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Wolves Eat Dogs (Arkady Renko Novels)

Simon & Schuster

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Average customer rating: 4 stars

Sturdy Renko returns

I was glad to follow along once again with my sturdy investigator Arkady Renko, and to be able to return for a Russian history lesson. I thought this was a complex story that I had to read carefully, but Martin Cruz Smith ensured that all the parts were pulled together to make for an exciting read. I wouldn't rate Wolves as one of Mr. Smith's best novels, but it still was a fantastic read. Highly recommend to all Martin Cruz Smith fans.

Unmatched

Martin Cruz Smith never lets me down!!!! I would not call it one of his best, however very satisfied and enjoyed the read very very much!!! Have recommended this book to many MCS's fans, and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for one of the best, exciting reads!!

2 1/2 stars -- Hoped for better

Last year, I read Smith's Havana Bay and found it lacking. As I approached Wolves Eat Dogs, I was sincerely hoping that it would be closer to Gorky Park than Havana Bay. Alas, it was not. Perhaps it is not fair to compare all of Smith's works with my 25-year memory of Gorky Park, which I thought was fantastic. Renko's sense of melancholy and the depressing portrayal of life in Chernobl was simply too much for me. The usual zip simply was not present. I have Stalin's Ghost on the bookshelf. Hopefully it will prove to be closer to Gorky Park that this was. If not, I will have to pass on Smith's future works.

Part history, part travelogue, part mystery

This novel is a combination of Soviet history, travelogue, and murder mystery. I would argue that the weakest part of the story is the murder mystery- Renko spends much of his time in the Exclusion Zone, by his own admission, accomplishing nothing. And then the author employs the shopworn technique of the baddie explaining everything to Renko just before he is to kill him. The novel earns four stars for its indictment of the Soviets' monstrous indifference to the population in the wake of Chernobyl, as well as Smith's depiction of life in the Zone's radioactive villages.

I saw Baba Yaga today.

A billionaire in the "New Russia" after the collapse of Communism commits suicide. Homicide investigator Arkady Renko once again inherits the unpopular case; he thinks that something drove the billionaire to do it.

Renko is now in his late forties and alone in life: his parents both committed suicide long ago, he is unmarried, and he has no children. Somehow he gets burdened with an 11 year-old boy in a children's shelter who has no interests other than chess and fairy tales.

He manages to keep his link with the kid, communicating with him by phone, as he's sent to the bizarre wasteland of the Chernobyl evacuation land itself to investigate events that may have precipitated the billionaire's suicide. Some of his phone conversations with the boy are pricelessly funny.

Meanwhile, Renko tries to fit in with the weird community of research scientists, old villagers, and scavengers and get answers to his questions. Once again, he is a fascinating character: modest, perceptive, and possessing a fine sense of black humor.