Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 A good high seas murder mystery in Soviet times.... November 30, 2008
Chief Investigator Arkady Renko has been banished from duties and expelled from the Party. He eventually finds himself as a seahand on a Soviet fishing ship (Polar Star) which trawls the waters between Alaska and Siberia working in co-operation with American ships. When a murder occurs on board the Star, Renko gets a token appointment to investigate the crime. No-one is seriously interested in finding out what really happened and, in fact, a suicide note is produced in short order to have the investigations stopped. Despite no support, Renko won't give up.
This is a heavy read, but also a great murder mystery. Nearly all the action takes place on the high seas, in atrocious weather, and Cruz Smith does well in painting the very grim picture of the conditions and the confined environments on board the ships. The book was written in the late 80's and therefore has a host of Soviet characters and features which are described very well. The cast is widened with a number of American personalities so the pool of possible murderers becomes quite deep, adding considerably to the level of intrigue.
It is all very intense considering the relationships and conditions. But one can't help but feel the material has been meticulously researched and the setting up of a murder in such a context has been handled deftly.
A sound thriller, set in the most interesting of environments, which will keep you guessing until the end.
 Best book I have read this year September 9, 2008
Surpasses Gorky Park. I prefer the neatness of keeping the plot based nearly entirely on the ship. The background details of life on the factory ship itself are fantastic, and the larger backdrop of life under the soviet regieme during Glastnost. Renko is a fascinating and engrossing character. A real page-turner of a book, but with pieces of truly beautiful writing. Cruz-Smith is the best author in this genre.
Grimly descriptive March 16, 2008
I read Gorky simply because I ran out of reading material and this was all that was on the shelf at the time but I am so glad I did. It led me to want to read more of this man's brilliance so I bought Polar Star. I cannot deny the storyline was difficult to keep up with at times but that is because it is written to successfully keep us on our toes - it almost forces us to check our memory as we go along otherwise we could be mistaken in thinking bits don't quite make sense. A tactic used often by writers and, thankfully, in this case it worked well. The descriptions he uses to put images of the ship, the environment, his feelings, for example when on land for the first time in 10 months, all make for an excellent read. I hate to use a cliche but you really could almost smell the rotting fish! One of the finest moments was grim but slightly funny at the same time. A slime eel escaped from a dead woman's belly and then continued to slime its way around the room before being chopped up. More poignantly the way the Russian people are taught to recite, and believe, the party slogans in everything they do reminded me just how tough their lives must have been under communist rule. The 'hero' of the book, Arkady, once a well respected investigator describes his downfall, his torture and how he finally ended up in the bowels of a Russian factory ship gutting fish on the 'slime line'. The relationship between the Russian and American sea workers appeared as strained as much at that one-to-one level as it was from country to country. A very thought provoking murder novel superbly written and hugely recommended.
Better than Gorky Park March 2, 2008
I prefer this to Gorky Park because it evokes a much stronger image of the life of Soviet workers in the 80s.
It's a murder-mystery, with a bit of politics and espionage thrown into the mix. It is a well-paced thriller, that I honestly couldn't put down without difficulty.
I look forward to reading the other Renko books.
Poetic July 10, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I love this book and have read it so many times, not because of the plot which I do not find that interesting but
because everything else about the book is so well described: The crew, the descriptions of the ship and fishing. Akardy Renko is wonderful as always as a character and his romance with Susan, the American, is poetic.
|
