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Arkady Renko #7
Three Stations
A passenger train hurtling through the night. An unwed teenage mother headed to Moscow to seek a new life. A cruel-hearted soldier looking furtively, forcibly, for sex. An infant disappearing without a trace.
So begins Martin Cruz Smith’s masterful Three Stations, a suspenseful, intricately constructed novel featuring Investigator Arkady Renko. For the last three decades, beginning with the trailblazing Gorky Park, Renko (and Smith) have captivated readers with detective tales set in Russia. Renko is the ironic, brilliantly observant cop who finds solutions to heinous crimes when other lawmen refuse to even acknowledge that crimes have occurred. He uses his biting humor and intuitive leaps to fight not only wrongdoers but the corrupt state apparatus as well.
In Three Stations, Renko’s skills are put to their most severe test. Though he has been technically suspended from the prosecutor’s office for once again turning up unpleasant truths, he strives to solve a last case: the death of an elegant young woman whose body is found in a construction trailer on the perimeter of Moscow’s main rail hub. It looks like a simple drug overdose to everyone—except to Renko, whose examination of the crime scene turns up some inexplicable clues, most notably an invitation to Russia’s premier charity ball, the billionaires’ Nijinksy Fair. Thus a sordid death becomes interwoven with the lifestyles of Moscow’s rich and famous, many of whom are clinging to their cash in the face of Putin’s crackdown on the very oligarchs who placed him in power.
Renko uncovers a web of death, money, madness and a kidnapping that threatens the woman he is coming to love and the lives of children he is desperate to protect. In Three Stations, Smith produces a complex and haunting vision of an emergent Russia’s secret underclass of street urchins, greedy thugs and a bureaucracy still paralyzed by power and fear.
So begins Martin Cruz Smith’s masterful Three Stations, a suspenseful, intricately constructed novel featuring Investigator Arkady Renko. For the last three decades, beginning with the trailblazing Gorky Park, Renko (and Smith) have captivated readers with detective tales set in Russia. Renko is the ironic, brilliantly observant cop who finds solutions to heinous crimes when other lawmen refuse to even acknowledge that crimes have occurred. He uses his biting humor and intuitive leaps to fight not only wrongdoers but the corrupt state apparatus as well.
In Three Stations, Renko’s skills are put to their most severe test. Though he has been technically suspended from the prosecutor’s office for once again turning up unpleasant truths, he strives to solve a last case: the death of an elegant young woman whose body is found in a construction trailer on the perimeter of Moscow’s main rail hub. It looks like a simple drug overdose to everyone—except to Renko, whose examination of the crime scene turns up some inexplicable clues, most notably an invitation to Russia’s premier charity ball, the billionaires’ Nijinksy Fair. Thus a sordid death becomes interwoven with the lifestyles of Moscow’s rich and famous, many of whom are clinging to their cash in the face of Putin’s crackdown on the very oligarchs who placed him in power.
Renko uncovers a web of death, money, madness and a kidnapping that threatens the woman he is coming to love and the lives of children he is desperate to protect. In Three Stations, Smith produces a complex and haunting vision of an emergent Russia’s secret underclass of street urchins, greedy thugs and a bureaucracy still paralyzed by power and fear.
243 pages, Hardcover
Published August 1, 2010
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2110 people want to read
About the author
Martin Cruz Smith
53 books1,268 followersMartin Cruz Smith (AKA Simon Quinn, Nick Carter, Jake Logan, and Martin Quinn) was an American writer of mystery and suspense fiction, mostly in an international or historical setting. He was best known for his 11-book series featuring Russian investigator Arkady Renko, who was introduced in 1981 with Gorky Park and appeared in Independence Square (2023) and Hotel Ukraine (2025). [Wikipedia]
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 549 reviews
August 14, 2016
Russian cop Arkady Renko has been solving crimes in novels for almost three decades now. When he was introduced during the Cold War in Gorky Park, Renko had to tread carefully because of a communist government that didn’t like to even admit that there were any crimes, let alone appreciate someone being independent enough to actually try and solve them. He‘s been exiled to a Siberian fishing boat, recalled to Moscow during glasnost, witnessed the final gasp of communism, gotten embroiled in plots in Havana and taken a lovely trip to Chernobyl over the course of his career. He’s survived clashes with the KGB, the CIA, corrupt cops and politicians, ruthless capitalists, the Russian mafia, Cuban thugs and being shot in the head at one point.
Despite almost always being vastly overmatched both politically and physically, he‘s somehow managed to get the job done. Arkady isn’t particularly idealistic, political or brave, he just has an unerring sense of justice that won’t let him go along when something is being swept under the rug, and he’s got a knack for screwing up the well laid plans of powerful people.
Renko’s bosses have finally figured out a way to keep him from pissing in their borscht. They aren’t giving him any cases. He still has his job title as investigator, but since he isn’t allowed to look into any crimes, he can’t poke his nose into delicate situations they want left alone. However, his superiors underestimated Renko’s ability to find trouble.
Renko’s friend and fellow detective, Victor, is about to be fired for his constant drunkenness. Trying to save his job, Renko pulls him off a vodka bender and helps him answer a call to what is supposed to be the routine overdose of a prostitute. Renko and Victor soon suspect that the girl was actually murdered and try to push an investigation forward, but Renko’s boss sees it as a chance to finally get rid of the pain-in-the-ass detective for good.
As Renko deals with the murder that leads him to a shifty Russian billionaire and a sassy female fashion journalist, a parallel story is being told about a missing baby. Maya is a teenage prostitute who has just given birth and is on her way to Moscow to hide from her pimps who want the baby gone and her back to work. When the baby is snatched from her on the train, Maya’s only help comes from Zhenya, a brilliant but withdrawn Russian street kid that Renko has tried to help.
As always, Smith delivers an intriguing and gritty picture of a Russian culture that features a privileged few getting rich from the rise of capitalism while average Russians have to hustle to survive. Renko still has his stubborn refusal to quit no matter what he’s threatened with, and he’s retained his black sense of humor. One of the parts I always enjoy most about the Renko books is how the other characters think that he has a death wish or is too stupid to know when to stop. As Victor tells Arkady at one point:
“ You are so fucked. You have no authority and no protection, just enemies. What are you looking for? Blood on the sidewalk and a round of applause?”
While it’s always good to get another book from Smith, this one is very short at 241 pages. There’s more of a frantic pace than I’m used to from the usually more brooding and atmospheric Renko series. Since the book is essentially split into two parts, it almost feels like you’re reading two short stories about Arkady that got mixed together. Still an entertaining read, but not quite up to the better entries in the series.
Despite almost always being vastly overmatched both politically and physically, he‘s somehow managed to get the job done. Arkady isn’t particularly idealistic, political or brave, he just has an unerring sense of justice that won’t let him go along when something is being swept under the rug, and he’s got a knack for screwing up the well laid plans of powerful people.
Renko’s bosses have finally figured out a way to keep him from pissing in their borscht. They aren’t giving him any cases. He still has his job title as investigator, but since he isn’t allowed to look into any crimes, he can’t poke his nose into delicate situations they want left alone. However, his superiors underestimated Renko’s ability to find trouble.
