Red Square - Martin Cruz Smith [0]
RED SQUARE
“As good as popular fiction should be.”
—The Washington Post Book World
“Devilishly alarming … It lives up to the Red-noir standards of Renko and reminds us of the working human condition of love and death, lunacy and fun, that always seemed to be there beyond the cold war scrim.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“With its twists and turns and romantic subtext, played against a backdrop of decadence and despair, Red Square functions much like an off-shore Maltese Falcon. Yet Smith’s approach, while street-smart and wry is ultimately rich and affirmative.… What ultimately sets the Renko books apart is the careful writing, and, more importantly, the knowledge of the human heart that is carried through it, through them, first to last.”
—Chicago Tribune
“Welcome home, Arkady Renko. The hero of Gorky Park and Polar Star returns to Moscow in a thriller so dense with observation and atmosphere, it rivals John le Carré.… Renko [is] the most touching character to grace the pages of a novel since The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.”
—Cosmopolitan
“Arkady Renko is one of the more memorable creations of cold-war fiction, as clever, guilt-ridden, and self-effacing as any George Smiley.”
—Newsweek
“A solid and entertaining winner.”
—New York Daily News
“Gripping … Vividly capture[s] the essence of the new Russia … The climax of Red Square takes place in Moscow during the hard-line coup attempt of August 1991. The texture of that remarkable time is captured quite adeptly: The moment is simultaneously tense and festive, bizarre and ordinary, grave and absurd. It’s Mr. Smith at his best.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“Red Square is a pleasure to read. It moves well, its dialogue is superb and its depiction of underground Moscow is chilling. Just as we read, say, Tony Hillerman to learn about the Navajo, we read Martin Cruz Smith for a ringside seat at the messy brawls that passed for life in the last days of the Soviet Union.”
—Newsday
“Martin Cruz Smith is a fine writer, and not just by the standards of the thriller. Red Square, a serious novel of contemporary history, enlightens even as it entertains.”
—USA Today
“Ingenious … It’s Renko’s dispirited character that makes Red Square compelling.… Communism, capitalism—whatever the ism, there’ll always be a need for a good homicide cop.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Cruz finds as much excitement, action, and suspense in international crime rings as he did during the Cold War.”
—Playboy
“Fabulous.”
—Cosmopolitan
“Smith’s work simultaneously possesses a wonderfully informed eloquence and a certain scrappiness.… He’s the master of muscular elegance.… There’s no one writing better thrillers today.… Arkady Renko [is] one of modern fiction’s greatest detectives.”
—Mademoiselle
“Mesmerizing … Spellbinding … The kind of intrigue, atmosphere, and excitement not seen from Smith since Renko’s megaselling debut in Gorky Park.… Brimming with political insight and psychological nuance.… A powerful reaffirmation of Renko’s love/hate for Russia as one of the great romances of thriller fiction.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“The Soviet upheavals have fueled the glowing talent of Smith, America’s preeminent writer of Russia-based thrillers.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Red Square is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
2007 Ballantine Books Trade Paperback Edition
Copyright © 1992 by Martin Cruz Smith
Dossier copyright © 2007 by Random House, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
BALLANTINE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. MORTALIS and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to Little, Brown and Company for permission to reprint six lines from “The Last Toast