Synopses & Reviews
Martin Cruz Smith's and#8220;masterfuland#8221; (andlt;Iandgt;USA TODAYandlt;/Iandgt;) and and#8220;irresistibleand#8221; (andlt;Iandgt;Peopleandlt;/Iandgt;) andlt;Iandgt;New York Timesandlt;/Iandgt; bestseller and andlt;Iandgt;Washington Postandlt;/Iandgt; notable book of the year: Arkady Renko must connect the dots among a Russian journalistand#8217;s mysterious death, corrupt politicians, murderous gangsters, and brazen bureaucrats.andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Arkady Renko, one of the iconic investigators of contemporary fiction, has survived the cultural journey from the Soviet Union to the New Russia, only to find the nation as obsessed with secrecy and brutality as was the old Communist dictatorship. In andlt;Iandgt;Tatianaandlt;/Iandgt;, the melancholy hero unravels a mystery as complex and dangerous as modern Russia itself.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;The reporter Tatiana Petrovna falls to her death from a sixth-floor window in Moscow the same week that a mob billionaire is shot and buried with the trappings due a lord. The trail leads to Kaliningrad, a Cold War and#8220;secret cityand#8221; that is separated by hundreds of miles from the rest of Russia. The more Arkady delves into Tatianaand#8217;s past, the more she leads him into a surreal world of wandering sand dunes, abandoned children, and a notebook written in the personal code of a dead translator. Finally, in a lethal race to uncover what the translator knew, Renko makes a startling discovery that draws him still deeper into Tatianaand#8217;s pastand#8212;and, paradoxically, into Russiaand#8217;s future, where bulletproof cars, poets, corruption of the Baltic Fleet, and a butcher for hire combine to give Kaliningrad the and#8220;distinctionand#8221; of having the highest crime rate in Russia.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;More than a mystery, andlt;Iandgt;Tatianaandlt;/Iandgt; is Martin Cruz Smithand#8217;s most ambitious and politically daring novel since andlt;Iandgt;Gorky Parkandlt;/Iandgt;. It is a story rich in character, black humor, and romance, with an insight that is the hallmark of a writer andlt;Iandgt;Theandlt;/Iandgt; andlt;Iandgt;New York Timesandlt;/Iandgt; has called and#8220;endlessly entertaining and deeply seriousand#8230;[not merely] our best writer of suspense, but of one of our best writers, period.and#8221;
Review
andlt;bandgt;A andlt;Iandgt;New York Timesandlt;/Iandgt; Bestsellerandlt;/bandgt;andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt; and#8220;Smith is that uncommon phenomenon: a popular and well-regarded crime novelist who is also a writer of real distinction. . . . Based, in part, on Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist and human rights activist . . . [andlt;iandgt;Tatianaandlt;/iandgt;] is one of Smithand#8217;s strongest . . . lending the narrative much of its moral and emotional substance. . . . Over the years, [Renko] has developed into one of the most appealing characters in crime fiction. . . . Perhaps most important, andlt;iandgt;Tatianaandlt;/iandgt; showcases Smithand#8217;s ability to convey the frustrating, frequently absurd nature of daily life in a fractured, tragic and traumatized country. Taken as a whole, the Arkady Renko series offers something unique in modern literature: an evolving vision of a complex society struggling, often futilely, to rise above the ruins of its own calamitous history.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;It would be a treat to watch the evening news with Martin Cruz Smithand#8217;s fabulistand#8217;s eye and see current events colorized through Renkoand#8217;s dramatic filter. In andlt;i andgt;Tatianaandlt;/iandgt;, Smith continues the tradition he began at the end of the Brezhnev era with andlt;iandgt;Gorky Parkandlt;/iandgt;, using Russia as his game board to make geopolitical conspiracy, well . . . fun. andlt;i andgt;Tatianaandlt;/iandgt; ought to come with a decoder ring so readers who share the authorand#8217;s fondness for brainteasers can try to crack the translatorand#8217;s code on their own. Then again, struggling slowly from benighted dread into the glimmering dawn of fictional resolution is the reward of reading an Arkady Renko thriller. Figuring everything out too quickly would only spoil the game.and#8221;
Review
"Masterful . . . Renko is one of the most compelling characters in modern fiction, sarcastic, quietly heroic, humble, depressive yet with a romantic's eye of a future that could be. . . . Smith's writing conveys irony, social commentary and wry humor."