Renko’s friend and fellow detective, Victor, is about to be fired for his constant drunkenness. Trying to save his job, Renko pulls him off a vodka bender and helps him answer a call to what is supposed to be the routine overdose of a prostitute. Renko and Victor soon suspect that the girl was actually murdered and try to push an investigation forward, but Renko’s boss sees it as a chance to finally get rid of the pain-in-the-ass detective for good.
As Renko deals with the murder that leads him to a shifty Russian billionaire and a sassy female fashion journalist, a parallel story is being told about a missing baby. Maya is a teenage prostitute who has just given birth and is on her way to Moscow to hide from her pimps who want the baby gone and her back to work. When the baby is snatched from her on the train, Maya’s only help comes from Zhenya, a brilliant but withdrawn Russian street kid that Renko has tried to help.
As always, Smith delivers an intriguing and gritty picture of a Russian culture that features a privileged few getting rich from the rise of capitalism while average Russians have to hustle to survive. Renko still has his stubborn refusal to quit no matter what he’s threatened with, and he’s retained his black sense of humor. One of the parts I always enjoy most about the Renko books is how the other characters think that he has a death wish or is too stupid to know when to stop. As Victor tells Arkady at one point:
“ You are so fucked. You have no authority and no protection, just enemies. What are you looking for? Blood on the sidewalk and a round of applause?”
While it’s always good to get another book from Smith, this one is very short at 241 pages. There’s more of a frantic pace than I’m used to from the usually more brooding and atmospheric Renko series. Since the book is essentially split into two parts, it almost feels like you’re reading two short stories about Arkady that got mixed together. Still an entertaining read, but not quite up to the better entries in the series.
November 27, 2014
I enjoyed this less than other novels by Martin Cruz Smith. A complicated intermingling of multiple plots and characters requires a firm hand helping the reader along, and this time, Smith did not provide that hand. It only takes a few words to allow the links in the reader's mind to click in, but these were, as least for this reader, not provided. Also, Smith did not encourage me to feel as engaged with Renko the person as much as I had been in previous novels. Overall, there was a surprising and disappointing flatness to this novel.
The difficulties of life in modern Russia were well presented. Who would want to live there? Even the billionaires have it rough. It seems in a way that the plot and characters fell into that background rather than rising out of it.
The difficulties of life in modern Russia were well presented. Who would want to live there? Even the billionaires have it rough. It seems in a way that the plot and characters fell into that background rather than rising out of it.
February 5, 2013
Let me begin by admitting my bias: I think that Martin Cruz Smith is one of the best novelists out there today. What has often been said of David Cornwell (a.k.a. John LeCarre)also goes for Martin Cruz Smith: he may write popular fiction but it's also great literature. If you want a sample of what I mean, just read the final page or even just the final line of "Three Stations." (Although it's best if you read the rest of it first.)
"Three Stations" is the latest chapter in the life and career of Arkady Renko, Smith's wise and somewhat world-weary Moscow detective who is forced to suffer fools, corruption, and social depravity in the course of his job. Renko is a complex and appealing man and just listening to his thinking is a treat in itself. However,the real treat is Smith's ability to bring you right onto the streets beside Detective Renko. Indeed, Smith has a way with his descriptions and dialog that's almost cinematic. (My 12th grade English teacher used to talk about a "language of vision" and that's something that Smith has really nailed.)
This story and its characters - particularly the children - will almost break your heart. Indeed, there are few writers of popular fiction who can portray children with no future in such an unflinching and yet compassionate manner. Fortunately, the book ends on a note of affirmation: there are still tattered pieces of hope for the legions of people who are the victims of modern Russia.
Even if you're not at all a fan of detective/mystery stories, the works of Martin Cruz Smith are still worth a look. Great literature always is.
"Three Stations" is the latest chapter in the life and career of Arkady Renko, Smith's wise and somewhat world-weary Moscow detective who is forced to suffer fools, corruption, and social depravity in the course of his job. Renko is a complex and appealing man and just listening to his thinking is a treat in itself. However,the real treat is Smith's ability to bring you right onto the streets beside Detective Renko. Indeed, Smith has a way with his descriptions and dialog that's almost cinematic. (My 12th grade English teacher used to talk about a "language of vision" and that's something that Smith has really nailed.)
This story and its characters - particularly the children - will almost break your heart. Indeed, there are few writers of popular fiction who can portray children with no future in such an unflinching and yet compassionate manner. Fortunately, the book ends on a note of affirmation: there are still tattered pieces of hope for the legions of people who are the victims of modern Russia.
Even if you're not at all a fan of detective/mystery stories, the works of Martin Cruz Smith are still worth a look. Great literature always is.
January 23, 2016
Is it just me or there is some deep seated pleasure in reading a book (or for the sake of this comment author) you enjoyed years ago but some how fell out of favour with only to then rediscover? Well that is the case with Martin Cruz Smith and his tales of Arkady Renko.
I remember reading the book Gorky Park years ago and thoroughly enjoying it. At the time I didn't realise how much forensics would catch the public imagination (after all it was the first to popularise the use of reconstruction of skulls to give and idea of what someone looks like) or that gritty police work would be over shadowed by politics and personal squabbles. I guess back then I was rather inexperienced about such books.
Now flash forward some years and here we are with Three Station - and the same atmosphere and characters are back for more investigations. The book feels as fresh as when I read Gorky Park all those years ago - and it was a real joy that a book can capture such feelings so quickly.
I will admit that I have no idea where this book comes in the series although I am sure I will find out very shortly but still it didnt matter, I really enjoyed it.
I guess now the Moscow of these books is gone (I have no idea before I say something wrong) but in the pages of this book the City itself takes on as important a role as any of those characters with dialogue and I think that is what really captures it for me. The book could have been located in any of a number of cities but the character of Moscow could never be reproduced.
So a happy accident or a random choice when I needed inspiration - nothing beats a stack of TBR books when the urge is there.
I remember reading the book Gorky Park years ago and thoroughly enjoying it. At the time I didn't realise how much forensics would catch the public imagination (after all it was the first to popularise the use of reconstruction of skulls to give and idea of what someone looks like) or that gritty police work would be over shadowed by politics and personal squabbles. I guess back then I was rather inexperienced about such books.
Now flash forward some years and here we are with Three Station - and the same atmosphere and characters are back for more investigations. The book feels as fresh as when I read Gorky Park all those years ago - and it was a real joy that a book can capture such feelings so quickly.
I will admit that I have no idea where this book comes in the series although I am sure I will find out very shortly but still it didnt matter, I really enjoyed it.
I guess now the Moscow of these books is gone (I have no idea before I say something wrong) but in the pages of this book the City itself takes on as important a role as any of those characters with dialogue and I think that is what really captures it for me. The book could have been located in any of a number of cities but the character of Moscow could never be reproduced.
So a happy accident or a random choice when I needed inspiration - nothing beats a stack of TBR books when the urge is there.
