Synopsis

Arkady Renko returnsin this tense political thriller, from one of the undisputed masters of the genre. When Arkady Renko is charged with investigating the murder of Alexei Kazasky,the Deputy Minister of Defence, he knows he has to tread carefully. Alexei Kazasky is a high-profile politician and has a complicated relationship with Putin. This investigation clearly has Kremlin approval, but, as with everything in Russia, things are not always what they seem. Already preoccupied with his developing Parkinsons, Arkady finds he has more to worry about. The war in Ukraine is gaining momentum, and his son Zhenya has become involved with the Black Army, a Russo-Ukrainian group of hacktivists. Moreover, as Arkady digs deeper into Kazaskys murder, he realizes that the mans death may have been more politically motivated than he first assumed. Now it seemsthat the people behind the killing have him firmly in their crosshairsbut this time Arkadys life is not the only one on the line.PRAISE FOR MARTIN CRUZ SMITH: ‘The later Renko novels are stark, spare and beautiful, like trees in winter. Martin Cruz Smith does more on a page than most writers manage in a chapter. He is unique and irreplaceable’Mick Herron ‘Smith was among the first of a new generation of writers who made thrillers literary’Guardian ‘One of those writers that anyone who is serious about their craft views with respect bordering on awe’Val McDermid ‘Martin Cruz Smith writes with an immediacy, depth and lightness of touch that is rare in its combination, and impossible to resist . . .one of the finest writers of our age’ Charlotte Philby ‘The undisputed master of the political crime thriller’Abir Mukherjee