AUDIO

Tatiana

by Martin Cruz Smith
(Arkady Renko, Bk. 8). 7 CDs. retail ed. unabridged. 8 hrs. S. & S. Audio. 2013. ISBN 9781442364363. $29.99; digital download. F
COPY ISBN
Cryptography, chess, amber wars, and missing corpses combine in this serviceable series entry (after Three Stations) set in modern Russia, with locales alternating between Moscow and the bleak coastal city of Kaliningrad. The suspicious death of a female journalist seems to police investigator Arkady Renko to be related to the murder of a gangster, as well as to some international intrigue. Corruption in post-Soviet Russia apparently still abounds, and listeners do get a sense of a country in which freedom of the press is not a given. Narrator Henry Strozier's gravelly voice and world-weary delivery suits the character of Renko very well, although sometimes in dialog it is difficult for a moment to distinguish among speakers.
VERDICT Recommended for libraries where the author is popular, although the stakes in earlier series entries have seemed higher. ["Burnished to a fine sheen, this tale has it all: a high-velocity plot…endearing chess-playing teenagers, patricide, and death-defying Renko, still indomitable despite a scarred and weary hide," read the starred review of the S. & S. hc, LJ 9/1/13.]
Reviewed by Victoria A. Caplinger, NoveList, Durham, NC , Apr 01, 2014
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