Red Square Arkady Renko Bk 3, Martin Cruz Smith. (Hardcover 0679416889) Used Book available for Swap

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Red Square - Arkady Renko, Bk 3
Author: Martin Cruz Smith

Investigator Arkady Renko is back in Moscow. The remarkable hero of Gorky Park and Polar Star has been in exile, first on the run in Siberia, then in the Bering Sea on a Russian factory ship servicing American fishing trawlers. The city he returns to, the city he last knew when he was head of the homicide department of the Moscow prosecutor&rsqu... more »o;s office, is totally different from the one he left. Now the Communist Party is dead, the ruble is worthless, and organized crime is the only entity that functions efficiently in the city. The Russian mafia isn’t merely fattening off the economy; it is the economy, the only part of the country that works.

At a black market Arkady meets an underworld banker minutes before the man and his car erupt in flames. As burning dollars and deutsche marks rain down around him, Arkady begins an investigation that leads him not only to the most powerful figures in Moscow today, its mafia chiefs, but also to the great love of his life, Irina Asanova.

The new lords of the city are Borya Gubenko, Sportsman of the Russian Republic turned black marketer, and Makhmud, the aged leader of the Chechens, the Sicilians of the Russian mafias. There is also the sleek Max Albov, who has defected to the West and then back to Moscow, a man who goes wherever the money is, as well as various Party commissars greedily plundering the last assets of the Soviet Union. Caught between them is Arkady, that uncrushable Slav ironist, who can’t help wondering whether being an honest man in a bankrupt system isn’t a wasted life.

From the smoldering site of the fire Arkady rescues a shortwave radio, and on it he later hears Irina Asanova reading the news about the Soviet Union on Radio Liberty, an émigré station based in Germany. Of course the news is no news to him, but Arkady listens to it like a man who has come back to life. Irina was the cause of his imprisonment and exile, while for her he was the price of her freedom. Now he listens to her as if she were lying in bed next to him.

As Moscow collapses around Arkady like a burning house, he escapes to Irina and to Germany—a new Germany at once Teutonically efficient and frighteningly corrupt—only to find the Russian mafia already on hand, enjoying the country’s good beer, driving BMWs through the Brandenburg Gate, and searching murderously for Investigator Renko, that familiar fugitive, whose destiny is once more to find his lost love and to suffer again.

ISBN-13: 9780679416883
ISBN-10: 0679416889
Publication Date: 10/13/1992
Pages: 418
Rating:

Currently 3.9/5 Stars.

3.9 stars, based on 17 ratings

Publisher: Random House
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

Tom S. (SutterTom) reviewed Red Square (Arkady Renko, Bk 3) on 11/29/2006 + 191 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

This well written & exciting crime thriller is the 3rd in the series about russian homicide detective Arkady Renko. In this one, Renko is back on the force in Moscow after his Siberian exile being ended by the fall of the Soviet Union. He is taking on the newly empowered russian mob as his country struggles to reform itself.

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Charlene S. reviewed Red Square (Arkady Renko, Bk 3) on 1/1/2007 + 8 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

Red Square is the third Martin Cruz Smith mystery in the Arkady Renko series. The Soviet Union is on the brink of collapse, and five or six different groups of Russian Mafia are vying for control in Moscow. Homicide investigator Arkady Renko is the center of this tale of historical intrigue.

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Rachel C. (wonderfuleva) reviewed Red Square (Arkady Renko, Bk 3) on 1/11/2007

another fantastic arkady renko novel

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Marcia L. (Marcia) reviewed Red Square (Arkady Renko, Bk 3) on 4/11/2006 + 378 more book reviews

Back from exile in the hellish reaches of the Soviet Union, homicide investigator Arkady Renko returns to tind that his country, his Moscow, even his job, are nearly dead. But his enemies are very much alive, and formost among them are hte powerful black=market crime lords of the Russian mafia. Hounded by the terrifying new Russian underworld, chased by the ruthless minions of the newly rich and powerful, and tempted by his great love, defector Irina Asanava, Arkady can only hope desperately for escape. Fate however, has other ideas.

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Marilyn K. (page-one) reviewed Red Square (Arkady Renko, Bk 3) on 3/16/2010 + 24 more book reviews

Martin Cruz Smith excels at describing high-stakes industries (in this book, the art world) as well as locales and layered plots.

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Larry K. (clanky40) - , reviewed Red Square (Arkady Renko, Bk 3) on 3/18/2009 + 15 more book reviews

good old Renko just keeps slogging along. A little more action than usual.

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Barry R. (buggyrme) reviewed Red Square (Arkady Renko, Bk 3) on 2/18/2007 + 160 more book reviews

Good story. If you liked Gorky Park, you will like this story also.

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