Review: Stalin's Ghost

When citizens call the police station looking to hire a professional spouse killer, it’s clear there’s a problem. But this is Moscow and Detective Arkady Renko knows he must tread carefully, lest he end up dead or, worse, in Siberia.

Besides, he and his vodka-pickled partner Victor (who intercepted the murder-for-hire solicitation at a colleague’s phone) already have an assignment - to investigate late-night subway sightings of Stalin’s ghost. While these are obviously staged, Stalin still has the power to stir up nostalgia, nationalism, and bitterness. Not a healthy mix with elections coming up, and the brass wants it stopped.

Instead, Renko manages to nearly drown a decorated veteran, a member of the Black Berets, an elite commando corp. who fought in Chechnya. Interestingly, the half-drowned thug served with the two cops suspected of being hit men for hire, Urman and Isakov. Isakov was the commando unit’s charismatic leader – and is now running for political office.

Isakov is also apparently having an affair with Renko’s lover Eva (introduced in “Wolves Eat Dogs,” a haunting, harrowing novel which takes place inside Chernobyl’s dead zone), who has moved out.

But, personal matters aside, Isakov and Urman’s former comrades are dying at an alarming rate, of gruesome causes. And, as Renko digs, he too becomes a target. Despite near-successful murder attempts, Renko perseveres, following a murky, winding trail back to WWII’s Eastern Front, the mass graves of Russian soldiers, and the exhumation of long-buried war crimes.

Smith’s artistry with words has few peers. With dark humor and deadpan wit he breathes life into quirky, battered and determined characters. He sets the reader squarely in gritty, majestic Moscow, a city and a population steeped in and scarred by history.

The plot unfolds against a background of grasping opportunism, mass privation and secrecy, Renko’s stubbornness equaled only by his patience. Suspense depends on the build-up of unbearable pressure, and the amassing of intriguing detail, further absorbing the reader into Renko’s world.

Renko’s depiction of the new Russia is dark, complex and illuminating and dogged Renko is a contrarian hero to root for.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Lynn Harnett

Book Review: Stalin's Ghost