Three Stations: An Arkady Renko Novel (Arkady Renko Series Book 7)

Cruz’s Arkady takes on a twisting mystery with red herrings and some strange characters. Moscow itself is one of the most interesting of these characters.We see it’s very seedy side.Larry

This is a very fast-paced and character-heavy novel that has Russian police detective Arkady Renko in the thick of a serial murder case that nobody wants to acknowledge and may cause him to lose his job. Long portrayed as a kind moral icon in this long-running series of excellent stories, Renko has become far too incorruptible and committed to justice to comfortably fit into the Moscow police force that has long since headed in the opposite direction. Renko's status as a paragon was never more clearly sketched than in this novel that very quickly plunges into the lowest depths of contemporary Russian society.The action--and much of it is starkly brutal and unrelenting--takes place mostly in the Three Stations neighborhood of Moscow--a kind of latter-day Times Square. It's a garish and squalid place that attracts every kind of criminal activity, but ironically, serves as a haven for the displaced and disadvantaged too. Those already victimized souls are further exploited mercilessly by the heavies in charge of the area's crime. Child prostitution, drugs, theft, and forgery abound, surrounded by high-end nightclubs that offer more sophisticated and expensive forms of distraction for the newly wealthy of the city. Renko is pulled into the Three Stations when the body of a young woman is discovered and the Inspector's sidekick, Victor Orlov is despatched to the crime scene. As usual, Victor is too intoxicated to investigate on his own, so Arkady helps out. The murder is unwelcome in the neighborhood that depends on tourists and other visitors, and Renko's efforts to shed light on who killed the girl are not appreciated. The first murder is followed by other killings and it gradually becomes apparent that a kind of serial murderer is at work.Several other story lines emerge and cross. The plight of "thrown-away", homeless children is an important part of the novel. The story of Maya, a 15-year girl forced into prostitution by her parents, becomes central when her two-week old baby is stolen from her as she flees to Moscow from her provincial town. She is followed by the gangsters who "own" her and plan to punish her severely for her flight. The plights of other homeless children are threaded through Maya's saga as author Martin Cruz Smith hammers home the point that newly rich Russia is creating a large underclass that is officially and publicly ignored and abused by the government and better-off citizens. A NOTE OF WARNING--some of the abuse is extremely graphic and violent."Three Stations" does end on a note of justice and redemption for several of the characters, notably Arkady Renko himself. His integrity stands out and is celebrated in a modest way, giving some hope that the excesses of the new Russian society will eventually fade.A very good action crime novel. There are a few loose ends, but it doesn't detract from the very engaging plot.

Each book by MCS is a little treasure- he is a writer who writes for his readers; I’ve never been let down by any of his work.

Life is unfair. Why should death be any different?Her baby was the most interesting person that she had ever met. 15 y old runaway Maya falls asleep on a train and somebody steals her brand new baby. Nobody believes her but another 15 y old, chess prodigy Zhenya, known to us from previous Renko novels as Arkady's charge. Zhenya has fled from Arkady's home, preferring the freedom in the streets and squatting in a shut down casino to an 'orderly' life in an apartment. Zhenya tries to take Maya to Arkady, asking for help. She doesn't trust any cop. She'd rather work with pimps.Serial hero Arkady Renko, first met in Gorky Park 30 years ago, honest and thus uncomfortable police investigator, is shut out at his work and run down personally. His boss stonewalls him. His friend Sergeant Orlov is a hopeless alcoholic.Arkady and Orlov pick up a case of a dead prostitute - no immediately apparent cause of death. Their instinct is against the easy way out: natural death doesn't seem likely. Is this worth upsetting the bosses again? What if the bosses run the prostitution ring themselves? Disobeying instructions, Renko and Orlov unravel a serial killing mystery that is a little too mysterious for my taste.The need to have a plot with explanations and solutions is a weakness of the crime fiction genre. Smith seems to be uncomfortable with solutions. I see the point. Quite often I have liked crime novels better before the ending.The book title's three stations are a place in Moscow where three train terminals and two metro lines plus various streets converge in a major traffic junction. That's where the dead girl is found. That's where the baby gets stolen.The novel's strength lies in its creation of a world. How much of this world is 'real', I wouldn't know. I don't know Moscow at all, other than from books and films and TV. Would the book be worse if this world is pure fiction? Yes and no.Have Moscow's winds of change brought good things? General theme of the novel is depravity and depression in post communist Russia. Viva Putin the Great. If you think that crime fiction is escapism, you will find this escape route here rather uncomfortable.And which cop but Renko would think of Nabokov during an autopsy when the murder victim reveals a butterfly tattoo on her hip?

