Editorial Content for Independence Square: Arkady Renko in Ukraine
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
If you had asked me in 1981 as I was enjoying Martin Cruz Smith’s GORKY PARK if I would still be reading stories featuring his hero, Arkady Renko, in 2023, I would have doubted it. Thankfully, I would have been very wrong. I was introduced to Smith in 1977 with his horror novel, NIGHTWING, which was later made into a forgettable movie.
INDEPENDENCE SQUARE is the 10th entry in this series and the first since 2019. I confess that I still draw a mental image of William Hurt whenever I envision Arkady Renko. Hurt was an unlikely choice to play the Russian detective but did a stellar job in the 1983 film version of GORKY PARK.
"INDEPENDENCE SQUARE drips with intrigue, suspense and political furor during a very heated moment in Russian history that could lead to a much larger war on a global scale."
At the start of this latest novel, Arkady works as an investigator with Moscow’s Office of Prosecution and has been relegated to a desk job at the behest of Prosecutor Zurin. Zurin had been responsible for sending Arkady on numerous adventures and assigning him difficult cases over the years, and he is hopeful that he will have that opportunity again.
This is a different Arkady Renko from what readers have seen in the past. He is a bit distant and listless for a number of reasons. His relationship with his longtime lover, Tatiana Petrovna, ended when she chose her work as an investigative reporter over their partnership. We also will learn that he has been keeping a diagnosis of what appears to be early onset Parkinson’s a secret, even though his balance and mobility issues soon will be noticed by anyone paying attention.
Meanwhile, Arkady is approached by a friend, Fyodor Abakov, who everyone calls “Bronson” due to his likeness to actor Charles Bronson. Bronson needs Renko’s assistance in finding his daughter, Karina, who has gone missing. She is a violinist who may have gotten mixed up with some bad people. Arkady is Bronson’s last-ditch effort at locating her --- with the understanding that he do this on his own and keep the police out of it.
Arkady, of course, accepts this challenge as he is eager to do something of value again. He learns that Karina is an anti-Putin activist, which puts her on the wrong side of many in the area. He travels to Ukraine where Karina lives and meets her roommate, Elena. With all the recent developments in Arkady’s personal life, he easily falls for the attractive and stimulating Elena, even though he realizes it may cloud his judgment on this assignment. Smith cleverly sets the book’s action just prior to Putin’s war against Ukraine, which makes the ice that Arkady is skating on especially thin and precarious.
The search for Karina leads Arkady to Kyiv and that much closer to the conflagration that is about to start there. Later, in Crimea, he meets up with Tatiana. Not only does this complicate his burgeoning relationship with Elena, it puts both women in the crosshairs of some very dangerous people who not only are behind Karina’s disappearance but are ready to act against Arkady as well.
INDEPENDENCE SQUARE drips with intrigue, suspense and political furor during a very heated moment in Russian history that could lead to a much larger war on a global scale. What makes Arkady’s fight with Parkinson’s particularly relevant is that it mirrors the same health battle that Martin Cruz Smith has been going through. He is able to use his beloved protagonist in a symbolic way to deal with this disease while sharing the pain that comes with it. Knowing all of this makes reading the book that much more poignant.
Teaser
It’s June 2021, and Arkady Renko knows that Russia is preparing to invade and subsequently annex Ukraine as it did Crimea in 2014. He is, however, preoccupied with other grievances. His longtime lover, Tatiana Petrovna, has deserted him for her work as an investigative reporter. And he is having trouble with his dexterity and balance. A visit to his doctor reveals that these are symptoms for Parkinson’s disease. Rather than dwell on his diagnosis, he throws himself into another case. An acquaintance has asked him to find his daughter, Karina, an anti-Putin activist who has disappeared. In the course of the investigation, Arkady falls for Karina's roommate, Elena, a Tatar from Ukraine. Later, in Crimea, Tatiana reemerges to complicate Arkady’s new romance.
Promo
It’s June 2021, and Arkady Renko knows that Russia is preparing to invade and subsequently annex Ukraine as it did Crimea in 2014. He is, however, preoccupied with other grievances. His longtime lover, Tatiana Petrovna, has deserted him for her work as an investigative reporter. And he is having trouble with his dexterity and balance. A visit to his doctor reveals that these are symptoms for Parkinson’s disease. Rather than dwell on his diagnosis, he throws himself into another case. An acquaintance has asked him to find his daughter, Karina, an anti-Putin activist who has disappeared. In the course of the investigation, Arkady falls for Karina's roommate, Elena, a Tatar from Ukraine. Later, in Crimea, Tatiana reemerges to complicate Arkady’s new romance.
About the Book
Detective Arkady Renko --- “one of the most compelling figures in modern fiction” (USA Today) --- risks his life when he heads to Ukraine shortly before the Russian invasion to find an anti-Putin activist who has mysteriously disappeared.
Martin Cruz Smith has written nine previous novels featuring Arkady Renko, one of modern detective fiction’s most popular characters. These novels, beginning with 1981’s international sensation GORKY PARK, have collectively traced Russia's evolution over the last half-century. Now, with INDEPENDENCE SQUARE, Smith focuses on the fraught and frenzied days leading up to Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.
It’s June 2021, and Arkady knows that Russia is preparing to invade and subsequently annex Ukraine as it did Crimea in 2014. He is, however, preoccupied with other grievances. His longtime lover, Tatiana Petrovna, has deserted him for her work as an investigative reporter. His corrupt boss has relegated him to a desk job. And he is having trouble with his dexterity and balance. A visit to his doctor reveals that these are symptoms for Parkinson’s disease.
This is an ingenious autobiographical conceit, as Martin Cruz Smith has Parkinson’s, and is able through Arkady to movingly describe his own experience with the disease. Parkinson’s hasn’t stopped Smith from his work, and neither does it stop Arkady. Rather than dwell on his diagnosis, he throws himself into another case.
An acquaintance has asked him to find his daughter, Karina, an anti-Putin activist who has disappeared. In the course of the investigation, Arkady falls for Karina's roommate, Elena, a Tatar from Ukraine. The search leads them to Kyiv, where rumblings of an armed conflict grow louder. Later, in Crimea, Tatiana reemerges to complicate Arkady’s new romance. And as he gets closer to locating Karina, Arkady discovers something that threatens his life as well as the lives of both Elena and Tatiana.
Few fiction writers have better captured contemporary Russia with more insight or authenticity than Martin Cruz Smith. He does the same here for Ukraine and the events that preceded Russia’s invasion. INDEPENDENCE SQUARE is a timely and uniquely personal mystery novel-meets-political thriller by a master of the form.
Audiobook available, read by Jeremy Bobb
