Three Stations

An Arkady Renko Novel

By: Martin Cruz Smith

Narrated by: Ron McLarty

Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

A passenger train hurtling through the night. An unwed teenage mother headed to Moscow to seek a new life. A cruel-hearted soldier looking furtively, forcibly, for sex. An infant disappearing without a trace.

So begins Martin Cruz Smith’s masterful Three Stations, a suspenseful, intricately constructed novel featuring Investigator Arkady Renko.

For the last three decades, beginning with the trailblazing Gorky Park, Renko (and Smith) have captivated readers with detective tales set in Russia. Renko is the ironic, brilliantly observant cop who finds solutions to heinous crimes when other lawmen refuse to even acknowledge that crimes have occurred. He uses his biting humor and intuitive leaps to fight not only wrongdoers but the corrupt state apparatus as well.

In Three Stations, Renko’s skills are put to their most severe test. Though he has been technically suspended from the prosecutor’s office for once again turning up unpleasant truths, he strives to solve a last case: the death of an elegant young woman whose body is found in a construction trailer on the perimeter of Moscow’s main rail hub. It looks like a simple drug overdose to everyone—except to Renko, whose examination of the crime scene turns up some inexplicable clues, most notably an invitation to Russia’s premier charity ball, the billionaires’ Nijinksy Fair.

Thus a sordid death becomes interwoven with the lifestyles of Moscow’s rich and famous, many of whom are clinging to their cash in the face of Putin’s crackdown on the very oligarchs who placed him in power. Renko uncovers a web of death, money, madness. and a kidnapping that threatens the woman he is coming to love and the lives of children he is desperate to protect. In Three Stations, Smith produces a complex and haunting vision of an emergent Russia’s secret underclass of street urchins, greedy thugs, and a bureaucracy still paralyzed by power and fear.

Solve another case with Arkady Renko.

©2010 Titanic Productions. All rights reserved. (P)2010 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

“[Smith] takes what in essence is a police procedural and elevates it to the level of absorbing fiction.” ( Los Angeles Times)

"A continuing adventure that in terms of popular fiction is surely a work of art.” ( Washington Post)

"The sustained success of Smith’s Renko books is based on much more than Renko. This author’s gift for tart, succinct description creates a poisonous political backdrop, one that makes his characters’ survival skills as important as any of their other attributes. . . [This is] one top-flight series, still sharply honed, none the worse for wear.” ( New York Times)

Good listen but the end felt rushed

While not quite as good as some of the previous Renko books, I was caught up with this one and I enjoyed some of the fresh elements. Zhenya was a pleasant surprise- based on his personality in a previous book I thought he would be an annoying character to follow, but he was sympathetic without changing his fundamental nature. The author also doesn't rely heavily on a love triangle the way he did in many of the books.

Cruz Smith switches expertly between multiple POVs, some of them unexpected, always advancing the plot and never wasting time catching one character up with what the reader already knows. Everything seemed ready to come to a head nicely. Unfortunately the last quarter of the book falters. People return from disgrace with no explanation, key characters are not mentioned for several chapters running. There are also a lot of coincidences and reuse of characters, making Moscow seem a lot smaller than it should.

I still rate it as a good listen, and if you are prepared accept some coincidences and a resolution that felt rushed, there are plenty of good moments and memorable characters. The reader does a good job with it. I'm looking forward to the next one.

another good one

A relatively short but sweet one. not a fan of this particular narrator though. not close to the person reading the first several books in the series.

NOT up to Cruz Smith's standard of writing

Good character development. Lots of suggested linkages in plot segments. Plenty of people to "like" or "dislike". Goodly quantities of merciless, gratuitous gore. Not a bad read until the end. Then, it's as if Cruz took a look at his word processor statistics, discovered that he had written the contractually-required number of words and "finished' the book within the next half an hour. There are WAY too many loose ends and unresolved issues at the end of this book!

Running on Empty

I've read all the Arkady Renko books and am a great fan. So even when MC Smith puts in a pedestrian effort, with minimal character development -- it's still worth a read. But it was also a disappointment given what Smith can do in terms of pulling you into a new setting (Three Stations is still in Moscow, guess I've been spoiled by recent excursions to Havana and Chernobyl). I even had to check to make sure this was an unbridged version because the book seemed to skip over chapters of character, place and plot development. And everything seemed to fall in Arkady's lap. Again, Smith is such a good writer that it's still worth a listen, but next one, please get back up to your usual speed.

Narrator not my favorite.

What made the experience of listening to Three Stations the most enjoyable?

Martin Cruz Smith's stories are always a great read.

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator for this book as not nearly as good as the one for the prior books. His voice and voices do not fit with the story and characters in this book.

total bummer

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I'd recommend this book to a friend who has already read all the arkady renko novels and is wondering whether or not to read the last one. Otherwise, not a chance.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

When other arkady renko books ended there was that feeling of saying goodbye to an old friend. When this one ended - eh...

What didn’t you like about Ron McLarty’s performance?

Totally the wrong voice. It came out of left field. It felt more like a NYC detective with Russian names rather than the Arkady I know - cynical and laced with amused irony (and perhaps a wee bit curmudgeon). The voice was actually distracting. Please, re-record it with Henry Strozier or Frank Muller. Though I prefered Strozier - they were both Arkady. McLarty definitely was not.

disjointed, not the best

first renko novel i didn't enjoy. story wasn't crafted well and seemed rushed. character development was lacking. it seemed like a book written to appease a publisher's quota.

narrator had difficulties applying the correct voice to the correct character all the while treating it like a NYC/NJ detective story. probably would think twice before listening to another book narrated by him.

Don't start here..

If you want to get to know "Russia" and Arkady Renko, don't start here - go directly to Gorky Park and then especially through Wolves Eat Dogs (one of the most captivating novels I've listened to in awhile - the section on the how and why of Chernobyl? Compelling and frightening...) and then there's this. Just a blip in the 3/5 category, I hope, until the next one. It's still good only because it is Renko: the life and times of the top five best detective series out there (inc. Dave Robicheaux, etc). Too much sideline, not enough Arakady, though, and what makes Moscow really tick. I am hoping for more and remain optimistic of better from Martin Cruz Smith.....a great reader is provided in this series, but not a great manuscript.

not the best Martin Cruz Smith novel

I found the story hard to follow and most of the characters not very interesting. I have read or listen to most of his novels and this one just didn't hold my interest.

Not up to the usual

I am a big fan of this author. His book Rose is incredible. This novel however seems to wander a bit and just doesn't carry that ability the author has to immerse us in the character that he has demonstrated so well in the past. Wish it had been better because I really am a fan and wait for any new novels by this author