Helpful Score: 3
This is a continuation of the story of Arkady Renko, the investigator from "Gorky Park." Smith is a fine writer and Renko is a great character. This book is particularly timely because most of it takes place in "The Zone," the area affected by the nuclear blowup at Chernobyl 20 years ago. This is definitely a 5-star book!
Helpful Score: 2
I just really love Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko spy thrillers. I like his other books too, but there's just something about these... I was really sad that after I read this book, there'd be no more that I hadn't read... and then I went online, and there's a new one out due next month! Yay! "Stalin's Ghost" is now on my wishlist...
In "Wolves Eat Dogs," the fifth in the series, investigator Renko is at the scene of the death of a prominent Russian businessman, who appears to have leaped out his window to his death - an obvious suicide. However, Renko has a hunch there's something more to this death - a feeling that's not looked kindly upon by either his superiors or the dead man's associates, who feel that any hint of a potential crime would tarnish Russian business' already-not-too-shining reputation.
Nevertheless, Renko stays doggedly on the case, and soon his persistence takes him to the wastelands of Chernobyl....
The crime (of course there's a crime!) is almost presciently relevant in today's political scene, and Cruz Smith really effectively not only does his research but uses it - I fully believed in the place and characters. I recently read a National Geographic article about the current state of the lands around Chernobyl, so I know that much of what Cruz Smith writes is accurate - but after reading his book, I feel that not only do I know, I understand.
Plus, the book was exciting and fun!
In "Wolves Eat Dogs," the fifth in the series, investigator Renko is at the scene of the death of a prominent Russian businessman, who appears to have leaped out his window to his death - an obvious suicide. However, Renko has a hunch there's something more to this death - a feeling that's not looked kindly upon by either his superiors or the dead man's associates, who feel that any hint of a potential crime would tarnish Russian business' already-not-too-shining reputation.
Nevertheless, Renko stays doggedly on the case, and soon his persistence takes him to the wastelands of Chernobyl....
The crime (of course there's a crime!) is almost presciently relevant in today's political scene, and Cruz Smith really effectively not only does his research but uses it - I fully believed in the place and characters. I recently read a National Geographic article about the current state of the lands around Chernobyl, so I know that much of what Cruz Smith writes is accurate - but after reading his book, I feel that not only do I know, I understand.
Plus, the book was exciting and fun!
Helpful Score: 2
Arkady Renko in Chernobyl- kind of makes sense, doesn't it? With his usual headfirst approach Arkady travels to the radioactive wasteland of Chernobyl to catch his killer and unravel the surrounding conspiracy and where Gorky Park and Polar Star may have had their bits of confusion in the details this installment seems cleaner- or maybe I'm just getting used to Smith's style :o)
Helpful Score: 2
Another mystery for detective Arkady Renko originally introduced in Gorky Park. A great chacter!
Helpful Score: 2
Wolves Eat Dogs is actually an old proverb that relates to how employers treat their inferiors. After a murder-by-radioactive cesium of a Nouveau riche Russian, which the employers (Moscow police) want to cover up quietly, the hero is sent to Chernobyl to investigate or vacation or develop radiation poisoning... Of course, he investigates. You can learn a lot about Chernobyl, 20 years after. Surprise! people are living there (sub rosa). They garden and eat the produce, which is, of course, radioactive. Eventually our hero is able to solve all the questions of the initial case and find a wife and child to take back to Moscow with him. Amazingly, the people in Chernobyl are NOT radioactive! Online, at http://www.kiddofspeed.com/ you can see the places mentioned in the book, e.g., the buildings, the ferris wheel, as they are now, seen through the eyes of a girl motorscooter (?) rider.
