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danubooks 's review for:
Independence Square
by Martin Cruz Smith
Arkady Renko is back and in the middle of international intrigue…..again.
First introduced in the classic espionage thriller Gorky Park, Arkady Renko is a police investigator in Moscow. He is smart and honest, which isn’t necessarily the norm in his line of work, and is quite cynical about everything in Russian life….except for his job. He drives his politically savvy boss Zurin crazy, and as a result has been relegated to riding a desk of late. Arkady has also developed some odd physical symptoms…tiny handwriting, balance issues, even hallucinations….which are troubling. His doctor tells him that he has Parkinson’s disease, which can be managed to some degree but will ultimately take a huge toll on his physical wellness. His lover, fearless journalist Tatiana Petrovna, has left him and accepted a new job with the New York Times. Arkady’s just trying to get through the days with his partner Victor when he is approached by an acquaintance, the well-known gangster Bronson, to track down Bronson’s daughter Karina, who has inexplicably dropped out of sight. He and VIctor visit Karina’s apartment and find out that, in addition to being a talented violinist, Karina is also involved with an Anti-Putin group known as the Forum, led by Leonid Lebedev. Demonstrations organized by the Forum are regularly monitored by the FSB, and dispersed by members of a motorcycle gang, the Werewolves, known for being an arm of Putin’s government. Arkady attends one such demonstration with Karina’s roommate Elena, a beautiful Tatar from Crimea, and finds that his adopted son Zhena and his friend Alex, a talented hacker, are also there. Alex turns up dead after calling Arkady late one night asking to meet, and a tire tread from a motorcycle is found at the scene. It’s not too long before someone assasinates Lebedev, and although the powers that be quickly decide that he was killed by Chechen terrorists, Arkady knows that is just a politically expedient solution. Pursuing the missing Karina and the killer of Lebedev, the trail leads Arkady to travel to Ukraine with Elena, whose father (who happens to be the exiled leader of Crimean Tatars) lives there. It’s June of 2021….like everyone else in Russia, Arkady is fairly certain that Putin is gearing up to retake Ukraine, but is betting on the invasion to not start quite yet. More assassinations follow, and Karina turns up in a very unexpected spot. Leaving Ukraine for Crimea, Arkady soon finds that distortion, deception, and division are being employed in the Crimea under the corrupt Governor Novak, a longtime crony of Putin. Tatiana appears, but she and Arkady have no time to figure out what if anything is still left of their relationship. War is in the offing, the populace is being manipulated by those who value power over country, and Arkady and Elena may not make it out of Crimea alive.
Independence Park is a quick and engrossing read, with Martin Cruz Smith’s timely takes on what has been happening in this corner of the world, not just in the current day but earlier, both during World War 2 and later in 2014 when Putin annexed the Crimean Peninsula. As in areas like the former Yugoslavia and the Middle East, different groups hold opposing views as to which country should truly be in control of these regions, and many are willing to go to war to retain or retake the territories. I raced right through the novel. Arkady Renko is an intriguing character, and in the forty years since readers were first introduced to him, he and his world have undergone many changes….but remain, at the core, much of whom or what they have always been. Is this the best Renko novel yet? Probably not (Gorky Park is pretty hard to beat, let’s be honest), but in my opinion it is still well worth the read. For a reader who hasn’t yet read the Renko novels, Independence Park can very easily stand on its own, and will likely inspire readers to go back to the beginning and read them all. Art often imitates life, and in this case that proves true in an unusual way. Martin Cruz Smith himself has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and thus imparts Arkady’s experiences with the disease with great verisimilitude. I’m not sure how many more Arkady stories are left to be told, but I am certainly glad to have spent these hours enjoying this one. Readers of Martin Cruz Smith will certainly want to pick up a copy of this latest Arkady Renko outing, while readers of John Le Carre, Charles Cumming, and Alan Furst (among many others) will also enjoy this novel. Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for granting me access to an advanced reader’s copy of Independence Square
