Gorky Park

Name: Gorky Park
Author: Martin Cruz Smith

Martin Cruz Smith

— 1981 —

“

Moscow police detective Arkady Renko investigates three mutilated bodies in Gorky Park; the trail leads to the KGB and a CIA operation.

The record

Time
An eveningA season
393 pages, about 8 hours: the length of 1.2 typical books on the shelf.
Getting in
Walk right inSteep climb
One reader abandoned the book at 19 percent, 75 pages in.
What it gives
Plot and actionIdeas to live by
In 11 reviews from critics and book blogs, 6 credit the plot and 3 credit the ideas or a change in how they live.
One of a kind
Others do thisNothing else does
Triumph of the Now and a CWA Gold Dagger review blog compare it to John le Carré and Ian Fleming.

on Moscow’s textures
“dour humor, the everydayness of paranoia, caviar in the steambath”
Unsigned review · Kirkus Reviews, 1981
on Arkady Renko
“almost as flawed as the country he loves.”
a book blog
on the thriller style
“a great trad thriller in the sir ian fleming tradition”
a book blog
on truth under totalitarianism
“a gripping murder mystery and a moral study of truth under totalitarianism”
a Substack review

on the length
“Life is too short and the book is too long.”
one star · a book blog
on the research
“What emerges is over-stuffed and over-researched and over-written.”
a book blog
on Renko’s character
“He didn’t feel real to me.”
two stars · a book blog
on the middle section
“The middle portion can feel dense”
four stars · a book blog