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The Siberian Dilemma

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The Siberian Dilemma

By: Martin Cruz Smith
Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb
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 'Martin Cruz Smith makes tension rise through the page like a shark's fin’ Independent

Investigator Arkady Renko, described as ‘one of the most compelling figures in modern fiction’ by USA Today, finds himself travelling deep into Siberia when journalist Tatiana Petrovna disappears on a case.
Journalist Tatiana Petrovna has disappeared. Arkady Renko, iconic Moscow investigator and Tatiana’s on-off lover, hasn’t seen her since she left on a case over a month ago. No one else thinks Renko should be worried – Tatiana is known to disappear during deep assignments – but he knows her enemies all too well and the criminal lengths they will go to keep her quiet. Given the opportunity to interrogate a suspected assassin in Irkutsk, Renko embarks on a dangerous journey to Siberia to find Tatiana and bring her back.

Renko finds Siberia to be a land of shamans and brutally cold nights, oligarchs wealthy on northern oil and sea monsters that are said to prowl the deepest lake in the world. With these forces at work against him, Renko will need all his wits about him to get Tatiana out alive.
From the revered author of crime classic Gorky Park comes the brilliant ninth novel featuring the iconic Arkady Renko.

Praise for Martin Cruz Smith:

'The story drips with atmosphere and authenticity – a literary triumph' David Young, bestselling author of Stasi Child

'One of those writers that anyone who is serious about their craft views with respect bordering on awe' Val McDermid

‘Smith not only constructs grittily realistic plots, he also has a gift for characterisation of which most thriller writers can only dream' Mail on Sunday

'Smith was among the first of a new generation of writers who made thrillers literary' Guardian

'Brilliantly worked, marvellously written . . . an imaginative triumph' Sunday Times Crime Fiction Mystery Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Russia

Continue the series
Independence Square cover art
Independence Square By: Martin Cruz Smith
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The further and continuing story of Arkady Renko, the best investigator in fiction. Terrific story, excellent characterisation, spoiled only by the less than stellar reading. Never disappointing as a story teller, Martin Cruz Smith has not failed to hit the mark yet again.

Wecome back, Arkady

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Weak plot with cop out finish.
Pseudo-Russian American accented narration detracted from what story there was.

Not up to his usual standard.

Disappointing

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Super storey as usual from Martin
It gives you a fine look at Siberia and its countryside and weather
The storey holds you to the very end

Bear ly believable

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A soggy pudding of an Arcady Renko novel. I love this series about the maverick Moscow detective but not this one. Great research - Russian prison life; life in the frozen heart of Siberia; the overwhelming and overweening corruption underpinning Russian politics, business and power (and Putin) and the police but overall filled with scarcely believable scenarios of bear attacks; survival in the frozen wasteland of the oil snowfields; crashed and sinking helicopters on Lake Baikal from which only Tatiana escapes.... and he gets the girl in the end. I think the fatal flaw is that you either write a novel or a polemic but not try to conflate the two. The narrator tried his best to differentiate between the characters’ Russian accents but sometimes not easy to follow.

Half Baked Alaska

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This book is ridiculously short! An Arkady Renko novel is always worth reading but I feel short changed with this one. And there's some sloppy writing: a bear which is 9 METRES high! Obviously it should be 9 feet. Enjoyable enough, but over too quickly.

More of a novella than a novel

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