March 22, 2022
Mikhail Gorbachev, who ought to know, declared some years ago that Vladimir Putin’s government is hard to distinguish from the old Communist regime. Arkady Renko, the investigator hero of Martin Cruz Smith’s successful series of novels about crime and punishment, first in the USSR and later in Russia under Vladimir Putin, would surely agree. And even though Gorbachev made his comment more than a decade ago, and this novel was published shortly afterward, the picture it paints of Russian law enforcement holds all too true today. If anything, the legal system has become even more blatantly an arm of the state—as some of the few remaining civil liberties are stripped away amid the invasion of Ukraine.
BOTTOMLESS CORRUPTION IN LAW ENFORCEMENT
For nearly 40 years, Renko has plumbed the depths of Russia’s deepest and darkest recesses in search of justice and found little but scorn and resistance as his reward. The seemingly bottomless corruption of the Soviet legal system—the courts, the prosecutors, and the police—is indistinguishable from that of today’s. Only the criminals have changed: they’re billionaires now, victors in the latter-day scramble for spoils unleashed by the fall of Communism. Yet nothing has fundamentally changed in Russia under Vladimir Putin.
AN INVESTIGATOR WHO IS TOO GOOD AT HIS JOB
Three Stations, locale of most of the action in the novel of the same name, is a transportation hub in Moscow where three underground rail lines meet. It’s a place where hustlers, pimps, and young prostitutes just in from the countryside mingle with teenage thugs, under the eye, and often the direction, of the police. The desolate setting seems carefully chosen to mirror the straits in which investigator Renko finds himself as Three Stations begins: suspended, ignored, and on the verge of dismissal for being too good at his job.
In the course of this fast-moving and engaging story, Renko, disobeying orders as always, immerses himself in investigating the murder of a young woman whom his superiors wish to ignore. They have declared her a prostitute and her murder unworthy of further inquiry, but Renko knows better. As he delves ever more deeply into the matter, he becomes involved with the once and future billionaire owner of a string of casinos, a legendary ballerina and her son, and a mysterious young woman who has come to Moscow in search of her baby.
A SETTING THAT RINGS ALL TOO TRUE
The tale is a good one. But what is most remarkable about Three Stations, as is the case with every one of the eight other Arkady Renko novels published since 1981, is the compelling way that Smith sets the scene. It is difficult to believe that the author lives in Marin County, California, and never set foot in the Soviet Union before researching Gorky Park, his best-selling first book in the series. If you’ve spent time in Russia, you’ll be convinced that Smith has lived there longer. If for no other reason, Three Stations is worth reading to gain an inside look at Russia under Vladimir Putin and understand what life must be like for millions of Muscovites.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Martin Cruz Smith (1942-) is best known for the nine novels to date featuring detective Arkady Renko. The series debuted in 1981 with the publication of Gorky Park, which was adapted to film in 1983 in a production starring William Hurt and Lee Marvin. Smith holds a bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Pennsylvania. He is partly of Native American and Spanish descent.
BOTTOMLESS CORRUPTION IN LAW ENFORCEMENT
For nearly 40 years, Renko has plumbed the depths of Russia’s deepest and darkest recesses in search of justice and found little but scorn and resistance as his reward. The seemingly bottomless corruption of the Soviet legal system—the courts, the prosecutors, and the police—is indistinguishable from that of today’s. Only the criminals have changed: they’re billionaires now, victors in the latter-day scramble for spoils unleashed by the fall of Communism. Yet nothing has fundamentally changed in Russia under Vladimir Putin.
AN INVESTIGATOR WHO IS TOO GOOD AT HIS JOB
Three Stations, locale of most of the action in the novel of the same name, is a transportation hub in Moscow where three underground rail lines meet. It’s a place where hustlers, pimps, and young prostitutes just in from the countryside mingle with teenage thugs, under the eye, and often the direction, of the police. The desolate setting seems carefully chosen to mirror the straits in which investigator Renko finds himself as Three Stations begins: suspended, ignored, and on the verge of dismissal for being too good at his job.
In the course of this fast-moving and engaging story, Renko, disobeying orders as always, immerses himself in investigating the murder of a young woman whom his superiors wish to ignore. They have declared her a prostitute and her murder unworthy of further inquiry, but Renko knows better. As he delves ever more deeply into the matter, he becomes involved with the once and future billionaire owner of a string of casinos, a legendary ballerina and her son, and a mysterious young woman who has come to Moscow in search of her baby.
A SETTING THAT RINGS ALL TOO TRUE
The tale is a good one. But what is most remarkable about Three Stations, as is the case with every one of the eight other Arkady Renko novels published since 1981, is the compelling way that Smith sets the scene. It is difficult to believe that the author lives in Marin County, California, and never set foot in the Soviet Union before researching Gorky Park, his best-selling first book in the series. If you’ve spent time in Russia, you’ll be convinced that Smith has lived there longer. If for no other reason, Three Stations is worth reading to gain an inside look at Russia under Vladimir Putin and understand what life must be like for millions of Muscovites.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Martin Cruz Smith (1942-) is best known for the nine novels to date featuring detective Arkady Renko. The series debuted in 1981 with the publication of Gorky Park, which was adapted to film in 1983 in a production starring William Hurt and Lee Marvin. Smith holds a bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Pennsylvania. He is partly of Native American and Spanish descent.
December 29, 2018
An entertaining read providing a glimpse into a world within a world, street life in Moscow's Three Stations. One does get the feel also from the main character of a difference, subtle, but it's there in mindset due to environment. The results of a different culture, and resulting different psychology. Not just in the MC, but the other characters as well. It's refreshing to connect to Russian characters. The story is entertaining across the full range of spectra from the street to an oligarch.
December 22, 2016
"The thing is, Russians are perfectionists. That's our curse. It makes for great chess players and ballerinas and turns the rest of us into jealous inebriates."
This is the first of the Arkady Renko, Prosecutor's investigator that I have read and found it a taut page turner. Renko is assisting his drunken police associate in the case of a young woman's body, found naked from the waist down in an old trailer. An accidental OD, or is it? Renko has been unable to contact his ward, Zhenya, a chess protege living in a closed up casino. Zhenya befriends a young woman off a train searching for her baby.
Martin Cruz Smith weaves a tapestry of lives intertwined on the seamier streets of Moscow, of pimps and child prostitutes, where street kids prey on each other. Readers familiar with his work may be disappointed, but I am certainly a convert.
This is the first of the Arkady Renko, Prosecutor's investigator that I have read and found it a taut page turner. Renko is assisting his drunken police associate in the case of a young woman's body, found naked from the waist down in an old trailer. An accidental OD, or is it? Renko has been unable to contact his ward, Zhenya, a chess protege living in a closed up casino. Zhenya befriends a young woman off a train searching for her baby.
Martin Cruz Smith weaves a tapestry of lives intertwined on the seamier streets of Moscow, of pimps and child prostitutes, where street kids prey on each other. Readers familiar with his work may be disappointed, but I am certainly a convert.
