Commentaires client les plus utiles
|
|
4.0étoiles sur 5
Gone Fishing..., Mai 9 2007
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.
|
|
|
5.0étoiles sur 5
Great Arkady Renko Tale, Mars 27 2004
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.
|
|
|
5.0étoiles sur 5
Sometimes Suicide isn't Painless, Mars 8 2004
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.
|
|
|
Commentaires client les plus récents
|
de Martin Cruz Smith
de Martin Cruz Smith
de Martin Cruz Smith
de Martin Cruz Smith
de Martin Cruz Smith
