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Author Martin Cruz Smith
Author Martin Cruz Smith introduced Moscow police detective Arkady Renko in the novel 'Gorky Park' in 1981. There are ten more books in the series, and Renko has aged a bit over time. In 'Hotel Ukraine', Martin Cruz Smith, who has Parkinson's Disease, takes a leaf from his own life and Detective Renko has the same illness. Renko's symptoms are escalating, and he's experiencing weakness, muscle cramps, stiffness, sleeping problems, bad dreams, trouble using his hands, etc.
Renko has been hiding his illness, fearful of being made to retire, but his imbalance and tremors are becoming difficult to conceal. In this book, Renko takes on his final investigation - the murder of a Russian deputy minister of defense.
*****
The story opens in 2022, soon after Russia's initial incursion into Ukraine. Renko's boss, Prosecutor General Zurin - who hates Arkady - tends to push three kinds of cases his way: minor ones that a traffic cop could solve; ones that involve Arkady traveling to distant parts of the Russian federation; and politically sensitive ones that require at least the appearance of Arkady's experience and investigative skills.
Thus Renko and his partner Victor are sent to investigate when a deputy minister of defense, Alexei Kazasky, is found dead in the Hotel Ukraine.
Kazasky is so smashed up he's almost unrecognizable, and the autopsy reveals multiple deep lacerations as well as massive blunt force trauma, as if Kazasky was tortured.
Renko and Victor are joined by another investigator, Marina Makarova from the FSB. Marina - who was once Renko's lover - is a woman of steel "who would always put the FSB first, herself second, and everything and everyone else a distant third."
Marina soon hones in on a suspect, Yuri Blokhin - an advisor at the Ukrainian embassy.
Marina bolsters her case with three male FSB agents who say they followed Blokhin to the Hotel Ukraine on the night of the murder. Marina thinks 'case closed' until Arkady interviews the three male FSB agents and their stories fall apart.
After Blohkin is released from custody, Marina gets Renko dismissed from the case, so she can control the inquiry. Arkady is nothing if not tenacious, however, and he continues investigating with the help of his girlfriend, Tatiana Petrovna - a Moscow-based journalist for the New York Times.
Arkady and Tatiana have reason to believe Kazasky's killer is an officer in a private military force called the 1812. The soldiers in the 1812 - which is funded by Putin himself - are better trained and more capable than the regular Russian army. Right now, the 1812 is in Ukraine, assisting the Russian invasion.
Though it's very dangerous, Arkady and Tatiana go to Ukraine, where they uncover horrific brutality by the Russian troops against civilians....including children. Tatiana plans to write a piece about this, to expose the atrocities. Arkady and Tatiana also identify the person who probably killed Kazasky. The duo's activities put a bullseye on their backs, especially when they learn why Kazasky was killed.
While all this is happening, Renko's adopted son Zhenya, a chess whiz, has joined the Black Army - a group of 'hacktivists' who oppose the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Zhenya will be at great risk if the FSB learns of his activities.
As the story progresses, Arkady, Tatiana, and Zhenya face terrible danger as disparate Russian factions vie for power.
Martin Cruz Smith uses the story as a vehicle to condemn the war in Ukraine, which Russians must call a 'Special Military Action' (rather than a war) to avoid being arrested.
This is Arkady Renko's last case and the end of the series. To me, it seems like the plot of this book is more spare than previous Renko novels, perhaps because of the author's illness. Sadly, Martin Cruz Smith died in July, 2025 after suffering from Parkinson's disease for 30 years.
Fortunately for mystery and suspense fans, we still have Martin Cruz Smith's books.
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