Stalin's Ghost

That's how an adversary describes Arkady Renko in Stalin's Ghost and it's one of my favorite descriptions of him in this book. Martin Cruz Smith has written a kaleidescope of a mystery. But the colors are dim and muted, all the better to see the patterns -- and they are fascinating slivers. A woman calls a police line to have her husband killed. Arkady is assigned to investigate the appearance of Stalin's ghost in a Moscow metro station while the previously assigned detectives are now investigating a domestic dispute, a falling-down drunk wife who buried a meat cleaver in her husband's neck. Arkady's lover is going to leave him for one of the other detectives, a war hero and former member of OMAN, the Black Berets, she knew in Chechnya. Arkady's sort-of foster son, Zhenya, has disappeared only to show up at the last minute as a contestant in a speed-chess contest at a casino. The writing in that particular scene is excellent. A really good read.

Fans of Martin Cruz Smith's irascible inspector Arkady Renko will appreciate another grim tale of crime and corruption Russian-style, spun with that oppressively dark cloak of Russian culture that Smith has uniquely mastered. Never one to take authority to seriously, Renko's previous transgressions between the pages of Smith's novels have had him exiled on a Soviet factory ship or slogging through the radioactive wastelands of Chernobyl. This time around, with the iron curtain raised and the ghosts of the Cold War replaced with the haunting legacy of Chechnya, our hero Arkady finds himself assigned to the unenviable task of tracking down the apparent ghost of Joseph Stalin, subway-style. This soon spirals - not so predictably - out of control in a suspenseful and engaging thriller wrapped in the skeletons of wartime atrocities new and old, as well as a fascinating portrait of a post-Soviet Russia struggling with a new democracy. As always, Smith's fiction takes the reader down a much more stylish, intricate and complicated path than the average crime thriller. Characters and settings are richly drawn, right down to Renko's odyssey from Moscow to Tver, a city of the swampy plains northwest of Moscow, the "Russia with no Mercedes, no Bolshoi, and no sushi", where thousands of dead Russian and German soldiers lay buried in mass graves, attracting scores of "diggers" to unearth them for proper burial, or for profit. And as always, Smith's Renko is much more than the cardboard pretty boys of the typical best sellers, all too human in his weaknesses, and in this episode, taking more hits than a Christmas piñata. In fact, the abuses, both physical and mental, suffered by Renko in "Stalin's Ghost" stretch even the bloodied standards of our perpetually downtrodden inspector. In short, pop fiction about as good as it gets: intelligent and hauntingly addictive as layer upon layer of credibility build, the prize of research that is not simply thorough, but subtly placed as well. Don't wait - treat yourself to the year's most clever page turner so far - and get the hard cover now.

Stalin's Ghost is a real page turner. I could hardly put it down when my eyes grew heavy at 2 a.m. No one writes about Russia like Martin Cruz Smith, and in Stalin's Ghost you will see past, present, and future of that volatile country combined in a marvelously powerful way. Arkady Renko is back in Moscow, but his life is at a low ebb. Renko's relationship with Eva (whom he met in Wolves Eat Dogs) is being destroyed as she's drawn into living with Detective Nikolai Isakov. Zhenya, Renko's surrogate son, has stopped coming home, and Renko can't find him. Prosecutor Zurin wants nothing to do with Renko: He has a terrible habit of investigating too much! Matters take an unexpected turn, however, when Victor accidentally picks up a phone call at the police station from a woman who wants to hire a hit on her husband. Could it be that the police are committing crimes and then covering their tracks through a cursory investigation? Soon, Arkady and Victor are meeting with the prospective client and getting the job. Out of nowhere, Zurin decides that Renko should take over the politically sensitive investigation of reported sightings of Josef Stalin in a subway station where he used to come during World War II air raids. On the way to the station, Renko stumbles on a building crew that finds a mass grave under Supreme Court. Where are all the bodies buried? Renko is surprised to find that his sexual rival, Isakov, is also involved in investigating the Stalin sighting . . . but seems to be doing a poor job of it. Following up with Isakov, Renko also finds that other investigations are going peculiarly. What's the agenda here? Gradually, we learn that Isakov is in a parliamentary race based on his reputation as a Russian hero during the second war in Chechnya. Naturally, Renko can't let it go at that and pursues the truth . . . no matter where it leads. In the process, he learns some important truths about Eva, Zhenya, Isakov, and Stalin. All roads lead backward in time to reveal those truths. Renko will be in mortal danger from remorseless killers throughout the story. You'll be haunted by his experience, I'm sure. The book is filled with wonderfully evocative metaphors for Renko's investigative work, usually presented in terms of digging up the past in some physical form or by digging through one's mind to employ old knowledge to solve current problems. The book literally drips in bloody looks into the dark infamy of Stalin and those who served him, including Renko's father. You'll get the idea that Stalin wasn't an exception in the Russian character, but rather an extreme expression of the desire to hold power and gain advantage at any cost. I found it hard to imagine how this book could have been plotted or developed any better. It's a remarkable thriller built around the imagery of a tiny light of goodness against the pervasive darkness of evil.

He hates him much that would upon the rack of this tough world stretch him out longer." King Lear, Act IV, Scene 3. I have read and very much enjoyed Martin Cruz Smith's previous Arkady Renko novels. Renko's erratic career path as a police inspector has seen him survive, barely, the apparatchiks of the Soviet regime in "Gorky Park". He survived the USSR's imminent demise in "Polar Star" and the emergence of bloody cowboy capitalism, Russian-style in "Red Square". In "Wolves Eat Dogs" Renko operated in a Russia dominated by an elite group of billionaire oligarchs who fed like vultures, even upon the radioactive ruins in the Ukraine and Belarus created by the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. Now, in Smith's new novel "Stalin's Ghost", Renko lives in a Russia in which the dislocations caused by the last twenty-five years have left many Russians feeling nostalgic for the security and certainty they felt under Stalin. Stalin's ghost may or may not be vexed by being placed upon the rack of this tough, brave new world that is Russia but his presence is most certainly still felt. An article in "Foreign Affairs" magazine in January 2006 contained a poll by a Russian polling organization indicating that as late as 20003, 20% of Russians would vote for Stalin if he were to return to life and run for President. The sentiment forms the thematic undercurrent for Renko's latest investigations. Renko is ordered to investigate the alleged appearance of the ghost of Stalin at a Moscow underground (subway) station. This appearance, real, imagined, or fraudulent seems connected to the Senate campaign of one Nikolai Isakov. Isakov is a former member of the Russian army's elite "Black Berets" and a `hero' of the last Russian campaign against Chechnya. Isakov is the candidate of an ultra-nationalist ticket who urges a return to the greatness enjoyed by the USSR in its glory days and is quick to invoke the name of Stalin in support of that campaign. Renko's investigation is complicated for a number of reasons. Isakov happens to be a police investigator who has also managed to win the affections of Renko's love interest, Eva, who during the course of the novel leaves Renko for Isakov. During his investigation into the ghost, Renko also comes across a series of murders which may or may not be connected to Isakov's alleged heroic acts in Chechnya. These three plot lines: the investigation into Stalin's ghost; the personal dynamic amongst Renko, Isakov, and Eva; and the murders of Isakov's Black Beret colleagues gradually converge until they meet in a nicely dramatic conclusion. "Stalin's Ghost" is a welcome addition to the Arkady Renko series. Smith's plotting and writing is first-rate. I think Smith has shown over the years that he has developed not only a real feeling and affection for his creation, Renko, but also for Renko's homeland, Russia. It would be very easy for a western writer to dip into stereotypes about the old USSR and the new Russi