Ideale Reiseliteratur für den Cuba-Pauschaltouristen: Ein Klassebuch, für den Cuba-Pauschaltouristen als Reisevorbereitung. Aber auch gut geeignet für den Cuba-Urlauber während des Aufenthaltes auf der Insel.
Ein Klassekrimi der einen Einblick in das Leben auf Kuba liefert. Er ist spannend, geht unter die Haut und ist unterhaltend.

A very depressed Renko is in Havana to identify a body that seem to be that of Pribluda. He becomes involved in a new investigation that takes the reader to meet several interesting Cuban characters and a derelict Havana. The plot is very engaging and the writing is excellent. This is a sophisticated thriller/detective story. Great fun ( )

Arkady Renko is a depressed remnant of the Soviet Union. An disillusioned, honest, police detective in a corrupting world. In this the fourth novel in the series he is investigating the disappearance of his former ally in post-Soviet Cuba.
As with all the Arkady Renko novels this one is dripping with atmosphere. Perhaps given the Cuban setting we should say it is sweating with atmosphere. Despite the sunbathed setting Arkady again finds the dark side with corrupt police, voodoo religions, prostitution, and American mafiosa. There is also the obligatory comely female protagonist for him to get to grips with.
This is not an uplifting light read but it is a film noir adventure with great characters, interesting location, and plenty of plot twists and nail-biting moments. A well written book, I liked it tremendously. ( )

Arkady Renko began his fictional career as a Soviet militia (police) investigator. By the third book in the series Red Square, the Soviet Union had collapsed - into the dustbin of history as it were - and in the fourth installment he has traveled to Havana on his own dime to investigate the disappearance of an old `friend'. As the book opens, Renko is present at bay side when the Cuban police retrieve a grossly decayed body from the water. Is it Pribluda? And how has he died?

Renko, however, is distracted by his own more personal grief. Devastated by the death of his wife at the hands of incompetent Russian doctors, Renko prepares to kill himself in Havana. Just then Arkady is interrupted by Cubans trying to kill him, which rather oddly nudges him back toward life. He forms a liaison with beautiful Cuban detective Ofelia Osorio - a liaison which neither of them particularly desires. Russians are persona non grata in post-Soviet era Cuba, a country now cut off from its source of largesse.

Cuba seems shabby and run-down. We see otherwise good Communists dabbling in strange voodoo-like rituals. Nothing works very well, except perhaps the people (well some of them anyway). Old cars, iffy electricity, doubtful food supplies.

Renko and Osorio slowly unravel a complex web of intrigue. Along the way, Cruz Smith populates his book with various interesting characters including a wealthy ex-pat American (suggestive of Robert Vesco), a former black power American radical (modeled on William Lee Brent?), a homicidal police detective, and an ingenious, but devious pathologist. A plot if afoot to make a killing, millions of dollars and more, but how high does it go?

Good fun for fans of Arkady Renko, even if it is not the best book in the series. ( )

Arkady Renko, mystery, Russia, Moscow, Communists, Soviet Union, detective, Cuba, Havana ( )