August 23, 2022
A detective story, not something I often read, but a house guest bequeathed it to me, so it would be rude not to. The story starts with two young women given narcotics; one wakes to find her baby has been abducted, the other never wakes. These stories continue in parallel, and about half way through, just as I'm getting frustrated that these parallel lines don't seem to be meeting, we get a sudden introduction of background:
"But fortune is a bubble unless the state accepts the rights of private property. In an emerging nation-and Russia, believe me, is an emerging nation-that bubble can be easily popped. Who would want to do business in a land where rich men are poisoned or put in cages and shipped to Siberia." pg 120This is my second trip to a fictional Russia this year, and up until this point in the narrative, this Russia is much more recognisable to the one where I spent a year in 95/6. I would have liked more of this! But rather than explore the Russia of Putin's early years, the story loses any discernible shape and plausibity the setting becomes more like Twin Peaks than any Russia I could imagine: a dwarf assassin dressed as Disney's Dopey; a mother and son serial-killing team that leave their victims in ballet poses; and lumberjack twins that 'catch' runaway prostitutes, and casually fell anyone who obstructs them. It felt like the writer was bored with his story, and so tried to mix it up, then wrapped it up in as cursory a fashion as he could. I was bored, and struggled to finish.
November 6, 2010
It pains me to give An Arkady Renko Novel a meager two stars, but Martin Cruz Smith has put out a book that falls short of his usual great work. It remains true that Mr. Smith paints a picture of modern Russia that is as disturbing, maybe more disturbing, than Dickens' London. And his characters in their broken heroism are as compelling as ever. Arkady Renko is an existential mess; his partner, is a late stage alcoholic who lurches into functionality, but only just barely, his ward is a highly functioning autistic street kid rescued from Chernobyl; and now there's a teenage prostitute whose child is kidnapped, and who sets the plot into motion. This sort of family bouncing one off the other, its contrast with street families of adolescent and teenage homeless, and the odyssey of the kidnapped kid make for a great read, but that story is joined with the hunt for a serial killer, and the two parts don't really make a whole. The murders are barely interesting , the excesses of the new oligarchy (a Smith specialty) are old-hat, as is Renko's constant struggle with the police hierarchy.
I could have easily done without the serial killer, and with a deeper story around the lost baby, but that wasn't the author's choice, and though he brought the lost baby story to an interesting conclusion the denouement was forced. The serial killer piece was resolved with deus ex machina - a cheap way out, unrealistic, and totally unsatisfying. Mr. Cruz Smith seemed to run out of steam, and so did the book.
Arkady Renko and his brood remain some of my favorite characters, too bad they didn't get a better story this time out.
I could have easily done without the serial killer, and with a deeper story around the lost baby, but that wasn't the author's choice, and though he brought the lost baby story to an interesting conclusion the denouement was forced. The serial killer piece was resolved with deus ex machina - a cheap way out, unrealistic, and totally unsatisfying. Mr. Cruz Smith seemed to run out of steam, and so did the book.
Arkady Renko and his brood remain some of my favorite characters, too bad they didn't get a better story this time out.
February 18, 2014
Fans of Smith's Arkady Renko series are accustomed to intricate plots, bone-dry wit, and the kind of just-so observations that leave the reader nodding in agreement. Add to that Smith's detailed and immersive portrayals of the seedier side of Soviet/Russian life and you can consider most of the Renko books classics of the genre.
Unfortunately, Three Stations has none of the qualities of the previous Renko books. It lacks the plotting of Gorky Park, the poetry of Red Square, the wire-tight tension of Polar Star. The story is disjointed and feels like a patchwork of vignettes cut from other books and stitched together to make a short Renko novel.
In his defense, Smith tackles important issues like the corruption among the Russian elite and the abuse and neglect of child orphans in an increasingly wealthy society. But he could've done so (as he has in past books) more deftly.
All in all, I'm sad to report the effort on Three Stations feels phoned in. My fingers are crossed that this was a singular occurrence.
Unfortunately, Three Stations has none of the qualities of the previous Renko books. It lacks the plotting of Gorky Park, the poetry of Red Square, the wire-tight tension of Polar Star. The story is disjointed and feels like a patchwork of vignettes cut from other books and stitched together to make a short Renko novel.
In his defense, Smith tackles important issues like the corruption among the Russian elite and the abuse and neglect of child orphans in an increasingly wealthy society. But he could've done so (as he has in past books) more deftly.
All in all, I'm sad to report the effort on Three Stations feels phoned in. My fingers are crossed that this was a singular occurrence.
August 22, 2010
I'm having a really hard time reviewing this book. First off, I love the series, and love the Renko character. Since GORKY PARK, Smith has shown us a world that we'd never really seen first-hand, and wrapped a nice little mystery in the middle of said world. As Russia has changed in the last thirty years, so have the books changed to reflect those new realities. Hell, THREE STATIONS even makes mention of Facebook and Twitter, which I'd doubt any of us would have seen coming.
My problem with THREE STATIONS, and why I only gave it a two-star "It's OK" rating, is simply that this novel feels incredibly piecemeal and unsatisfying at the core. We still see a changing Russia, we're introduced to a social theme (the plight of poor/homeless children), and we're given a mystery. Well, make that TWO mysteries-- the Renko/serial killer mystery, and the much less satisfying story of Maya and her missing baby. Either one of these stories seem like they could have (and probably should have) served as stand-alone tales, mostly because neither really had anything to do with the other except in the most tangential of ways. Maybe Smith felt the need to give Renko's "son" more to do here, and wanted to showcase the social Darwinism on display with the children, criminals, and abusers of the Three Stations area in Moscow, but again neither story felt like it really developed into anything that had me on the edge of my seat.
For example, the main Renko plot focusses on a dead woman, dressed as a prostitute and posed in a specific fashion. This plotline seemed like it could have gone MUCH more indepth into the world of Russia's new elite, the world of Russian ballet, and other more interesting directions. As it stands, we barely get to know the situation and barely understand that there IS a serial killer at work before the plot slams to a halt. We never really get to know or understand the killer, or his mother, or why any of this happened in the first place. There are never really any false leads, and not really even any other suspects. As opposed to past stories, Renko's life barely feels in any danger, and the "he loses his job/he gets his job back" thread seemed to be on autopilot. Don't even get me started on the "pot-hole" ending.
The Maya plot is also rather unsatisfying, because even though it starts out intriguingly enough, it just sort of mires down into a weird series of coincidences-- Maya's a "bitch," Renko's "son" doesn't really play any active helping role, and the baby gets passed around like some sort of human hot-potato until it arrives back to Maya seemingly at random. The "chasers" were set up to be the really scary bad guys here, but they just weren't menacing enough towards the main characters to get me to care. The ending scene, in Renko's Summer cabin, felt all kinds of wrong to me, too. Here we spend several pages with this guy plotting and planning and going frogman to come and kill everyone, but-- oop! Surprise! -- Renko pops out from under a rowboat and kills the guy with no rationale or reasoning. I mean, cool, the bad guys are dead, but it felt so amazingly unsatisfying.
Maybe I'm letting nostalgia cloud my eyes and make me think the previous volumes in the Renko series were much better than they truly were, but I just can't help it-- I'll keep reading the Renko books as long as Smith keeps writing them, but I hope the next one is better than THREE STATIONS.
