Wolves Eat Dogs

De: Martin Cruz Smith

Narrado por: Henry Strozier

A Moscow detective is sent to Chernobyl for a frightening case in the most spectacular entry yet in Martin Cruz Smith’s Arkady Renko series.

In his groundbreaking Gorky Park, Martin Cruz Smith created an iconic detective of contemporary fiction. Quietly subversive, brilliantly analytical, and haunted by melancholy, Arkady Renko survived, barely, the journey from the Soviet Union to the New Russia, only to find his transformed nation just as obsessed with corruption and brutality as was the old Communist dictatorship.

In Wolves Eat Dogs, Renko returns for his most enigmatic and baffling case yet: the death of one of Russia’s new billionaires, which leads him to Chernobyl and the Zone of Exclusion—closed to the world since 1986’s nuclear disaster. It is still aglow with radioactivity, now inhabited only by the militia, shady scavengers, a few reckless scientists, and some elderly peasants who refuse to relocate. Renko’s journey to this ghostly netherworld, the crimes he uncovers there, and the secrets they reveal about the New Russia make for an unforgettable adventure.

sarcophagus speaks

Another good investigator Renko story, 20 years after the Chernobyl disaster. Strozier’s narration is spectacular, adjusting his voice and accent for the many different character. This was the first Renko book I listened too versus physically read. Not seeing the printed names, it took me a little time to distinguish and separate the characters.

Overwhelming

What made the experience of listening to Wolves Eat Dogs the most enjoyable?

Arcady Renko never disappoints and this book is one of the best!! Set in post-meltdown Chernoble, it is stark, disturbing and oh so beautiful.

What other book might you compare Wolves Eat Dogs to and why?

Unlike some of the other more recent Renkos, this book is set outside the grime of cities. For a real experience, go to the author's website - he has photographs there of his own trip to Chernoble, which he has painted in lush richness for us in words. How can something be at once lush and stark?? I don't know but MCS does it.

Which scene was your favorite?

The ruined amusement park, reminiscent of the ferris wheel scene in Gorky Park, is particularly evocative.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The setting, and Arkady's equally bleak, resigned, but still vitally alive response to it, are the most moving aspects of this book. As with all these books, the plot is intricate and satisfying in both its complexity and its economy. Every detail is significant. And in this book we meet Yeva, and with her a new opportunity for Arcady to try to construct a meaningful inner life for himself.

Any additional comments?

I cannot think of a better way to immerse yourself in Arcady Renko's world than with this audiobook. Arcady's personality emerges so intensely thru the expert reading by the narrator, Henry Strozier. Any reader who has not experienced this series of books has an incredible experience awaiting him!!!

Weak reader, interesting story.

Probably the least compelling of all the Renko novels. Wolves eat dogs is an awkward sequel, something that feels phony compared to his better works.

Reader here was terrible. Little expression, quiet voice, no punch,

A radioactive amusement park

I listened to this book immediately after listening to Stalin's Ghost.They are clearly woven by the same hand but in many ways different. Mr Cruz Smith has become a tour guide for Soviet catastrophes and abominations. In Wolves Eat Dogs it is the disaster from the fallout of the explosion at Chernobyl. In Stalin's Ghost it is the mass executions at the killing fields of Tver. In either case he makes the history and its exposition fascinating.
Most of the story in Wolves eat Dogs occurs in the exclusion Zone around Chernobyl, where assorted characters, doctors and scientists reside in a radioactive wonderland. Animals thrive and plants thrive despite the radioactivity because there are no humans, a much greater threat to their survival. Mammoth cities constructed before the explosion remain abandoned and uninhabited, just as would occur in an Armageddon scenario. And what remains, human, animal and plant is from an alien Universe.Into this setting stumbles Arkhady Renko, a Moscow investigator, whose sole preoccupation is to discover the truth, which makes him laughable because he is completely out of step with everyone else who is driven by lust, avarice and revenge. These include an American mobster masquerading as a Hassidic jew, a radioactive Russian doctor and many, many more. The murder mystery itself is not nearly as interesting as the zone, the explanation for how Chernobyl occurred and the bungled aftermath of the explosion, and finally the creation of this netherworld. This is one of the most creative and off beat books I have read. I highly recommend it.

Thrilling; genuinely Russian. Cruz Rules!

For those of you already familiar with Arkady Renko, this book will not disappoint. He is a unique creation in fiction, and I cannot wait for Martin Cruz Smith to re-create him. Henry Strozier is also a great narrator. The combination will provide you with many hours of entertainment. Being in Renko's company is like seeing the world through the eyes of a master detective, cynical on the surface, romantic underneath, masterful in skill. To set this novel in Chernobyl reflects the author's courage. Cruz Smith's research and attention to detail is unknown in this genre: the truly real historical fiction but-really-not-fictional mystery. He takes you to places you've never been (unless you are a real Russo-phile) and he shows you how the people live in a way that is unmistakably true. Renko stumbles into a substitute father-son relationship with Zhenya, a master teenage chess ace, who lives on the streets and hustles chess for a living. He likewise stumbles into a chaotic romantic relationship with Dr. Yva Casca, a resident of "The Zone" (the hyperdestructive radioactive circle around the collapsed nuclear reactor in Chernobyl). Their relationship is triangulated with a character I will not mention. There are several subplots. The final scene is a work of true genius. Once you read it, you may never again feel the same about novels in general. Cruz Smith has been a master for decades. I hope he lives to be 100. Enjoy!