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Havana Bay
 
 
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Havana Bay (Paperback)

by Martin Cruz Smith (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (96 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 12.34
Price: CDN$ 12.33 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details
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Product Description

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In this fourth book in Martin Cruz Smith's splendid series, an amiable Irish American gangster explains to Arkady Renko what he and the other 84 wanted Americans hiding out in Cuba do with themselves. "We try to stay alive. Useful. Tell me, Arkady, what are you doing here?" "The same," says Renko--and it's true. His life as a Russian cop has become so bleak and lonely that he takes any opportunity to shake things up, even spending his own savings to fly to Havana when an old colleague is found dead--floating inside an inner tube after night-fishing in Havana Bay. Renko sets out to make himself useful in this shabby, fascinating, haunted country whose inhabitants look on Russians with the cold disdain of survivors of a nasty divorce.

As he did so well in Gorky Park, Smith again makes Renko very much a classic Russian hero in temperament and tradition, but also the eternal outsider. He is at times close to the edge of despair--but his trip to Havana restores his natural curiosity and life force.

In this hot Havana, ripe with the fruity smell of sex, Renko keeps his Moscow overcoat on--until an equally idealistic and out-of-place young female cop gets him to loosen up. There's an unusually complex plot, even for the sly strand-spinner Smith. He raises baffling questions: Why would a group of military plotters order illegal lobsters in a fancy restaurant and then not eat them? And his descriptions of Cuban life are dead-on, reminding us on every page what a superb stylist he is. --Dick Adler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.



From Library Journal

Arkady Renko, drawn to post-Soviet Union Cuba to identify the body of his friend Pribluda, is interrupted while attempting suicide. In this well-engineered abridgment of Smith's latest novel, well read by Stephen Lang, the new Cuba, its reliance on Russia replaced by contempt for everything and everyone Russian, is a land of poverty whose citizens rely on the tourist trade (prostitution, drugs, black market cigars, etc.) for sustenance. There's enough gruesome description of bodies, buildings, and civilizations in advanced states of deterioration here to keep the listener awake, as well as an interesting and involved plot, a smattering of romance, and continued development of the Renko character. Those who already are Renko fans will be pleased with this offering; those unfamiliar with him will need a bit of endurance to get into this audio. The language and descriptions are graphic. It's not exactly a tourist's travelog of Havana; more a reminder of how bad things are in Third World countries. Recommended for adult audio collections.ACliff Glaviano, Bowling Green State Univ. Libs., OH
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews

96 Reviews
5 star:
 (31)
4 star:
 (32)
3 star:
 (17)
2 star:
 (7)
1 star:
 (9)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (96 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4.0 out of 5 stars Gone Fishing..., May 9 2007
By Craobh Rua "Craobh Rua" (N. Ireland) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Havana Bay (Mass Market Paperback)
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 people responsible for the crimes he's investigating, regardless of the 'political' consequences - as a result of this, he was once dismissed from the Party for a lack of 'political reliability' and sentenced to a life in Siberia. He has been rehabilitated for several years now, though he always remained something of a disappointment to his father - a very famous ex-General. His father has been dead for some time, though Arkady has recently lost his wife, Irina.

While Renko has been abroad before, "Havana Bay" sees him operating entirely outside the Russian sphere of influence. Having received a mysterious unsigned fax, he's in Havana - apparently to identify a body the Cuban authorities believe to be an old friend of his : ex-KGB Colonel, Sergei Pribluda. Pribluda had been in the Cuban capital for eleven months working as an attache to the Russian Embassy. He had been missing for around a week, until - it would appear - the discovery of a body found floating in Havana Bay. While certain characteristics match up - dental records, for example - Renko isn't entirely convinced : the body has decompsoed to such a point that it's lacking a face and fingerprints. However, since the Cubans believe Pribluda was actually working as a spy, they aren't even remotely bothered about opening an investigation. Arkady, on the other hand, wants to find out what's happened to his friend - even if the corpse isn't Pribluda, he's been missing for a week. Renko isn't the sort to be overly bothered about operating an 'unofficial' investigation - he is techincally a tourist in Cuba - but things won't be easy for him. Since the fall of communism in Russia, there's been a certain amount of tension between Cuba and Renko's homeland. As a result, Renko won't be getting any real help from the Cuban investigators - Sergeant Luna, in particular, goes out of his way to be a hindrance. However, there is a chance Arkady may be able to win over Detective Osario...

