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Editorial Review:
Russian detective Arkady Renko made his debut in Martin Cruz Smith's powerful 1981 novel Gorky Park. An enigmatic and complex character, he made further appearances in Polar Star and Red Square. In Havana Bay Renko has gone to Cuba to identify the body of an old colleague. It seems a simple enough task, but the putrefying corpse is unrecognisable as a human being and the authorities' insistence that he agree with their conclusions serves only to make Renko more stubborn. Soon it becomes apparent that his unexpected arrival is ruffling some powerful feathers. Finding himself in a strange limbo Renko slowly forms a bond with Detective Ofelia Osorio whose revolutionary zeal is tempered by her pragmatic intelligence. Unofficially investigating the case with Ofelia leads Renko to be gradually enmeshed in a world where conflicting cultures and the fallout from past events threaten to destroy what proves to be a deceptive calm. Martin Cruz Smith evokes beautifully the faded, colonial grandeur of Havana and its revolutionary legacy; its sense of a society whose engagement with history has left it outside of time. The pleasures of Havana Bay are of the slow-burning variety, but are all the more satisfying as a result. --Jonathan Crawford
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Gone Fishing... Martin Cruz Smith is a former journalist and magazine editor. "Havana Bay" is his fourth novel - after "Gorky Park", "Polar Star" and "Red Square" - to feature Arkady Renko and was first published in 1999. Renko, the hero, works as an Investigator with Moscow's militia - more or less the standard police force - and has something of a chequered career. Never a truly 'practising' member of the Party, Renko hasn't always been thought highly of by those in authority. He has always wanted to catch the... more info
Another Arkady Renko page turner! Great read. Must have missed it when it came out, found it in a bookshelf in a Farmhouse B&B this winter! Arkady Renko is one of my favourite "investigators", up there with Dismas Hardy. (You don't know Dismas?! Search under Lescroart) Anyway, back to Renko. Martin Cruz Smith is a brilliant writer, giving the sense of good research and factual accuracy over which he lays great wit and feasible plots. I didn't want to go to Havana when I'd read it but I sure wanted to get hold of Renko's next adventure!
Steamy chiller? What's this, a Renko book with no snow? I approached this book with trepidation as Renko abroad just didn't seem right, but as they say you can take the boy out of Moscow, but... Arkady Renko is back in his fourth outing and instead of solving murders in Moscow he's in Havana to tie up the loose ends relating to the officially acccidental death of his old friend, and erstwhile KGB major, Pribluda. Renko remains the sardonic enigma we have grown to know and love, but his trip to Cuba is more than just... more info
Really good once it gets going When I started to read this, at first I was thinking "oh no, not another Red Square"... but then the pace started to get better and better... and in the end was left happy enough. Not near the standard of Gorky Park and Polar Star, and not as interesting and as thrilling a story as Red Square, but all in all is worth reading.