My problem with THREE STATIONS, and why I only gave it a two-star "It's OK" rating, is simply that this novel feels incredibly piecemeal and unsatisfying at the core. We still see a changing Russia, we're introduced to a social theme (the plight of poor/homeless children), and we're given a mystery. Well, make that TWO mysteries-- the Renko/serial killer mystery, and the much less satisfying story of Maya and her missing baby. Either one of these stories seem like they could have (and probably should have) served as stand-alone tales, mostly because neither really had anything to do with the other except in the most tangential of ways. Maybe Smith felt the need to give Renko's "son" more to do here, and wanted to showcase the social Darwinism on display with the children, criminals, and abusers of the Three Stations area in Moscow, but again neither story felt like it really developed into anything that had me on the edge of my seat.
For example, the main Renko plot focusses on a dead woman, dressed as a prostitute and posed in a specific fashion. This plotline seemed like it could have gone MUCH more indepth into the world of Russia's new elite, the world of Russian ballet, and other more interesting directions. As it stands, we barely get to know the situation and barely understand that there IS a serial killer at work before the plot slams to a halt. We never really get to know or understand the killer, or his mother, or why any of this happened in the first place. There are never really any false leads, and not really even any other suspects. As opposed to past stories, Renko's life barely feels in any danger, and the "he loses his job/he gets his job back" thread seemed to be on autopilot. Don't even get me started on the "pot-hole" ending.
The Maya plot is also rather unsatisfying, because even though it starts out intriguingly enough, it just sort of mires down into a weird series of coincidences-- Maya's a "bitch," Renko's "son" doesn't really play any active helping role, and the baby gets passed around like some sort of human hot-potato until it arrives back to Maya seemingly at random. The "chasers" were set up to be the really scary bad guys here, but they just weren't menacing enough towards the main characters to get me to care. The ending scene, in Renko's Summer cabin, felt all kinds of wrong to me, too. Here we spend several pages with this guy plotting and planning and going frogman to come and kill everyone, but-- oop! Surprise! -- Renko pops out from under a rowboat and kills the guy with no rationale or reasoning. I mean, cool, the bad guys are dead, but it felt so amazingly unsatisfying.
Maybe I'm letting nostalgia cloud my eyes and make me think the previous volumes in the Renko series were much better than they truly were, but I just can't help it-- I'll keep reading the Renko books as long as Smith keeps writing them, but I hope the next one is better than THREE STATIONS.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 13, 2010
A weak 3 stars, as it's hard to dislike stories of Arkady Renko and his world. With Gorky Park, Smith set the bar extremely high, and he's managed to come close in subsequent Renko books, giving us a look into Russian society and bureaucracy from the Soviet era through the multiple changes it has gone through since then. Although Renko's character is a bit of a mystery cliche (a brilliant loner who has to fight his government/bureaucracy and solve crimes despite lack of support if not downright hostility, gets and loses the girl, etc.), the plots have been well done, and relevant to the social and political milieu, which Smith brilliantly brings to life.
Three Stations was a let-down from the high marks of the previous Renko books. There were two plots which overlapped only by involving Renko's adopted "son," and there's no history given there, and frankly I couldn't remember much from prior book(s?) which introduced him, making the two stories seem further disjointed.
There was too much a deus-ex-machina aspect to the plot as well, with Renko just having met his apartment neighbor in unusual circumstances, who just happened to work for one of the new era Russian billionaires, who just happened to be hosting a rich-folks' charity show for which the first victim had an admission ticket, so that when Renko showed up he could immediately meet the oligarch and get behind the scenes, etc., etc. Too many convenient coincidences to advance the plot.
If you haven't read all of the other Renko books, read the others before deciding to read this one. If you haven't read any, read Gorky Park, and go on in chronological order.
Three Stations was a let-down from the high marks of the previous Renko books. There were two plots which overlapped only by involving Renko's adopted "son," and there's no history given there, and frankly I couldn't remember much from prior book(s?) which introduced him, making the two stories seem further disjointed.
There was too much a deus-ex-machina aspect to the plot as well, with Renko just having met his apartment neighbor in unusual circumstances, who just happened to work for one of the new era Russian billionaires, who just happened to be hosting a rich-folks' charity show for which the first victim had an admission ticket, so that when Renko showed up he could immediately meet the oligarch and get behind the scenes, etc., etc. Too many convenient coincidences to advance the plot.
If you haven't read all of the other Renko books, read the others before deciding to read this one. If you haven't read any, read Gorky Park, and go on in chronological order.
February 14, 2014
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.
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.
April 21, 2012
As I haven't read any of the previous Arkady Renko novels, I am not able to rate this is comparison to the others. So, for me, it was interesting, fast-paced, and well-written. Shows the underbelly of current day Moscow. Cool in a depressing kind of way.
May 17, 2025
Three Stations is the place in Moscow where trains from several directions arrive and depart. It is busy 24 hours a day, although at night it's more because of homelessness than because of trains. In this there is a sad segment of the population: children who would rather be on the run and beg/steal than go to a children's shelter. That, however, is a side issue and just one of the many ways this series paints the picture of contemporary Russia.
The novel begins with a young woman and a 3-week old child on the train headed to Moscow. We only know the mother's name is Maya. By the time she arrives in Moscow, the baby has been stolen. At the same time, Victor, accompanied by Arkady, is called to a death scene. The dead woman is in one of the workers trailers at Three Stations. The militia has determined it is a suicide and not to be investigated. We know Arkady: he won't let that stand without an autopsy. The problem is that suicides don't get autopsied because that department is too busy with murders.
As usual in this series, the novel winds through many twists and turns before Arkady solves the murder. Yes, we can rely on Arkady to bring things right, though it's touch and go for awhile if he is even allowed to do so. I'll be sorry when I've read all in this series. This might not be the best representative of the series and probably sits toward the bottom of the 4-star group.
The novel begins with a young woman and a 3-week old child on the train headed to Moscow. We only know the mother's name is Maya. By the time she arrives in Moscow, the baby has been stolen. At the same time, Victor, accompanied by Arkady, is called to a death scene. The dead woman is in one of the workers trailers at Three Stations. The militia has determined it is a suicide and not to be investigated. We know Arkady: he won't let that stand without an autopsy. The problem is that suicides don't get autopsied because that department is too busy with murders.
As usual in this series, the novel winds through many twists and turns before Arkady solves the murder. Yes, we can rely on Arkady to bring things right, though it's touch and go for awhile if he is even allowed to do so. I'll be sorry when I've read all in this series. This might not be the best representative of the series and probably sits toward the bottom of the 4-star group.
March 21, 2012
"Three Stations" is author Martin Cruz Smith's latest installment featuring Russian prosecutorial investigator Arkady Renko, though it's not the greatest. That honor remains firmly in the grip of Smith's exceptional 1981 thriller "Gorky Park," which first introduced Renko to the literary world. "Three Stations" is the seventh novel in the Renko series. Smith wasn't quite 40 years old when "Gorky Park" came out, and the Soviet Union still had a decade of life left in it. Smith was nearly nearly 70 when "Three Stations" was published in 2010, by which time the Soviet Union that Smith and Renko grew up with had been dead and gone for almost 20 years.
Or had it? As he has with all the novels in his Renko series, Smith artfully imbues the stories and the characters that fill them with a certain brand of uniquely vodka-drenched Russian discontent and world-weariness that has thrived unabated for generations. It's clear Smith and Renko see Russia's current sociopolitical and economic oligarchical hierarchy as fundamentally far more the same than different from its Soviet and Tsarist predecessors in all but name.
