Tatiana (Arkady Renko Series #8)

by Martin Cruz Smith

Overview

Arkady Renko, one of the iconic inves­tigators of contemporary fiction, has survived the cultural journey from the Soviet Union to the New Russia, only to find the nation as obsessed with secrecy and brutality as was the old Communist dictatorship. In Tatiana, the melancholy hero— cynical, analytical, and quietly subversive— unravels a mystery as complex and dangerous as modern Russia itself.

The fearless reporter Tatiana Petrovna falls to her death from a sixth-floor window in Moscow the same week that a mob billionaire, Grisha Grigo-renko, is shot and buried with the trappings due a lord. No one else makes the connection, but Arkady is transfixed by the tapes he discovers of Tatiana’s voice describing horrific crimes in words that are at odds with the Kremlin’s official versions.

The trail leads to Kaliningrad, a Cold War “secret city” that is separated by hundreds of miles from the rest of Russia. The more Arkady delves into Tatiana’s past, the more she leads him into a surreal world of wandering sand dunes, abandoned chil­dren, and a notebook written in the personal code of a dead translator. Finally, in a lethal race to uncover what the translator knew, Arkady makes a startling discovery that draws him still deeper into Tatiana’s past—and, paradoxically, into Russia’s future, where bulletproof cars, poets, corruption of the Baltic Fleet, and a butcher for hire combine to give Kaliningrad the “distinction” of having the highest crime rate in Russia.

More than a mystery, Tatiana is Martin Cruz Smith’s most ambitious and politically daring novel since Gorky Park. It is a story rich in character, black humor, and romance, with an insight that is the hallmark of a writer the New York Times has called “endlessly entertaining and deeply serious . . . [not merely] our best writer of suspense, but one of our best writers, period.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781439153185
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	11/12/2013
Series:	Arkady Renko Series , #8
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	149,415
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Martin Cruz Smith’s novels include Stalin’s Ghost, Gorky Park, Rose, December 6, Polar Star, and Stallion Gate. A two-time winner of the Hammett Prize from the International Association of Crime Writers and a recipient of Britain’s Golden Dagger Award, he lives in California.

Hometown:

San Rafael, California

Date of Birth:

November 3, 1942

Place of Birth:

Reading, Pennsylvania

Education:

B.A., University of Pennsylvania, 1964

Website:

http://www.martincruzsmith.com

Editorial Reviews

★ 09/01/2013
One of the most affecting memes emerging from Russia today is that of a crusading woman journalist whose quest illuminates the darkest reaches of post-Soviet iniquity. Arkady Renko, also a crusader for truth and justice, finds the official explanation of journalist Tatiana Petrovna's death (inspired by the real-life murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya) fishy and follows his nose to the murky enclave of Kaliningrad. There he grapples with a horrific plot among Chinese shipbuilders, the Russian mafia, and defense agency profiteers to make a rotten deal that will lead to a bonanza for the bad guys. Renko may be reaching the last of his fabled nine lives in this eighth chapter (after Three Stations) of the Russian police inspector's epic life. VERDICT Burnished to a fine sheen, this tale has it all: a high-velocity plot complete with diabolically clever codes, endearing chess-playing teenagers, patricide, and death-defying Renko, still indomitable despite a scarred and weary hide. Pair Renko with Stuart Kaminsky's Inspector Rostnikov, and throw in Brett Ghelfi's gun-for-hire Alexei Volkovoy to achieve an unbeatable season of well-written and crackling reading enjoyment. [See Prepub Alert, 5/20/13.]—Barbara Conaty, Falls Church, VA

