Martin Cruz Smith - Havana Bay: A Novel

Pros: It's a Renko novel. What more do you want?
Cons: None that I could find, save the twist at the start.

A while back, I had tried to read this novel, but had stopped after about thirty pages, as my heart wasn't really into reading it. I won't mention what the incident in the book was, but it was nearly enough to make me throw the book at the wall and vow ...

Pros: Arkady Renko's character, exotic setting,and Smith's beautiful prose
Cons: None that are significant

Like an old friend who suddenly comes back into your life after a long absence, Arkady Renko, the morose alienated Moscow Militia Investigator introduced in Gorky Park (1981) returns in Martin Cruz Smith’s new thriller Havana Bay. Arkady...

Pros: GREAT PLOT, CHARACTERS AND SETTING
Cons: A FEW MINOR GLITCHES

It's been almost a year now since I started writing for Epinions. My first review was Stephen Coonts techno thriller "Cuba." when I picked it up I thought it would be a good read. I enjoy the genre, and anyone who knows me, knows I have an interest in...

Pros: Brilliant, muscular, spellbinding
Cons: none

Martin Cruz Smith, author of the brilliant "Gorky Park", is back on the bestseller lists with a powerful tale of treachery set in the smoldering and romantic city of Havana, Cuba.

Arkady Renko, a morose senior investigator in the...

Pros: textured atmospheric brutal elegiac symbolic relevant
Cons: the same admirable Renko, with everything forever changed

"Havana Bay" revives Arkady Renko by thrusting him in the middle of an intricate plot to trap conspirators intending to assassinate Fidel Castro.

His plans for suicide being interrupted by the conspirators themselves, he takes an...

Pros: The return of Arkady Renko
Cons: A mixed-up plot; hit and miss

Arkady Renko has endured as one of the heroes of Cold War fiction. He's as mournfully romantic as only a Russian could be, yet he is as dogged as Philip Marlowe. That is why, when a new Renko novel from Martin Cruz Smith arrives, I rush to the...

Pros: Well defined characters, insights into modern Cuban life
Cons: Weak finale, bit of a slow pace

More than the mystery plot, the reason to pick up Martin Cruz Smith’s Havana Bay is Arkady Renko, the novel’s hero.
Returning from Gorky Park, Polar Star and other novels, this time around the Moscow homicide investigator is depressed...

Pros: Renko, Smith, a mystery
Cons: high expectations to live up to

I could hardly wait to read this book. Arkady Renko's first outing, Gorky Park, not only made me love the author, but the setting as well. Does Havana Bay do the same thing for Cuba that Gorky did for Russia? No, it's not in the category of...

Pros: Cuba seems very accurately depicted
Cons: Clumsy where it counts most (the pacing)

I loved "Gorky Park" way back when, but MCS's other works really haven't won my loyalty.

This new one was for me quite a pleasant infotainment (about Cuba in Castro's declining years) up until the last few chapters, when the many,...