The Siberian Dilemma

An excellent novel that really draws you in. I was immersed in the storyline and couldn't stop reading well past my bedtime. Highly recommended.

I remember reading Gorky Park and Nightwing when they originally came out and I was a big fan of the author so I am really grateful for the opportunity to be able read his latest book which in my opinion is also a damn good read, it was delightful to immerse myself in the world of Arkady Renko once again, there has been no drop in standards by the author, this is excellent

In the latest of the Arkady Renko series, Arkady is scouring the railway station for his occasional girlfriend, the investigative journalist Tatiana Petrovna. According to her timetable, she was due back from an assignment in Siberia today, but Arkady can find no sign of her at the station. Tatiana is working for the radical magazine "Russia Now" and the editor tells him she is doing a story on Mikhail Kuznetsov, the so-called “hermit billionaire.” Kuznetsov has plans to run against Vladimir Putin in the next Presidential election.
Then, his boss Zurin, the Moscow Prosecutor, orders him to travel sto Siberia to oversee the prosecution of Aba Makhmud, a Chechen terrorist. Makhmud is accused of attempting to murder Zurin, but after he interrogates the alleged killer, Arkady believes he has been set up to take the fall for the crime.
While in Siberia, he grabs the opportunity to meet up with Tatiana who seems cold and distant, leaving the detective to think that she has fallen out of love with him. But maybe it's because she's committed to her story about Russia's oil oligarchs and her belief that Kuznetsov could be a force for good in Russia. Whatever her reasons, Arkady knows that Tatiana's journalism has made her many powerful enemies and that some will do anything to keep her quiet
His attempt to bring her safely back to Moscow takes a turn for the worse when a Russian oligarch - who's taken a shine to Arkady - is murdered.
Martin Cruz Smith is a master storyteller and the action flows along easily with wonderful descriptions of the Siberian landscape alongside meticulous details of the life of the brown bear and the machinations of obscenely wealthy men in Putin's Russia. Along the way we meet some intriguing new characters as well as old friends from previous books.
Arkady is the ultimate maverick, standing up for justice as best he can. When difficult choices have to be made, his attitude is "“Better to fight than to surrender, even if you know you’re going to die." In the desolate wilds of Siberia that attitude could get him killed.
A must read for fans of literary crime novels. Highly recommended
My thanks to the publisher Simon and Schuster UK and NetGalley for a copy of this book in return for an unbiased review.

What a joy to see the return of the iconic Arkady Renko in his 9th outing by Martin Cruz Smith set in the terror and tyranny of Putin's Russia, symbolised by the bear, a brutal corrupt kleptocracy of oligarchs, dirty politics, torture and murder, where any threat to the regime are dealt with a cold ruthlessness. Renko goes to meet his sometime lover, the Russia Now journalist, Tatiana Petrovna, at the railway station, but she does not turn up. She has been on a assignment in Siberia, and he is worried, she has received many vile death threats. His boss, prosecutor Zurin, not Renko's greatest fan, sends him to Siberia for a terrorist, Aba Makhmud, who tried to shoot Zurin dead. On the journey there, Renko connects with the entrepreneurial Rinchin Bolot, a resourceful and knowledgeable man who becomes an invaluable help and his factotum.

Despite Makhmud's confession, Renko decides to dig deeper into his crime helped by his intrepid partner, Victor, in Moscow, and when evidence emerges that Makhmud is innocent, Renko is not going to let this injustice stand. Around every corner, Renko keeps bumping into Boris Benz, a man with a chequered past, an oligarch with big oil and gas interests in Siberia. Tatiana is working closely with, and believes in Mikhail Kuznetsov, oligarch and political dissident, intent on challenging Putin's tight grip on power. Siberia is an unforgiving territory with its brutally freezing temperatures as Renko finds himself in Irkutsk, reconnecting with Tatiana and meeting Kuznetsov. He goes to the historical prison city of Chita, the impoverished murder capital of Russia, and Lake Baikal, goes bear hunting, only to find himself encountering murders, in desperate straits, stalked by danger in a Siberia of sea monsters, where the planes of existence overlap, an ancient land of shamanic practices.

Cruz Smith's latest Renko addition just drips with atmosphere, with rich descriptions of the desolate freezing dangers of a Siberia and Russia where intrigue and murder are commonplace, where justice requires merely the extraction of a confession, and legal representation is a joke. Siberia is a rich location for gas and oil exploitation, going hand in hand with environmental degradation, and lack of human rights. Renko finds himself caught up in the political machinations of Moscow and his boss, Zurin, that he is going to need all his wits to survive, whilst doing his utmost to protect Tatiana. This literary crime series is one of my favourites, with an indomitable central protagonist in Arkady Renko, an unforgettable creation that I am delighted to renew my acquaintance with. This is a fantastic storytelling with all its echoes of contemporary Russia unwilling to countenance protests and political challenges. One of the highlights is the introduction of Rinchin Bolot, a character I hope returns in the future. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Simon and Schuster for an ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

The enduring and irreverent Arkady Renko is back in this compelling new novel from Martin Cruz Smith. This time Renko must navigate Putin’s Russia and the Siberian tundra to find his intrepid girlfriend Tatiana, a journalist hot on the the heels of an expose about Russia’s oligarchy.

In this novel Cruz Smith has provided a masterful commentary on Putin’s Russia that is both sobering and enthralling. Cruz Smith navigates post-Soviet Russia with the same aplomb that we witnessed in the richly drawn communist- era setting of ‘Gorky Park.’ As Cruz Smith illustrates however, nothing has really changed.. The Communist Politburo has given way to Putin and his gang of thugs; wealth is still concentrated in the hands of the few and what is laughingly called a ‘Justice System’ is a Kafkaesque nightmare for so-called enemies of the State. In illustrating this Arkady Renko is the perfect Trojan horse - a very un-Soviet, Soviet Man who is both hyper-aware of the inequalities of modern Russia yet still attempts to redress any perceived injustice in his own inimitable way. Renko, brilliantly imagined by Cruz Smith, is a compelling voice for modern Russia, which I for one never tire of hearing from.

An engrossing, atmospheric thriller from a highly accomplished author.

5 stars.

Another beautifully written chapter in the Arkady Renko series of Russian detective stories. This time set in Siberia one can almost feel the cold. An interesting cast of characters keep things moving along splendidly with dubious charges against a man sent to a gulag prison the main reason for Renko's mission to a bear hunt that veers from murder to fearful injuries to our hero the pace is relentless! Recommended to all but to those who remember and read Gorky Park the legend lives on!