The plot in "Three Stations" is straightforward, anchored to a rural teenage prostitute named Maya's frantic search for her stolen baby in the bleak and dangerous Moscow neighborhood from which the novel takes its name, while Renko tracks a serial killer of young women. The book directs at least as much focus on Maya's travails as on Renko's, which has disappointed some of this book's reviewers. That said, it's clear the principal character in "Three Stations" isn't Maya, or even Renko, so much as it is present-day Moscow. Viewed from that perspective, "Three Stations" is a very good book; Smith's eye for detail and his talent for unveiling the crushing and seemingly insurmountable disparities between Moscow's privileged elite and downtrodden masses are no less sharp than they were in "Gorky Park." Smith's deft touch with dialogue, in particular, is just as brilliant as it has ever been in succinctly conveying modern Muscovites' daily tribulations. Moscow is a massive city of 11.5 million people that lately finds itself drowning in cash wrenched as much via the country's deeply imbedded corruption and criminality as from rampant exploitation of Russia's vast natural resources. The brutish effects of that money's savagely inequitable distribution inflame the novel's every page. Russia is a very old country, and whether ruled by Tsar, Secretary General, or President, Smith's premise is that Russia's internal monologue has stayed remarkably unchanged in many ways for many centuries.
Though it's not hard to tell both author and character have grown somewhat tired in the past 30 years, nevertheless they've done so gracefully. Fans of Smith and Renko, and those who find modern Russia fascinating, will appreciate "Three Stations" as a knowledgeable thriller author's newest postcard from an unvarnished Moscow.
Or had it? As he has with all the novels in his Renko series, Smith artfully imbues the stories and the characters that fill them with a certain brand of uniquely vodka-drenched Russian discontent and world-weariness that has thrived unabated for generations. It's clear Smith and Renko see Russia's current sociopolitical and economic oligarchical hierarchy as fundamentally far more the same than different from its Soviet and Tsarist predecessors in all but name.
The plot in "Three Stations" is straightforward, anchored to a rural teenage prostitute named Maya's frantic search for her stolen baby in the bleak and dangerous Moscow neighborhood from which the novel takes its name, while Renko tracks a serial killer of young women. The book directs at least as much focus on Maya's travails as on Renko's, which has disappointed some of this book's reviewers. That said, it's clear the principal character in "Three Stations" isn't Maya, or even Renko, so much as it is present-day Moscow. Viewed from that perspective, "Three Stations" is a very good book; Smith's eye for detail and his talent for unveiling the crushing and seemingly insurmountable disparities between Moscow's privileged elite and downtrodden masses are no less sharp than they were in "Gorky Park." Smith's deft touch with dialogue, in particular, is just as brilliant as it has ever been in succinctly conveying modern Muscovites' daily tribulations. Moscow is a massive city of 11.5 million people that lately finds itself drowning in cash wrenched as much via the country's deeply imbedded corruption and criminality as from rampant exploitation of Russia's vast natural resources. The brutish effects of that money's savagely inequitable distribution inflame the novel's every page. Russia is a very old country, and whether ruled by Tsar, Secretary General, or President, Smith's premise is that Russia's internal monologue has stayed remarkably unchanged in many ways for many centuries.
Though it's not hard to tell both author and character have grown somewhat tired in the past 30 years, nevertheless they've done so gracefully. Fans of Smith and Renko, and those who find modern Russia fascinating, will appreciate "Three Stations" as a knowledgeable thriller author's newest postcard from an unvarnished Moscow.
February 8, 2011
This didn't have all the suspense of Gorky Park but it was a quick and interesting read. The despair, paranoia, and indifference of day to day life in Russia shout from the pages. Arkady is in hot water again with his venal boss, Zurin. The professional critics who were disappointed in this book are not to be believed. This is still a good book. The critics didn't like the plot line about the missing baby and considered it a distraction from the main plot of a serial killer. Not true in my book. Found the street urchins and missing baby quite interesting. Would love to see a movie with a Hummer and Lada duking it out on the Moscow roads-didn't know whether to laugh or be excited reading some of the action chases. They ought to make a series out of this like they did for Wallander.
January 12, 2016
Who knows if Smith was battling a case of hemorrhoids when he wrote this, or maybe a months-long migraine, but this one was duller than the previous six. Also the typeface in the hardback is enormous, so the word count is smaller. Renko himself seemed bored searching for a serial killer of prostitutes, and the teen chess prodigy Zhenya, whom Smith inserts into the novels for his Aspergerian charm, was unable to elevate Three Stations from its dregs. When a killer finally arrived in the last pages to off Renko, it wasn't clear who he was or why he even cared. The ingredients here are prostitutes, a kidnapped baby, a Putin era billionaire, a journalist with a milk allergy, and homeless street urchins, all shaken into a meaningless cocktail.
January 16, 2011
Unlike most of Cruz Smith's novels with Arkady Renko, Three Stations is a fast read. It gallops ahead involving street orphans, billionaire oligarchs and a particularly vicious international sex trafficking ring. As usual Renko stumbles into a criminal investigation that his superior officers want covered up and that leads (of course) to entire webs of evildoing. There are two key people who don't really fit in--actually who so distracting they might have wandered in from a different book--but the rest of the characters are drawn with Cruz Smith's usual sure touch.
Taken as a group the Renko novels are investigations into morality as much as they are police procedurals and they work on both levels. Renko's ethical sense never allows him to take the easy way out. Even though he can't figure out the basis for his unyielding belief that justice must be done, particularly for those who have not special claim on the state.
This isn't the best place to start if you haven't read Cruz Smith yet. Gorky Park or Stalin's Ghost are better introductions
Taken as a group the Renko novels are investigations into morality as much as they are police procedurals and they work on both levels. Renko's ethical sense never allows him to take the easy way out. Even though he can't figure out the basis for his unyielding belief that justice must be done, particularly for those who have not special claim on the state.
This isn't the best place to start if you haven't read Cruz Smith yet. Gorky Park or Stalin's Ghost are better introductions
May 22, 2012
I can't write a sensible review of this book because I just love Renko. Here we see him in the new Moscow, but facing the old problems of corruption, crime and murder with his usual unassuming determination and a delicious sense of irony.
July 30, 2020
3.5 Stars
This is clearly the weakest of the Arkady Renko series, even weaker than Polar Star.
I think Smith wrote this after a long hiatus, and his prose and pacing are erratic. There are two plots, the lost baby, and the murdered hooker. The lost baby portion of the book is very weak, and repetitive.
The murdered hooker turns out to be more interesting, barely.
The romance with Anya is sweet but quite superficial.
All in all, I would skip this Renko. 😢
William Hurt as Arkady
Full size image here
Notes and quotes:
Arkady thought Victor was nodding off but the detective muttered, “Life would be wonderful without vodka, but since the world is not wonderful, people need vodka. Vodka is in our DNA. That’s a fact. The thing is, Russians are perfectionists. That’s our curse. It makes for great chess players and ballerinas and turns the rest of us into jealous inebriates.
