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A review by book_concierge
Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith
2.0
2.5**
As the snow begins to melt, three frozen bodies are found in Moscow’s Gorky Park. They’ve all been shot, and their bodies mutilated to hamper identification. Investigator Arkady Renko is brilliant, honest, and cynical, but he’s a professional and acknowledged, even by his enemies, as a stellar investigator. But to solve this case, he’ll have to battle the KGB, the FBI and the New York City police.
This is the first in a series, and Smith gives us an interesting cast of characters, including a dwarf who does reconstructive sculpture from bones to help identify crime victims, a mysterious young woman working with a film crew, a rogue NYC cop, and a rich, ruthless and well-connected American mogul. Renko, for all his skill and tenacity, is flawed, and suffering through the end of his own marriage.
The plot starts out with a bang, but Smith throws in so many side shows and plot twists, including considerable political intrigue, that I began to lose interest. And I found the ending somewhat anticlimactic. I doubt I’ll read more of the series.
As the snow begins to melt, three frozen bodies are found in Moscow’s Gorky Park. They’ve all been shot, and their bodies mutilated to hamper identification. Investigator Arkady Renko is brilliant, honest, and cynical, but he’s a professional and acknowledged, even by his enemies, as a stellar investigator. But to solve this case, he’ll have to battle the KGB, the FBI and the New York City police.
This is the first in a series, and Smith gives us an interesting cast of characters, including a dwarf who does reconstructive sculpture from bones to help identify crime victims, a mysterious young woman working with a film crew, a rogue NYC cop, and a rich, ruthless and well-connected American mogul. Renko, for all his skill and tenacity, is flawed, and suffering through the end of his own marriage.
The plot starts out with a bang, but Smith throws in so many side shows and plot twists, including considerable political intrigue, that I began to lose interest. And I found the ending somewhat anticlimactic. I doubt I’ll read more of the series.