The Siberian Dilemma (The Arkady Renko Novels Book 9) Kindle Edition

Excellent as usual, but being one of his last books I wish there were many more comming. At the beginning, it is not as detailed in development as his earlier books, and there are too many chance occurrences and wrong responses to consequences, such as Zhenya's first declaration that Arkady gave all that money he had earned to the policemen as a bribe, but later thanking him for doing so. Uncharacteristic. Nevertheless, He is my favorite writer. The middle to the end makes up for it. Once again, incredible adventures made crdible. His best book on Siberia. Insightfully powerful to a fault.

For new readers, those of you who haven't read any Arkady Renko books yet......Should I start this series? YES ! Should I read this book, #9 in the series? uh.....probably no. Read the very first, "Gorky Park". Then read the next 2-3. Be guided by critics' reviews. Somewhere in the middle, the series runs out of gas. Some books are very blah (this is not one of them), and others are only so-so. I gave this a "4"; it's probably a "3".It's very short. It starts at a zoo, and quick thinking police detective saves the day by bringing down an escaped bear with a nerves of steel, last second shot. Somehow we know we'll see more bears in subsequent chapters. And we do. And Tatiana is there, waiting rescue by guess who? "Siberian Dilemma" (SD) has timely issues including Putin, elections, etc. Tatiana is writing an article that will not be well received, and Arkady and his factotum go to her rescue in icy Siberia. Those pages were best with some very vivid and interesting descriptions of driving cars on frozen lakes, surviving a bear attack, surviving a helicopter crash and more.And now I have three mini un-spoilers for you: Putin wins the election, Arkady survives a modern day version of a SD, and nobody knows what a factotum is. Amusing but still Arkady-lite.

Another good book in the Arkady Renko series. I havent missed a one.

Not the best Martin Cruz Smith by any means but when you start out with Gorky Park the bar is pretty high. The writing is excellent but the story was thin and not very realistic (mauled by a bear then trekking across the Siberian snow....?) I did enjoyed it just not as much as I had hope.

Russian Investigator Arkady Renko is back, in this latest novel by Martin Cruz Smith. This time, the detective is off to Siberia, ostensibly to investigate a man accused of trying to kill his boss, the Prosecutor Zurin. Or is Arkady really in pursuit of sometime love interest Tatiana Petrovna, an investigative journalist on a hot story about Russian oligarchs, who won't return his calls. And the wilds of Siberia hide their own hazards...It is good to have Arkady back in the skeptical but persistent flesh. The background of the story is, as ever, faithful to the modern Russia. And the book can be devoured in a single sitting, if the reader has just a few free hours. Against that, the storyline, particularly the ending, may require one or more leaps of faith on the part of the reader, depending on how the reader chooses to interpret them. Anyway, strongly recommended to fans of the series.

In The Siberian Dilemma/2019, Arkady Renko is still an investigator for the Moscow police, still has a corrupt boss that he can't trust, still has an able, hard drinking assistant in Victor and still has a troubled love life. In fact when his sweetie, Tatiania, fails to show up on schedule after a long stint investigating two studly but crooked oligarchs in Siberia Arkady starts to get worried so much so that when (amazing coincidence #1 of many) his boss sends him off on a minor matter to Siberia he leaps at the chance but only in order to be able to track down/rescue Tatiana. He gathers two unlikely but quite likable comrades along the way as he digs himself deeper and deeper into a mess that only an imaginative author could dig him out of. The previous release in this series, Tatiana (Arkady Renko #7), came out in 2013 and featured a Martin Cruz Smith that was forced to radically alter his writing work flow. Due to health problems he was no longer able to type and collaborated with his wife taking dictation, now anyone that has been married knows that a partner in this intimate of a creation process would have a significant effect on the outcome. And to my taste it certainly did, checking my ratings for the book I saw that I had given Tatiana the highest rating for any of his work since Havana Bay (Arkady Renko #4) published 14 years earlier in 1999. However Smith's next release after Tatiana, The Girl from Venice/2016, a non Arkady Renko thriller set in WW II met with decidedly mixed reviews and lackluster sales. The Siberian Dilemma is his first book since then and with three releases since his medical problems a pattern starts to emerge that we have a radically changed author on our hands. His books suffer a loss in the sense that plot loopholes have proliferated and the gravitas of his earlier work is absent. With that absence also gone is the underlying melancholy, what seemed to be a deeply Russian pessimism running through all of the Renko releases up until Tatiana when a more optimistic spirit has imbued his work. That seems to been even more pronounced in The Siberian Dilemma where despite all the ills and travails visited upon Arkady the sense that things are going to turn out for the better pervades the book as a subtle and occasionally overt undertone. I miss the old Martin Cruz Smith as well as the old Arkady Renko but truth be known I prefer the new ones.$12.99/Kindle book price divided by Amazon typical read time of 3 hours, 22 minutes=$3.54/average hourly reading cost

Renko has become since "Gorki Park" my favorite detective. overcame Sherlock Holmes and his counterpoint the thief Arsene Lupin. I just wish Martin were a little more generous with Renko's happiness. Your happy moments are very little explored. The idea that sadness is part of the Russian soul often disregards their passion for life.

I read all the books in the series starting with Gorky Park - the international best sellerI love the writing style on its own and the anti hero is my tasteI have favourites in the series and this was not it but to be fair, it’s like picking your favourite ice cream, I don’t want to get picky when I want iv creamI wouldn’t start here any way. Read them in order of publication

The Siberian Dilemma is another terrific story in the series featuring Moscow based investigator Arkady Renko. It is not necessary to have read any of the previous novels in the series to fully enjoy this one, but it helps if you have. What I particularly like about this story is its plot, atmospheric locations and the characters, all of which are easy to follow and visualise.The plot involves corrupt business practices and political interference that hinder Renko's ability to do his job. The bulk of the story, and page-turning action, takes place in Siberia. Renko has been sent out there by his boss to bring back an alleged criminal and this conveniently coincides with Renko's concern about his journalist friend Tatiana (the subject of the previous novel in the series) who has not returned from the region following an assignment involving an oligarch.As the plot unfolds we are introduced to a wide variety of characters from criminal suspects to powerful oligarchs. There are some very dramatic action scenes, some of which I felt were a little implausible but this didn't stop my enjoyment of the story. In addition, besides the very atmospheric locations (you can almost sense how cold Siberia can be in some scenes) and the dramatic action scenes, there is also some romance thrown into the plot. Even the local wildlife have a role to play in this story!For me, The Siberian Dilemma is another terrific crime thriller and one I would highly recommend worth considering if you are looking for a page-turning, action thriller with a gripping plot that is set in some very atmospheric locations and with a cast that includes some very nefarious characters.

When you read a Renko book by Martin Cruz Smith you enter a willing suspension of disbelief and prepare to enjoy the story and the priceless dialog. You no longer care that Arkady must be in his seventies by now, nor do you deem necessary for the author to sprinkle Russian words in italic here and there to add authenticity to the dialog, as most other writers would do. Smith’s Russians speak colloquial American English, whether they be Muscovites or Buryats.You just enjoy the rare pleasure of following the vicissitudes of your unlikely hero against an equally unlikely Russian backdrop that might well be hand-painted for all you care.

Bueno, pero después de su magnifico Polar Star, cuesta disfrutar de sus otras obras.