Hotel Ukraine by Martin Cruz Smith
I’m very glad that Martin Cruz Smith resisted the temptation to kill off his main character Arkady Renko – something he may have considered as he knew this was his last book about the intrepid Russian police investigator who he had been writing about since 1981 (starting with Gorky Park and including ten other books including this one). Indeed this was Cruz Smith’s last book as he died in July 2025 having published the book earlier in the year. He wrote in the acknowledgements in Hotel Ukraine: ‘There is only one Arkady, and I will miss him’ and I thoroughly agree. I tried to spin the book out for as long as I could to make it last as long as possible,
Once again the story involves real events – this time it is the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The villain, Volkov (‘wolf’ in Russian) is based on Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group (a private military force) who led a brief rebellion against the Russian Government, and a short time later died in a mysterious plane crash. This event is alluded to in the novel when Arkady speculates about what could be in the future for a man like Volkov. This is an example of the sly political humour in the books which readers have come to know and love.
However it is the character of Arkady which is the main draw card – his cynical but persistent pursuit of justice which puts him at odds with those in power. In Hotel Ukraine the powerful are members of the FSB (formerly the KGB) and their bosses. Arkady’s dogged investigation of a brutal murder of a government minister leads him into extreme danger and ends with a fast-paced action scene. This is in spite of the fact that Arkady is suffering from Parkinson’s disease, and he has already been put on gardening leave from the police department because of it. (Incidentally, Cruz Smith also suffered from Parkinson’s.)
I will miss Arkady and wish him well in his forced retirement – but I can’t believe he will be truly happy not being able to investigate and solve murders!
Hotel Ukraine is a fitting conclusion to the series. Five stars.
Reviewed by Penny Harvey