Library Journal

★ 09/09/2013
In Smith’s riveting seventh Arkady Renko novel (after 2010’s Three Stations), Renko, now a “Senior Investigator for Very Important Cases,” looks into the apparent suicide of crusading investigative journalist Tatiana Petrovna, who fell from a window to her death in Moscow. Renko’s bosses have no problem accepting the suicide theory, but Renko and his loyal partner and friend, Det. Sgt. Victor Orlov, continue to search for answers. Smith spins a complex plot involving the Russian mafia, a teenage genius struggling to crack the code of Petrovna’s notebook, and an excursion to Kaliningrad, the isolated Russian enclave on the Baltic. While Petrovna may be a candidate for sainthood (she’s evidently modeled on real-life reporter Anna Politkovskaya), the most intriguing “character” after Renko is contemporary Russia—freer than it was at the height of the cold war, but at least as corrupt and vastly more unequal—into which Smith offers many insights. Agent: Andrew Nurnberg, Andrew Nurnberg Associates (U.K.). (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

A New York Times Bestseller

“Smith is that uncommon phenomenon: a popular and well-regarded crime novelist who is also a writer of real distinction. . . . Based, in part, on Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist and human rights activist . . . [Tatiana] is one of Smith’s strongest . . . lending the narrative much of its moral and emotional substance. . . . Over the years, [Renko] has developed into one of the most appealing characters in crime fiction. . . . Perhaps most important, Tatiana showcases Smith’s ability to convey the frustrating, frequently absurd nature of daily life in a fractured, tragic and traumatized country. Taken as a whole, the Arkady Renko series offers something unique in modern literature: an evolving vision of a complex society struggling, often futilely, to rise above the ruins of its own calamitous history.

Washington Post

It would be a treat to watch the evening news with Martin Cruz Smith’s fabulist’s eye and see current events colorized through Renko’s dramatic filter. In Tatiana, Smith continues the tradition he began at the end of the Brezhnev era with Gorky Park, using Russia as his game board to make geopolitical conspiracy, well . . . fun. Tatiana ought to come with a decoder ring so readers who share the author’s fondness for brainteasers can try to crack the translator’s code on their own. Then again, struggling slowly from benighted dread into the glimmering dawn of fictional resolution is the reward of reading an Arkady Renko thriller. Figuring everything out too quickly would only spoil the game.

The New York Times Book Review Liesl Schillinger

"Masterful . . . Renko is one of the most compelling characters in modern fiction, sarcastic, quietly heroic, humble, depressive yet with a romantic's eye of a future that could be. . . . Smith's writing conveys irony, social commentary and wry humor."

USA Today (3 1/2 out of 4 stars)

With gallows humor and a soulful mortality, Smith has conjured another irresistible adventure for one of crime fiction’s great detectives.

People

Exquisite . . . Darkly romantic . . . Tatiana is as tight, vivid, and haunting as any of the other installments in Smith’s consistently first-rate series.

San Francisco Chronicle

With the recent death of the reigning master of the suspense novel, Elmore Leonard, to whom do we turn in the hopes of a masterly glide through dire straits in the dark side of life, with pitch-perfect dialogue, intriguing characters and a plot with punchy turns and a satisfying twist? My candidate would be California writer Martin Cruz Smith, creator of some two dozen works of popular fiction, whose series of novels starring the Russian police investigator Arkady Renko have been coming to us every now and then since Gorky Park first appeared in 1981. The latest is Tatiana, the eighth Renko novel and certainly one of the best.

The Dallas Morning News Alan Cheuse

Praise for Three Stations

“Three Stations . . . is filled with stunning prose. Such is the journey of every Smith novel: a mixture of undeniably artful prose alongside a sharp-witted and masterfully entertaining plot. With a tip of the hat to Smith himself, all that’s left to say is this: All novels should be as dark and mysterious and entertaining as Three Stations; all series should be so consistently excellent; all prose should be so dazzling; and all writers so talented as Martin Cruz Smith.

The Denver Post

Absorbing . . . A gripping story with an ingenious twist and an interestingly complicated hero . . . Smith’s Renko series stands out from the pack in several ways. For starters, Smith has a gift for creating sympathetic and believable characters that are miles ahead of the cardboard figures found in run-of-the-mill crime fiction. More profoundly, the books act as a kind of vivid timeline. We see, through both history and fiction, thirty years’ worth of wrenching changes.

