Book description
Moscow lies deep under snow, and Arkady Renko is called in to handle a
delicate matter: passengers riding the last metro of the night have
reported seeing the ghost of Stalin on the platform edge. Not everyone,
it seems, likes the fact that Stalin is dead . . . But in the midst of a
blizzard nothing is as it first appears to be. Renko's girlfriend Eva
and his adopted son, Zhenya, seem to be slipping into danger. The owner
of a matrimonial agency wants her husband killed. An innocent 'Russian
Bride' employs a garrotte. A chess grandmaster wanders into Renko's life
and leads him into the line of fire. Diehard Communists gather to sing
along with Stalin. 'Red Diggers' uncover secrets buried for half century
in a desolate forest and Renko discovers ghosts that have been waiting
for him all his life . . . As Russia swings more and more to the right,
Renko is more and more out of step. Not only an original and deeply
humane thriller, Stalin's Ghost is also a wonderful evocation of the
emerging New Russia. Praise for Martin Cruz Smith: 'Cruz Smith not only
constructs grittily realistic plots, he also has a gift for
characterisation of which most thriller writers can only dream' Mail on
Sunday
Martin Cruz Smith's novels include Gorky Park, Stallion
Gate, Polar Star, Red Square, Rose and
Havana Bay. A recipient of the CWA Gold Dagger for fiction in
the UK, he is also two-time winner of the Hammett Prize in the United
States. He lives in northern California.
