"STALIN'S GHOST" by Martin Cruz Smith

Excellent book. This crime-writing, prize-winning author has gained a cadre of loyal readers since the sensational "Gorky Park." It is in my all-time-favorites-category. Stalin's is not the only ghost to inhabit this story. As the story progressed and the battlefield was dug up, I could sensed a gauzy shroud of ghosts hovering over the landscape -- ghosts of the millions & millions of people that Stalin killed. The vastness of the war, the landscape, the starvation, the misery is described with enough objectively that the reader's emotions are spared. Yet
 the mind's eye takes it all in. That is the mark of a great writer.

We continue following the sorry career of Det. Arkady Renko as he strives to stop a popular war hero from becoming President of Russia. Renko has a professional interest in thwarting Isakov's rise to power. He found that there was no "great heroic battle" at a key bridge; rather, it was savage killings ruthlessly covered up to hide the truth. But Renko has another reason for doggedly pursuing Isakov. Jealousy -- his lover, Eva, has left him for Isakov.

This is not a large book (hard copy is 331 pages) but the author deftly weaves about 40 characters into the story. The reader gets just enough information about each one to see where he/she fits in the plot, without losing sight of the mail plot and its important parts. For example, Renko and Isakov's fathers were both responsible for terrible crimes during the war. The difference was that the senior Renko enjoyed a posh life as "one of Stalin's favorites," while Isakov lived in a drunken stupor in order to perform his job each day.

There are events that show the father's cruelty to Arkady as a child. But he doesn't wallow in self-pity -- he sets it aside and moves on with his life. The reader understands, however, why Arkady dislikes him. The reader doesn't like him either. He's a really bad guy!

Renko does his dangerous business with little help from his superiors or his colleagues who purposely make life hard for him. He seems accepting of the fact that his job puts his life in grave danger, and yet he takes the risks to make things right. In the movie, "Gorky Park,' the actor William Hurt played Renko as a nice guy, reticent, easy-going but persistent and admirable. That's how I see Renko in these pages. I like him.

The only flaw for me is that things get a little out of control when at various times he is threatened, shot, punched, garroted, pushed around, beaten, dumped, hit and, o yes, heartbroken. Much of it was unnecessary -- unless I just missed the point. Too much mayhem & I lose interest. But the good thing is that nothing distracted from the great story, the great characters, and a really enjoyable book.