But very good notes, I have to admit.Martin Cruz Smith is closing in on top spot of my list of favourite writers. The first four Arkady Renko novels, and in particular, Gorky Park, Polar Star and Havana Bay, are the standard he set for himself, and, as far as I’m concerned, for every other thriller/detective/mystery/spy novelist. They’re absolutely fantastic. Wolves Eat Dogs was a brilliant foray into another world (Chernobyl) and Stalin’s Ghost was a real nail-biter. Three Stations, while still good, doesn’t quite hold up. It’s a bit disjointed and just isn’t fleshed out. It needs another 100 pages. I’m pretty sure it’s the shortest of the first seven Renko novels, and it misses out on the crucial psychological detail that binds all of the brilliant research together. On top of that, it drifts into PSA territory from time to time.Still, Renko is there - smart, subdued, infinitely wise and honest, my literary hero. I barely put it down, even if it wasn’t quite as polished and deep as the preceding novels.By the time Smith wrote Three Stations (2010), he was well into his battle with Parkinson’s, and I have to assume that researching and writing had become increasingly difficult.Even if it isn’t up there with the first novels, I still give it a five. On to Tatiana.

For the last couple of years I have been slowly working my way through Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko series; slowly because while I've enjoyed the books they have a tendency to be over long and over complicated making it a struggle to read them back-to back without taking time-out between each instalment. Mind you MCS took nearly thirty years from publishing the first in the series, "Gorky Park", to this the seventh book so on that basis two years doesn't seem bad going, perhaps even rushed [although in those thirty years Renko and his sidekicks have aged at a slower pace than the rest of us!].I said that these books have a tendency to be long and often over complicated, but "Three Stations is altogether different, being shorter and sharper with no real complexity, altogether dumbed-down and only complicated by MCS weaving together what could have been a couple of short stories that are really only related by their location. That said, and as a consequence of merging the two stories there's still an array of characters including a billionaire, dancers, doctors, gangsters and the feral teenagers of Moscow's Komsomolskaya Square, home to the titular three stations: Leningrad Station, Kazansky Station and Yaroslavl Station.I won't give away the plot, you can read that elsewhere, but the ending is both contrived and rushed, or perhaps that should be the endings to each of the stories are contrived and very rushed. For being shorter, simpler and lighter this book is easier to read than many of its predecessor and as a standalone book by anybody else it might have been three or perhaps even four stars at a push but coming from the pen of MCS and as part of the Renko series it's disappointing and left me feeling flat and unfulfilled, and that's why it's only two stars.Bring on book number eight "Tatiana" and hopefully a return for form for MCS and a return to what Arkady Renko does best, investigating.

Arkady Renko has fallen out of favour with his boss, prosecutor Zurin. Not anything new in itself and in keeping with his eternal optimism, Arkady doesn’t let his imminent unemployment phase him. Convinced that a serial killer is at large, Renko calls in favours and sees a pattern developing. Meanwhile, Renko’s protege, chess aficionado Zhenya, is helping a young mother find her stolen baby. Naturally, the two storylines converge but not until the closing section of the book. Zhenya is far more prominent in this book but whether he features as a staple in any further Renko novels remains to be seen. He is a well drawn character but Renko steals the show. I love his relentlessness and his refusal to accept anything at face value. Although not one of the stronger books in the series, this shows Renko at his most dogged and that’s worth a read in itself.

This is the immediate predecessor to Tatiana. The journalist, Anya, p;ays a part. So does Viktpr whenever Arkady can keep him sober long enough. And there is a major role for Zhenya, the teenage chess playing hustler.The locale is Moscow's underbelly where the criminal classes and the impoverished homeless converge. But there are also excursions into the billionaire oligarch milieu. Cruz Smith is equally at home with both.The search for a stolen baby provides the spine of the tale which is often touching. The ending is somewhat arbitrary with a few loose ends. But much can be forgiven for the sharp observation. A piano out of tune and with several keys missing altogether is seen as "Russia set to music."Arkady Renko is a genuine original to be treasured.

Arkady Renko is one of the best detective characters to have emerged in the last decade or so. He predates the likes of Hole and Wallander and shares the characteristics of the other popular mavericks such as Rebus. What is unique, is Cruz Smith's placing of his central character in a Soviet Union/Russia that is in the process of profound, and sometimes violent, change. Renko, himself, is a person caught up in events and circumstances over which he, officially, rarely has more than passing control, but possesses a humanity and fatalistic dogged integrity that works for this reader. A lot of the fascination is in the description of contemporary Russian society and the chaotic means of its continuation. The background is as important as the plot, and the peripheral characters are beautifully drawn. Of all the Renko books, this is the shortest and the least, but I hope not the last.

Hero senior investigator Renko never gives up in fighting Russian criminal gangs and even his own boss to achieve justice. He does this at considerable cost to himself and his close relationships. Bruised and battered, Renko is nothing if not determined, he cleverly cuts through obstacles in this low-life Russian urban jungle. Very atmospheric, at times a depressing and graphic description of a dangerous and decaying urban world.