Although much better than your average murder-mystery book, I don't think "Havana Bay" was just quite as good as the previous instalments in the Renko series. Part of that came down to the location - I think I may have missed the political games played in Russia. I also thought it was very unfair on Renko to have killed off Irina - he deserves a reason to smile ! However, it is an enjoyable and easily read book - Arkady is a character fans of Harry Bosch should take to very easily.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Great Arkady Renko Tale, Mar 27 2004
This review is from: Havana Bay (Mass Market Paperback)
The fourth in Smith's intelligent series about Moscow detective Arkady Renko is set in Cuba. Renko's ennui brings him to Havana to look into the death of an old friend. As usual, he gets knocked around a bit, unravels complicated conspiracies, bumps into interesting women, and utters some precious self-deprecating one liners. Readers will also learn more about the fate of his truest love, Irina. A great addition to the Renko series.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes Suicide isn't Painless, Mar 8 2004
By Maria Magenta "Stargazer" (Phoenix, Arizona) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Havana Bay: A Novel (Hardcover)
Moscow detective Arkady Renko, out of work and miserable for the last half-dozen years, is called to the Russian Embassy in Havana to look into the mysterious disappearance of his old comrade Sergei Pribluda. Renko is fighting suicidal impulses, trying to survive despite a crushing personal tragedy, and the trip to Cuba is an opportunity to leave the gloomy and cold Moscow winter behind and get away from the constant reminders of better times. Unknown to his bosses he plans to commit suicide once he gets to Cuba.

But immediately after he arrives the Cuban police want him to identify a floater pulled from Havana Bay as his missing friend. Pribluda, a former KGB agent, who is currently the Russian Security Service's resident spy in Havana, has been missing for almost two weeks. The Cuban authorities want him to make the identification, acknowledge that the death was from natural causes, and return to Moscow on the next flight.

Renko says he's not sure it Pribluda, since the body is badly decomposed and the circumstances surrounding the death may not be as obvious as they seem. Renko wants the Cuban police to investigate, however they apparently won't. Renko regains his will to live and is determined to find out what happened to Pribluda, so he begins his own snooping. What he finds is more than he expected and certainly more than the Cubans wanted him to find. It seems the case has the potential to become an embarrassment for Castro's government and the Cuban's want the matter closed quickly and quietly.

As he's done in Renko's past adventures, Smith shows his readers a culture and country foreign to most in the United States. He depicts a Cuba learning to make its own way in the world, an island with rich customs where 1950s vintage American cars cruise seaside boulevards and many people practice the mystic Santeria religion. I couldn't put this book down and I can't recommend it enough.

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 		 Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Plot, even better descriptions of Havana
Martin Cruz Smith writes his fourth installment of Arkaday Renko, the character introduced in his first novel, Gorky Park. Read more
Published on Jan 4 2004 by Peter R. Fischer

5.0 out of 5 stars Havana Bay weaves a spellbinding tale ...
... that challenges your willpower to put the book down at the end of the day.

A solid read written in such a manner that you can feel on your skin the soft breezes coming from... Read more

Published on Aug 22 2003 by Scott Padon

5.0 out of 5 stars Havana Bay
The most recent (fourth) in the Inspector Arkady Renko series in Martin Cruz Smith's top notch series of "Russian" mysteries. Read more
Published on Jul 24 2003 by H. Row

3.0 out of 5 stars Kind of a let down
Perhaps, Mister Smith has become too comfortable with Arkady Renko. I guess I was expecting Gorky Park in Havanna. It just never happened. Read more
Published on Feb 24 2003 by Douglas De Bono - Author of No...

4.0 out of 5 stars Unity of action, setting, and mood in Havana
Russian detective Arkady Renko of Gorky Park fame returns in this novel to investigate the murder of a fellow countryman in Havana. Read more
Published on Jan 1 2003 by Richard E. Morris

4.0 out of 5 stars Great characters & setting, weak plot
The fourth Arkady Renko book (following Gorky Park, Polar Star, and Red Square), takes the dour Russian police detective to a struggling and tattered Havana. Read more
Published on Jul 15 2002 by A. Ross

4.0 out of 5 stars Still a Good Book
I really think this series is this authors best story line and set of characters. When I read some of this other books, I just do not get into the story as much as I do with... Read more
Published on April 10 2002 by John G. Hilliard

5.0 out of 5 stars best Renko novel since Gorky Park
Havana Bay is an excellent novel. Arkady is called down to Cuba to identify the corpse of KGB colonel Pribulda, his would-be executioner turned friend. Read more
Published on Jan 21 2002 by kellyke

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed, but I'd come back for more
Like many, I was captivated by Gorky Park, which I read on it's first edition all those years ago. I waited for anxiously, and enjoyed, Polar Star. Read more
Published on Jan 14 2002 by Eric E. Weinraub

2.0 out of 5 stars Stuck in a Rut
Mr. Smith has a beautiful gift with the use of descriptions to paint mavelous pictures. His plot,at least in this book, takes a loooong time to take off and by that time I really... Read more
Published on Dec 20 2001 by Kim Waltman

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