-
Arkady felt like a fool and, worse, that he had missed something important. He didn’t know where but he was convinced he had met Petrouchka before, although not in greasepaint or a clown’s costume. A man elbows you in the Metro and you catch only a glimpse of his face, but the memory stays with you like a bruise.
-
From hours of intimate observation she could read men. Some wanted the fantasy sex of a lifetime, worth a special chapter in a book. Some wanted to rescue an innocent girl, after sex, not before.
-
Things were in motion, some secret word had been spoken, because they kissed again. There was still time for Arkady to walk away from a case he did not fathom and a woman he did not understand. He knew there was no case and no investigation. What were the chances of a happy outcome? He could stop now. Instead, he moved around the table and gathered her up. She was incredibly light and he discovered while her body was small it was deep enough for the rest of the world to disappear.
-
“Peter the Great had a museum of freaks, children with horns and hooves, the half formed and deformed. He sent out a decree that all such monsters in Russia be brought to him. It was called the ‘Monster Decree.’
This is clearly the weakest of the Arkady Renko series, even weaker than Polar Star.
I think Smith wrote this after a long hiatus, and his prose and pacing are erratic. There are two plots, the lost baby, and the murdered hooker. The lost baby portion of the book is very weak, and repetitive.
The murdered hooker turns out to be more interesting, barely.
The romance with Anya is sweet but quite superficial.
All in all, I would skip this Renko. 😢
William Hurt as Arkady
Full size image here
Notes and quotes:
Arkady thought Victor was nodding off but the detective muttered, “Life would be wonderful without vodka, but since the world is not wonderful, people need vodka. Vodka is in our DNA. That’s a fact. The thing is, Russians are perfectionists. That’s our curse. It makes for great chess players and ballerinas and turns the rest of us into jealous inebriates.
-
Arkady felt like a fool and, worse, that he had missed something important. He didn’t know where but he was convinced he had met Petrouchka before, although not in greasepaint or a clown’s costume. A man elbows you in the Metro and you catch only a glimpse of his face, but the memory stays with you like a bruise.
-
From hours of intimate observation she could read men. Some wanted the fantasy sex of a lifetime, worth a special chapter in a book. Some wanted to rescue an innocent girl, after sex, not before.
-
Things were in motion, some secret word had been spoken, because they kissed again. There was still time for Arkady to walk away from a case he did not fathom and a woman he did not understand. He knew there was no case and no investigation. What were the chances of a happy outcome? He could stop now. Instead, he moved around the table and gathered her up. She was incredibly light and he discovered while her body was small it was deep enough for the rest of the world to disappear.
-
“Peter the Great had a museum of freaks, children with horns and hooves, the half formed and deformed. He sent out a decree that all such monsters in Russia be brought to him. It was called the ‘Monster Decree.’
January 25, 2018
A good, solid read from MC Smith. I'd read all the early Detective Renko novels from (30?) years ago and really enjoyed them at the time. This one didn't have the same effect on me, but that may be because I no longer study the RU language and culture like I once did. This is a short novel, and the cast of characters is fairly long, so at times, I didn't feel like I had a good grasp on some of the minor characters. Still, a good read if you're a fan of the series. Closer to a 3 1/2 star rating...
November 14, 2018
No literary merit, no good characters and lacks a decent story line. For thriller fans only. DNF.
August 18, 2016
PROTAGONIST: Arkady Renko
SETTING: Moscow
SERIES: #7 of 7
RATING: 3.5
Arkady Renko hasn’t won any popularity contests with the administration of the prosecutor’s office; at the moment, he is on the verge of suspension or dismissal as a result of his unwillingness to conform to their expectations. He’s keeping a low profile. Unable to disengage himself from the type of work that he’s done for so long, he’s unofficially “assisting” an alcoholic sergeant detective, Victor Orlov. Of course, the assistance is much more than that. Victor is sent to a run-down trailer where a young woman is found dead. It’s not clear that a homicide has been committed. Appearances suggest that she was a prostitute, but she has no marks on her body that indicate she’s led that kind of rough life. The investigation leads them to strange places, including a luxury auction and association with billionaires.
Arkady previously offered the use of his home to a homeless 15-year-old who comes and goes as he pleases. Zhenya Lysenko carries a chessboard and scouts out the Three Stations area for potential competitors, where a conglomeration of train stations and commerce converge. He sees a distraught girl who is hysterically interrogating everyone in the area. It seems that she was traveling with her baby and that someone stole the child while Maya was sleeping. No one believes her story. Something about her pulls at Zhenya; in spite of himself he finds himself trying to help her, which is completely atypical behavior. Mostly, he just looks out for himself and his own survival without making emotional connections. Surprisingly, there is no real interaction between Renko and Zhenya, although Zhenya does want Maya to call on Arkady to help find her child.
There are several other threads running into these two main plots, including a female journalist who gives Arkady a run for his money, a group of street kids who pick up the baby and several other deaths that seem connected to the one that Victor and Arkady are investigating. There is quite a bit of jumping around between these various sub-plots, which I found detrimental to the book as a whole. In particular, the Zhenya/Maya narrative offered the promise of learning more about the complex psychology of Zhenya. Unfortunately, this plot was relegated to secondary importance as the book progressed. In reality, not one of the numerous plots was really developed fully; and the resolution wasn’t entirely satisfactory or believable.
THREE STATIONS is not the best of the Arkady Renko books; however, as always, Smith does an exceptional job of portraying the Russian setting, showing us both the affluent yet tenuous world of the movers and shakers and the dreary milieu of the poor. The Three Stations setting is painted with a dark brush indeed; it seems that every hopeless person and situation is pulled to its center. Although the book had its moments, I found it somewhat disappointing compared to its predecessors.
SETTING: Moscow
SERIES: #7 of 7
RATING: 3.5
Arkady Renko hasn’t won any popularity contests with the administration of the prosecutor’s office; at the moment, he is on the verge of suspension or dismissal as a result of his unwillingness to conform to their expectations. He’s keeping a low profile. Unable to disengage himself from the type of work that he’s done for so long, he’s unofficially “assisting” an alcoholic sergeant detective, Victor Orlov. Of course, the assistance is much more than that. Victor is sent to a run-down trailer where a young woman is found dead. It’s not clear that a homicide has been committed. Appearances suggest that she was a prostitute, but she has no marks on her body that indicate she’s led that kind of rough life. The investigation leads them to strange places, including a luxury auction and association with billionaires.
Arkady previously offered the use of his home to a homeless 15-year-old who comes and goes as he pleases. Zhenya Lysenko carries a chessboard and scouts out the Three Stations area for potential competitors, where a conglomeration of train stations and commerce converge. He sees a distraught girl who is hysterically interrogating everyone in the area. It seems that she was traveling with her baby and that someone stole the child while Maya was sleeping. No one believes her story. Something about her pulls at Zhenya; in spite of himself he finds himself trying to help her, which is completely atypical behavior. Mostly, he just looks out for himself and his own survival without making emotional connections. Surprisingly, there is no real interaction between Renko and Zhenya, although Zhenya does want Maya to call on Arkady to help find her child.