Review
and#8220;With gallows humor and a soulful mortality, Smith has conjured another irresistible adventure for one of crime fictionand#8217;s great detectives.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Exquisite . . . Darkly romantic . . . andlt;i andgt;Tatianaandlt;/iandgt; is as tight, vivid, and haunting as any of the other installments in Smithand#8217;s consistently first-rate series.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;With the recent death of the reigning master of the suspense novel, Elmore Leonard, to whom do we turn in the hopes of a masterly glide through dire straits in the dark side of life, with pitch-perfect dialogue, intriguing characters and a plot with punchy turns and a satisfying twist? My candidate would be California writer Martin Cruz Smith, creator of some two dozen works of popular fiction, whose series of novels starring the Russian police investigator Arkady Renko have been coming to us every now and then since andlt;Iandgt;Gorky Parkandlt;/Iandgt; first appeared in 1981. The latest is andlt;Iandgt;Tatianaandlt;/Iandgt;, the eighth Renko novel and certainly one of the best.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Absorbing . . . A gripping story with an ingenious twist and an interestingly complicated hero . . . Smithand#8217;s Renko series stands out from the pack in several ways. For starters, Smith has a gift for creating sympathetic and believable characters that are miles ahead of the cardboard figures found in run-of-the-mill crime fiction. More profoundly, the books act as a kind of vivid timeline. We see, through both history and fiction, thirty yearsand#8217; worth of wrenching changes.and#8221;
Synopsis
Martin Cruz Smith's "masterful" (USA TODAY) and "irresistible" (People) New York Times bestseller and Washington Post notable book of the year: Arkady Renko must connect the dots among a Russian journalist's mysterious death, corrupt politicians, murderous gangsters, and brazen bureaucrats.
Arkady Renko, one of the iconic investigators of contemporary fiction, has survived the cultural journey from the Soviet Union to the New Russia, only to find the nation as obsessed with secrecy and brutality as was the old Communist dictatorship. In Tatiana, the melancholy hero unravels a mystery as complex and dangerous as modern Russia itself.
The reporter Tatiana Petrovna falls to her death from a sixth-floor window in Moscow the same week that a mob billionaire is shot and buried with the trappings due a lord. The trail leads to Kaliningrad, a Cold War "secret city" that is separated by hundreds of miles from the rest of Russia. The more Arkady delves into Tatiana's past, the more she leads him into a surreal world of wandering sand dunes, abandoned children, and a notebook written in the personal code of a dead translator. Finally, in a lethal race to uncover what the translator knew, Renko makes a startling discovery that draws him still deeper into Tatiana's past--and, paradoxically, into Russia's future, where bulletproof cars, poets, corruption of the Baltic Fleet, and a butcher for hire combine to give Kaliningrad the "distinction" of having the highest crime rate in Russia.
More than a mystery, Tatiana is Martin Cruz Smith's most ambitious and politically daring novel since Gorky Park. It is a story rich in character, black humor, and romance, with an insight that is the hallmark of a writer The New York Times has called "endlessly entertaining and deeply serious... not merely] our best writer of suspense, but of one of our best writers, period."
About the Author
Martin Cruz Smithandrsquo;s novels include andlt;Iandgt;Tatianaandlt;/Iandgt;, andlt;Iandgt;Stalinandrsquo;s Ghost, Gorky Park, Rose, December 6, Polar Starandlt;/Iandgt;, and andlt;Iandgt;Stallion Gate.andlt;/Iandgt; A two-time winner of the Hammett Prize from the International Association of Crime Writers and a recipient of Britainandrsquo;s Golden Dagger Award, he lives in California.