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 Chilling cold war thriller August 30, 2006
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I first read this superb book at the tender age of 19 shortly after visiting the (then) USSR and strolling round Gorky park in the snow. I'd seen the film of course and half expected the film to follow it closely but I was wrong. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the film but the book was something else. More twists, more plot, more gruesome and, perhaps most importantly, more Russian.
Times change and the USSR came to an end. Cold War thrillers disappeared from the book shelves and were replaced by an endless cavalcade of serial killer stories and so on. But Gorky Park still gnawed away at me and I read it again. What a great decision!
The book is still as fresh as it was when it first took the literary world by storm with the discovery of the three bodies in the snow still shocking, Comrade Major Pribluda still more than a bit like Dracula, the elusive Irina Asanova still as alluring and the sardonic and world-weary Arkady Renko still the best post-war literary detective.
Whether reading this novel for the first time or reading it again after a long break this book is still a belting yarn. It has thrilling set pieces, careful plot development and has an indefinable Russian melancholy about it. Perhaps that is Martin Cruz Smith's finest achievement, this book feels more authentically Soviet with real Russian people living through real Soviet times, rather than the 2D stereotypes we got used to in so many other novels of the same period.
 Out of Conflict Comes Synthesis August 14, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Martin Cruz Smith is a former journalist and magazine editor. "Gorky Park" is his first novel to feature Arkady Renko, was first published in 1981 and is largely set in the Moscow before the collapse of the USSR. Renko, the hero, works as the Chief Homicide Investigator for Moscow's militia - unlike the KGB, who deal with matters if 'State interest', the militia are more or less the standard police force. Renko, therefore, deals with the 'everyday' murders. Displaying one unfortunate trait for a homicide investigator, however, he has a distinct aversion to corpses - though he has a 100% success rate in clearing cases. Unhappily married and somewhat cynical, he's not quite as active a Party member as his wife would like him to be - something that has also had a negative effect on his career. He also appears to be something of a disappointment to his father, a very famous retired General. Renko's boss, Prosecutor Iamskoy, seems to have a certain amount of affection for him though - the Prosecutor actually won an appeal for a worker wrongly convicted of murder thanks to Renko's work.
The book opens in Gorky Park, first park of the Revolution and favoured above all others. Three corpses have been found buried in the snow and, as a result, have been very well preserved. This means that, initially, the time of death can only be estimated as sometime that winter. All three victims - three men and a woman - were all shot through the heart, with the two men also having been shot through the head. The killer, clearly an expert marksman, also has access to a weapon Muscovites cannot typically lay their hands on. No papers could be found on the bodies, which have also been mutilated - the fingerprints and flesh on the faces has been removed, making a quick identification unlikely. One early lead, however, comes from the ice-skates the victims were wearing...
One of the other detectives assigned to the case, Pasha Pavlovich, had worked with Renko previously. Then, three corpses were found at the Kliazma River in remarkably similar circumstances to the Gorky Park killings. The pair immediately suspect the same individual is responsible in this case. However, as the chief suspect at the Kliazma River was a KGB Major called Pribluda, the pair promptly lost that case to the KGB. As Pribluda - who'd actually taken over the Kliazma River case - makes an early appearance at the scene in Gorky Park and interferes with the corpses, Arkady and Pasha expect the KGB to again quickly snatch this case from them. (Pribluda will, of course, be kept right up-to-date : a third detective assigned to the case, Fet, is a known KGB informant). In fact, as the cases progresses, even Renko thinks it looks more and more like a KGB case...though he suspects they would have little desire to 'solve' it.
Overall, a very good book and well worth reading - for me, it would comfortably rest in the top tier of the murder-mystery genre. Renko is a very likeable character and, probably because of his 'flaws', is very easy to relate with. Recommended.
FANTASTIC!!!! July 6, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Unfortuantly I had watched the film before seeing this, so sat down expecting to know exactly what was going to come next, and thought it was hard not to picture William Hurt as Renko, I came to the conclusion that the movie did the book any justice (and I love the movie!!!).
Really gripping stuff and will take no time to finish, and after that you will be ready to go onto the next book (Polar Star) which is every bit as good.
Best point about this book, unlike other books on Soviet theme's, this one has hardly seemed to have dated in any way!!!
A worthy “Thriller of the 80s” May 10, 2004
9 out of 13 found this review helpful
I came across this book recently when reading a review for Fatherland by Robert Harris, which said something along the lines of “Well, if you enjoyed this you’ll love Gorky Park”. Time magazine also gave the book the honour of “Thriller of the 80s” so I felt I definitely had to read it to gauge an opinion of my own.Gorky Park tells the story of a triple murder in Moscow, and Chief Investigator Arkady Renko’s pursuit of their murderer. Written in the 80s, Moscow is the capital of the Communist world with all the apparatus and bureaucracy associated to that time. Combining the investigation with a snow-covered Moscow, lots of vodka consumption and May Day celebrations, Smith paints a picture which is very easy to imagine yourself living in even if you’ve never been to Russia. His characters are complex and detailed, and Renko’s analysis of his adversaries is superbly written. In writing this review I was tempted to give it a lower score because I personally think Fatherland is both a better story though its characters are not as strong as here.. However, given how far previous to Fatherland it was that Gorky Park was written I can only marvel at how this book really did offer something completely different and reward it top marks. Highly recommended!
Possibly one the finest novels ever May 4, 2004
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Saying this is possibly one of the finest novels ever is quite simply a statement of fact. The Detective genre had grown tired and stale before Gorky Park. Gorky Park, and its erstwhile hero, Arkady Renko, broke the mould. It is, quite simply, stunning and is the novel that has influenced many other authors, such as Robert Harris (in Fatherland) and Ian Rankin i his excellent Rebus novels.Read it and be amazed.
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