There are several other threads running into these two main plots, including a female journalist who gives Arkady a run for his money, a group of street kids who pick up the baby and several other deaths that seem connected to the one that Victor and Arkady are investigating. There is quite a bit of jumping around between these various sub-plots, which I found detrimental to the book as a whole. In particular, the Zhenya/Maya narrative offered the promise of learning more about the complex psychology of Zhenya. Unfortunately, this plot was relegated to secondary importance as the book progressed. In reality, not one of the numerous plots was really developed fully; and the resolution wasn’t entirely satisfactory or believable.
THREE STATIONS is not the best of the Arkady Renko books; however, as always, Smith does an exceptional job of portraying the Russian setting, showing us both the affluent yet tenuous world of the movers and shakers and the dreary milieu of the poor. The Three Stations setting is painted with a dark brush indeed; it seems that every hopeless person and situation is pulled to its center. Although the book had its moments, I found it somewhat disappointing compared to its predecessors.
January 13, 2013
I am not a fan of novels set outside the US yet I really enjoy Smith's Renko novels. Perhaps it is because Russian culture is so very different from ours.
Renko, as always, is the odd man out here, fighting the ponderous Russian bureaucracy and locking horns with superiors who only care about their own careers, as he investigates the case of a murdered prostitute he's been ordered to drop.
Complicating matters are a prostitute who ran away from a brothel, goons sent to bring her back, a missing baby, a broke billlionaire who still acts like he's loaded, a demented serial killer, baby sellers, and homeless children who live by their wits.
Smith weaves all these story lines using the points of view of several principal characters into a tapestry of modern Russian life, where bribes are common and money can fix anything.
Sadly that tapestry starts to unravel at the end. The resolution to each story line pops up suddenly, making them all feel rushed and incomplete, This gives the last few chapters a disjointed feel, as if Smith was nearing his word count and had to wrap things up quickly.
Other novels in the series had endings that evolved out of the story, so I can only rate this entry as 2 stars.
Renko, as always, is the odd man out here, fighting the ponderous Russian bureaucracy and locking horns with superiors who only care about their own careers, as he investigates the case of a murdered prostitute he's been ordered to drop.
Complicating matters are a prostitute who ran away from a brothel, goons sent to bring her back, a missing baby, a broke billlionaire who still acts like he's loaded, a demented serial killer, baby sellers, and homeless children who live by their wits.
Smith weaves all these story lines using the points of view of several principal characters into a tapestry of modern Russian life, where bribes are common and money can fix anything.
Sadly that tapestry starts to unravel at the end. The resolution to each story line pops up suddenly, making them all feel rushed and incomplete, This gives the last few chapters a disjointed feel, as if Smith was nearing his word count and had to wrap things up quickly.
Other novels in the series had endings that evolved out of the story, so I can only rate this entry as 2 stars.
March 12, 2018
Three Stations by Martin Cruz Smith.
A passenger, young mother with her infant daughter, on a train headed to Moscow is confronted by a thug with evil intentions. This time another woman sends him on his way in a mad dash to escape. This is only the beginning of the worst of times for this vulnerable young lady.
Arkady Renko is the cop who finds truth that goes beyond his limits as an officer that has led to his suspension. He's not timid about where he needs to search to find the answers and in this case an answer to the death of another woman found at a construction site. Was it suicide or something more diabolical?
It's been quite sometime since I read Gorky Park by M.C.S. The start for Arkady Renko which caused a sensation among readers. This story however has not encouraged me in continuing this series. I found it depressingly morbid. The characters without hope of a better life and the environment as cold as granite.
A passenger, young mother with her infant daughter, on a train headed to Moscow is confronted by a thug with evil intentions. This time another woman sends him on his way in a mad dash to escape. This is only the beginning of the worst of times for this vulnerable young lady.
Arkady Renko is the cop who finds truth that goes beyond his limits as an officer that has led to his suspension. He's not timid about where he needs to search to find the answers and in this case an answer to the death of another woman found at a construction site. Was it suicide or something more diabolical?
It's been quite sometime since I read Gorky Park by M.C.S. The start for Arkady Renko which caused a sensation among readers. This story however has not encouraged me in continuing this series. I found it depressingly morbid. The characters without hope of a better life and the environment as cold as granite.
June 6, 2017
Tough crowd!
Very good book, better than 90 percent of what's out there. Gorky Park, Havana Bay, Polar Star ... and... and .... almost Three Stations are for me Smith's best.
Three Stations ('Instead, he moved around the table and gathered her up. She was incredibly light and he discovered while her body was small it was deep enough for the rest of the world to disappear.') wraps up a little too swiftly, the final 50 pages or so seem rushed, like chess moves made w the clock running down, but until then the writing, the characters and observations and dialogue and even plot, is topnotch.
I don't understand how Arkady gets laid so much. Tired and cynical never did it for Philip Marlowe. So it is a testament to Smith's skill that he is able to make Arkady's more than intermittent lovemaking, all his beautiful women, seem completely natural.
Very good book, better than 90 percent of what's out there. Gorky Park, Havana Bay, Polar Star ... and... and .... almost Three Stations are for me Smith's best.
Three Stations ('Instead, he moved around the table and gathered her up. She was incredibly light and he discovered while her body was small it was deep enough for the rest of the world to disappear.') wraps up a little too swiftly, the final 50 pages or so seem rushed, like chess moves made w the clock running down, but until then the writing, the characters and observations and dialogue and even plot, is topnotch.
I don't understand how Arkady gets laid so much. Tired and cynical never did it for Philip Marlowe. So it is a testament to Smith's skill that he is able to make Arkady's more than intermittent lovemaking, all his beautiful women, seem completely natural.
June 14, 2011
Investigator Arkady Renko in Putin's Russia battles the foes within his corrupt police department as well as the criminal elements outside in the decadent Three Stations enclave of Moscow. At times, Renko recalls his late father, a vain general in the old army. Other times, he rues his lost romances. But through it all, he remains tenacious and relentless in his pursuit of a prostitute's killer. We're given a behind-the-scenes view of Russian society, high and low, at least as it's filtered through Mr. Smith's nonsentimental prism. I've enjoyed reading previous titles in the Arkady Renko series of which Three Stations is number seven.
August 16, 2011
Poor Arkady lives in a hellish world, but tries to bring a measure of justice and sanity to a land filled with murderers and madmen. The descriptions of modern-day Russia are bone-chilling and seem terrifyingly accurate. People have few good choices, and the bad ones just make their lives worse.
Love this book and the series by Smith. Much of the writing is beautiful, even if the subject matter is not. Read this book and thank your lucky stars you live in the world you do, and not the world where Arkady must fight the good fight, almost alone.
Love this book and the series by Smith. Much of the writing is beautiful, even if the subject matter is not. Read this book and thank your lucky stars you live in the world you do, and not the world where Arkady must fight the good fight, almost alone.
January 7, 2011
This book continues the great work of Martin Cruz Smith and his weary investigator, Arkady Renko. Yes, it is shorter than most Renko volumes, but it is just as good or better than most. The insight he gives to the everyday life of Russians in and around the three stations is remarkable and the book contains some of the best character descriptions I have ever read. Don't worry about the length of the novel, just get involved in this amazing author's prose and enjoy yourself.
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