The Seattle Times

Smith is at heart a deeply moral writer, and beneath his wry, cynical tone you can feel his authorial anger twitching a safe distance away. Paired with what reads deceptively like a native’s knowledge of Russia, it makes for a potent brew. . . . At times the writing mesmerizes with its originality. . . . Long live Renko.

The New York Times Book Review

By the time Three Stations’ intertwining story strands wind tightly together, a read has come to care about or marvel at the book’s various characters as much as (it’s clear) their author does. The more travails Smith’s long-suffering inspector suffers, the harder we root for him.

The San Francisco Chronice

Smith’s point hits the mark with requisite force. . . . Basic human behavior—especially the worst of it—is so deeply embedded into psychological fabric that the same battles are waged even when the monsters keep shifting shapes.

The Los Angeles Times

Smith is a first-rate popular novelist, and this is one of his best books: tightly plotted, well-constructed, with a host of memorable secondary characters. . . . Smith is always an inventive storyteller, and he brings this setting vividly to life.

Cleveland Plain Dealer

Praise for Three Stations

“Three Stations . . . is filled with stunning prose. Such is the journey of every Smith novel: a mixture of undeniably artful prose alongside a sharp-witted and masterfully entertaining plot. With a tip of the hat to Smith himself, all that’s left to say is this: All novels should be as dark and mysterious and entertaining as Three Stations; all series should be so consistently excellent; all prose should be so dazzling; and all writers so talented as Martin Cruz Smith.”

“Engrossing. . . Three Stations delivers a satisfying punch.”

“Smith is at heart a deeply moral writer, and beneath his wry, cynical tone you can feel his authorial anger twitching a safe distance away. Paired with what reads deceptively like a native’s knowledge of Russia, it makes for a potent brew. . . . At times the writing mesmerizes with its originality. . . . Long live Renko.”

“By the time Three Stations’ intertwining story strands wind tightly together, a read has come to care about or marvel at the book’s various characters as much as (it’s clear) their author does. The more travails Smith’s long-suffering inspector suffers, the harder we root for him.”

“Smith’s point hits the mark with requisite force. . . . Basic human behavior—especially the worst of it—is so deeply embedded into psychological fabric that the same battles are waged even when the monsters keep shifting shapes.”

“Smith is a first-rate popular novelist, and this is one of his best books: tightly plotted, well-constructed, with a host of memorable secondary characters. . . . Smith is always an inventive storyteller, and he brings this setting vividly to life.

From the Publisher

In Smith's latest Arkady Renko novel, the Russian investigator seeks the truth about a young reporter's apparent suicide. Tatiana Petrovna is one of the last occupants of a Kaliningrad apartment building that developers want to raze. When she falls six stories to her death, authorities are quick to rule the tragedy as a suicide. Renko suspects otherwise and gets his boss' permission to look into it. The young woman had been a troublemaker, with a nose for rooting out the corruption widely known to be rampant in Russia, so few people seem to miss her. Renko can't view the body, because police say they are unable to produce it. This certainly won't stop him, though. Fans of his earlier adventures (Gorky Park, 1981; Red Square, 1992) know he's not a flashy fellow, perhaps in part because he walks around with a bullet lodged in his skull. But he is an honorable man, persistent in asking questions, raising doubts and following leads. At the center of the plot is a notebook that appears to be filled with symbols looking like gibberish. Can Renko find someone to decipher it? Sitting on the Baltic seacoast, Kaliningrad is portrayed as a bleak industrial city that's probably on no one's vacation itinerary. The novel suggests a deep cynicism pervading Russian society, where officials and businessmen are expected to bribe and steal. For example, submarines costing hundreds of millions of dollars may sink into the ocean and never resurface since half the money goes to graft instead of craft. Smith is a master storyteller, delivering sharp dialogue, a tight plot, memorable descriptions and an understated hero in Arkady Renko. Anyone who enjoys crime novels but hasn't read Smith is in for a treat. Read this book, then look for other Arkady Renko adventures.

Kirkus Reviews