First introduced in the classic espionage thriller Gorky Park, Arkady Renko is a police investigator in Moscow. He is smart and honest, which isn’t necessarily the norm in his line of work, and is quite cynical about everything in Russian life….except for his job. He drives his politically savvy boss Zurin crazy, and as a result has been relegated to riding a desk of late. Arkady has also developed some odd physical symptoms…tiny handwriting, balance issues, even hallucinations….which are troubling. His doctor tells him that he has Parkinson’s disease, which can be managed to some degree but will ultimately take a huge toll on his physical wellness. His lover, fearless journalist Tatiana Petrovna, has left him and accepted a new job with the New York Times. Arkady’s just trying to get through the days with his partner Victor when he is approached by an acquaintance, the well-known gangster Bronson, to track down Bronson’s daughter Karina, who has inexplicably dropped out of sight. He and VIctor visit Karina’s apartment and find out that, in addition to being a talented violinist, Karina is also involved with an Anti-Putin group known as the Forum, led by Leonid Lebedev. Demonstrations organized by the Forum are regularly monitored by the FSB, and dispersed by members of a motorcycle gang, the Werewolves, known for being an arm of Putin’s government. Arkady attends one such demonstration with Karina’s roommate Elena, a beautiful Tatar from Crimea, and finds that his adopted son Zhena and his friend Alex, a talented hacker, are also there. Alex turns up dead after calling Arkady late one night asking to meet, and a tire tread from a motorcycle is found at the scene. It’s not too long before someone assasinates Lebedev, and although the powers that be quickly decide that he was killed by Chechen terrorists, Arkady knows that is just a politically expedient solution. Pursuing the missing Karina and the killer of Lebedev, the trail leads Arkady to travel to Ukraine with Elena, whose father (who happens to be the exiled leader of Crimean Tatars) lives there. It’s June of 2021….like everyone else in Russia, Arkady is fairly certain that Putin is gearing up to retake Ukraine, but is betting on the invasion to not start quite yet. More assassinations follow, and Karina turns up in a very unexpected spot. Leaving Ukraine for Crimea, Arkady soon finds that distortion, deception, and division are being employed in the Crimea under the corrupt Governor Novak, a longtime crony of Putin. Tatiana appears, but she and Arkady have no time to figure out what if anything is still left of their relationship. War is in the offing, the populace is being manipulated by those who value power over country, and Arkady and Elena may not make it out of Crimea alive.
Independence Park is a quick and engrossing read, with Martin Cruz Smith’s timely takes on what has been happening in this corner of the world, not just in the current day but earlier, both during World War 2 and later in 2014 when Putin annexed the Crimean Peninsula. As in areas like the former Yugoslavia and the Middle East, different groups hold opposing views as to which country should truly be in control of these regions, and many are willing to go to war to retain or retake the territories. I raced right through the novel. Arkady Renko is an intriguing character, and in the forty years since readers were first introduced to him, he and his world have undergone many changes….but remain, at the core, much of whom or what they have always been. Is this the best Renko novel yet? Probably not (Gorky Park is pretty hard to beat, let’s be honest), but in my opinion it is still well worth the read. For a reader who hasn’t yet read the Renko novels, Independence Park can very easily stand on its own, and will likely inspire readers to go back to the beginning and read them all. Art often imitates life, and in this case that proves true in an unusual way. Martin Cruz Smith himself has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and thus imparts Arkady’s experiences with the disease with great verisimilitude. I’m not sure how many more Arkady stories are left to be told, but I am certainly glad to have spent these hours enjoying this one. Readers of Martin Cruz Smith will certainly want to pick up a copy of this latest Arkady Renko outing, while readers of John Le Carre, Charles Cumming, and Alan Furst (among many others) will also enjoy this novel. Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for granting me access to an advanced reader’s copy of Independence Square