Englischsprachige Literatur

Cruz Smith Martin

Three Stations

Pocket Books/Simon&Schuster, 2010

Galbraith3

Martin Cruz Smith has been writing about Russia for quite some time. He started with “Gorki Park” back in the Sovjet Union and “Three Stations”, his latest, plays in Putin´s present day Russia. Again Arkady Renko, though suspended for being politically incorrect, is investigating more thoroughly than his officials care.

In the centre is “Three Stations”, Moscow´s main rail hub. A 14-year-old runaway prostitute arrives here with her baby, who is stolen from her. An elegant young woman is found dead in a trailer nearby. The authorities treat her as a prostitute who died from an overdose, but of course Renko knows better and in the end can solve a whole series of crimes. All´s well that ends well, but Cruz Smith is more interested in the seedy life of Moscow´s underclass who live on the streets, specially the very young women, than in a logical plot.