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Title: Havana Bay by Martin Cruz Smith, Stephen Lang ISBN: 0375406700 Publisher: Bantam Books-Audio Pub. Date: June, 1999 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 4 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.64
Rating: 2
Summary: Sad, disappointing Bay
Comment: The Arkady Renko trilogy will always be one of my favorite books. I think of it as one book in three parts and it's right up there in my "Best 20" list. What a disappointment Havana Bay was! After years waiting for the next Renko installment, Martin Cruz Smith mixes ingredients from here and there out of his other Renko novels and then proceeds to serve a cocktail that lacks originality and that most unusual touch: a soul. Call me a romantic, but I think what moved the other Renko books was himself, the Chief Investigator, and what moved him was Irina. I don't want to give away any secrets of the plot (as much as it can be called a plot) but I felt terribly sad and disappointed when, before page 50, the writer had decided to eliminate important supports in the structure of the previous novels. Arkady, who I had come to care about, as all good fiction should do for its characters, solves another mystery, this time in Cuba, and finds a woman, and they have an awkward affair, and, in the end, he is left alone. Smith has decided to take everything away from this man. History got rid of his country, the author who made him got rid of the rest. After reading "Havana Bay" I felt I had to do a mental exercise that I had done before, when the third movie in the "Alien" family came out. In that occasion, I had to pretend the series ended with the second movie, because the third one was so bad as to defy description. I have done the same thing with the Arkady Renko novels, but not very successfully. This mean-spirited, sad, and ultimately cold thriller, is an undeserved ending for one of the best characters in fiction of the 20th Century. The two stars it earns from me are because I was still happy to read about Renko and because, in spite of cloning his own work, Smith writes very well.
Rating: 4
Summary: Very good...yet disappointing
Comment: The first three novels about Arkady Renko were strengthened by a powerful story arc that developed throughout the books--his banishment from and return to mainstream Russian society and the slow development and eventual cosummation of his romance with Irina. Irina's presence figured heavily in Arkady's life throughout those books; even when she was not present, her presence was strongly felt.
With those story arcs concluded, "Havana Bay" feels a bit superfluous. Worse than that, Irina has been eliminated before the events of the novel even begin. Was this really necessary? For those of us who followed Arkady as he struggled through that difficult romance, this is a very disappointing choice on the part of the author. Couldn't Irina have been waiting at home while Renko had his Cuban adventure? Is the idea of a happy Renko so intolerable? Cut the man a little slack, Mr. Smith!
Nevertheless, this book is very enjoyable. The mileau is perfect: decadent, sleazy opportunists scheming in the midst of a crumbling society. Although Martin's Cuba isn't as fully realized as his European locales, his eye for telling detail and interesting local color remains sharp. Arkady's ally, Ofelia Osorio, is a fascinating protagonist--I would be happy to read a book about her alone. She possesses the passion for finding the truth that seems to be somewhat dimmed in Renko this time around.
Rating: 4
Summary: Well written atmospherics
Comment: M. C. Smith is a good writer displaying a nice balance of description, dialogue, and deft plotting. This is the third book of his I've read and greatly enjoyed. We are just as puzzled as Moscow investigator Arkady Renko to find ourselves in Fidel Castro's Havana with a rotting body on our hands. Smith masterfully tightens the screws, scrambles the alignments of the characters, builds and shifts apparent conspiracies, and thoroughly triangulates poor Renko. The plot circles back to its start, once, twice. The silent maelstrom widens, with sudden spates of information or new characters, sucking Renko in and down among colorful people who suddenly change their spots. There's also a sparkle of romance with a Cuban detective, Osorio, but what really is her motive for consorting with a despised Russian? What is going on here? I certainly couldn't figure it out. As well, I do find it hard to anticipate Renko or know why he is doing something...but that keeps it interesting. A nit I still don't understand is why he long kept certain things about himself secret--like his wife--or how he knew when to happen to hide key items just in time: on what grounds is he so extraordinarily secretive in loose-living Havana?
Smith's Havana has the authentic feel of a poor Latin American city, its sights and colors, except perhaps for just how persistently sweaty it must be for a Renko direct from wintry Moscow. It is a grimly retrograde environment peopled by failed socialists on the make, several large brutes, poverty amid faded spendor, and a stink of ingenious corruptions and make-do (irruptions of an alleged "Cuban Method" that smack of Carl Hiaasen's mordant humor). Renko exhibits more a Le Carre cynicism or gallows humor in this haunted society, and then as a hunted man. Smith has written an entertaining story containing many puzzling events. I enjoyed the ride more than the ending.
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Title: Red Square by Martin Cruz Smith ISBN: 0345384733 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: December, 1993 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: December 6: A Novel by Martin Smith ISBN: 0684872536 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 30 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Rose by Martin Cruz Smith ISBN: 034542252X Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith ISBN: 0345298349 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: December, 1993 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Polar Star by Martin Cruz Smith ISBN: 0345367650 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: December, 1993 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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