
Bookshop.org has the highest-rated customer service of any bookstore in the world
Description
Detective Arkaday Renko--"one of the most compelling figures in modern fiction" (USA TODAY)--risks his life when he heads to Ukraine shortly before the Russian invasion to find an anti-Putin activist who has mysteriously disappeared. Martin Cruz Smith has written nine previous novels featuring Arkady Renko, one of modern detective fiction's most popular characters. These novels, beginning with 1981's international sensation Gorky Park, have collectively traced Russia's evolution over the last half-century. Now, with Independence Square, Smith focuses on the fraught and frenzied days leading up to Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine. It's June 2021, and Arkady knows that Russia is preparing to invade and subsequently annex Ukraine as it did Crimea in 2014. He is, however, preoccupied with other grievances. His longtime lover, Tatiana Petrovna, has deserted him for her work as an investigative reporter. His corrupt boss has relegated him to a desk job. And he is having trouble with his dexterity and balance. A visit to his doctor reveals that these are symptoms for Parkinson's Disease. This is an ingenious autobiographical conceit, as Martin Cruz Smith has Parkinson's, and is able through Arkady to movingly describe his own experience with the disease. Parkinson's hasn't stopped Smith from his work, and neither does it stop Arkady. Rather than dwell on his diagnosis, he throws himself into another case. An acquaintance has asked him to find his daughter, Karina, an anti-Putin activist who has disappeared. In the course of the investigation, Arkady falls for Karina's roommate, Elena, a Tatar from Ukraine. The search leads them to Kyiv, where rumblings of an armed conflict grow louder. Later, in Crimea, Tatiana reemerges to complicate Arkady's new romance. And as he gets closer to locating Karina, Arkady discovers something that threatens his life as well as the lives of both Elena and Tatiana. Few fiction writers have better captured contemporary Russia with more insight or authenticity than Martin Cruz Smith. He does the same here for Ukraine and the events that preceded Russia's invasion. Independence Square is a timely and a uniquely personal mystery novel-meets-political thriller by a master of the form.
Product Details
Price
$26.99
$25.10
Publisher
Simon & Schuster
Publish Date
May 09, 2023
Pages
272
Dimensions
6.36 X 9.28 X 0.96 inches | 0.94 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9781982188306
BISAC Categories:
Earn by promoting books
Earn money by sharing your favorite books through our Affiliate program.
About the Author
Born in 1942 to a jazz musican father and a New Mexico Puebloan nightclub singer mother, Martin Cruz Smith is world renowned as "a master of the International thriller" (New York Times). His novels include Gorky Park, Stallion Gate, Nightwing, Polar Star, and many more. He is a two-time winner of the Hammett Prize and a recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master Award, the Crime Writers' Association of the United Kingdom's Golden Dagger Award, and the Premio Piemonte Giallo Internazionale. He lives in California.
Reviews
"Poignant....a moving portrayal of struggle against political and personal tides."--New York Times Book Review "[Detective Arkady] Renko, who made his debut in 1981's Gorky Park, remains the archetype of an honest cop working for a corrupt regime." --Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Solid sleuthing by Arkady Renko and a good read for his fans." --Kirkus Reviews