Red Square by Martin Cruz Smith

This was my next novel about Russia, but I never finished it. I just could not get excited about the characters even though the set up was pretty good. In this murder intrigue, Special Investigator Arkady Renko is sent to solve the murder of Rudy Rosen, an underworld figure. As is typical of such books, Arkady has a dark past, having previously worked in Moscow as a Special Investigator, only to get demoted and shipped way out of town. All he had done was participate in the murder of a prosecutor, apparently one who deserved it. So, his tenure back in Moscow is dependent on him being a good boy, but his ethics keep him from toeing the line, especially when his orders seem to prevent him from solving the crime. Of course, his boss is not a good guy, just a Communist party guy. Arkday’s dad was a famous man under Stalin, his “favorite general,” which meant that he had killed lots of people at the direction of Stalin. Despite his father’s numerous medals and his subsequent fame in the country, Arkady was embarrassed by all that his father had done. It was said of his father, “General Renko never surrendered; he wouldn’t have surrendered if he’d had nothing but dead to command.” Arkady was divorced, and he was in lust with a woman that had fled to Munich and was working for a radio station that beamed basic news information and propaganda to Russian citizens. Even giving what I thought were potentially interesting characters, this was a very slowly developing book. I ended up not really caring about them or where this plot was going, so at 2/3 of the way through, I quit reading. It’s disappointing because I was getting some of the geography and current lifestyle info that I was hoping for, and he’s written several books. Too bad. I can’t give this one my recommendation.