Stalin's Ghost

Starred review from April 2, 2007
Moscow-based Senior Investigator Arkady Renko, in his outstanding sixth outing (after Wolves Eat Dogs
), investigates a murder-for-hire scheme that leads him to suspect two fellow police detectives, Nikolai Isakov and Marat Urman, both former members of Russia's elite Black Berets, who served in Chechnya. Isakov, a war hero, is now running for public office. Renko must also look into reports that the ghost of Stalin has begun appearing on subway platforms and why several bodies of Black Berets who served in Chechnya with Isakov have turned up in the morgue. Despite repeated threats to his life, Renko stubbornly perseveres, seeking justice in a land that has no official notion of that concept. Smith eschews vertiginous twists and surprises, concentrating instead on Renko as he slowly and patiently builds his case until the pieces fall together and he has again, if not exactly triumphed, at least survived. This masterful suspense novel casts a searing light on contemporary Russia. 250,000 first printing.

Moscow investigator Arkady Renko fights demons, some imagined and some real. In this outing he must investigate recent sightings of Stalin, which coincide with a political campaign that backs his nemesis. As Renko digs deeper into the case, an ugly episode in his country's past comes to the fore, pitting truth against patriotism. In addition, a teen chess prodigy he cares for must determine his allegiances. Furthermore, his lover's fate is intertwined with his rival's. Ron McLarty's voice varies enough to distinguish character traits, but his forte is his deliberate pacing. McLarty gives Renko a sense of calm rationality through all of his travails. M.B. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine