Independence Square by Martin Cruz Smith.

 

            Senior Moscow Police Investigator Arkady Renko is tired.  Tired of his job, tired of the endless corruption he deals with at every turn, and very definitely tired of his boss Zorin, who has made an art out of toadying and feathering his own nest to the extent that he is virtually untouchable – as are most of the Would-Be’s if they Could-Be’s scrabbling to be on the various strata of the Kremlin.

            And he also knows that those he holds dear are never really safe;  they will always be vulnerable, always be potential victims as long as he remains honourable and a straight arrow:  his foster son Zenhya, and his long-time love, fearless international journalist Tatiana (now writing for the New York Times) who, as always has left Moscow on the trail of a sizzling exposé of Putin’s plans for war in the Ukraine.  No, he’s not flavour of the month with the Kremlin, but he has to soldier on, as they all do, accepting as a distraction a request from ‘Bronson’, so-called because that’s who he looks like, to find his daughter Karina, a classical musician and first violin of a string-quartet ‘because the assholes he hired to find her haven’t gotten anywhere.’  Could Renko investigate?

            It is ironic to think that Bronson, who runs most of the protection rackets in the city and has been jailed multiple times wants to hire the only incorruptible investigator in Moscow, but stranger things have happened – we just don’t know what they are yet.  So, Arkady and his loyal sidekick Viktor (every detective has one!) start with Karina’s apartment, which she shares with her friend Elena, also a member of the quartet.  Nothing is revealed except that both women are followers of Forum, a new and noisy political group whose leader is Leonid Lebedev who, at a rally Arkady attends announces that he is going to run for Mayor of Moscow – oh, really?  Good luck with that, thinks Renko.  And as the story develops and Arkady and Elena search for Karina farther afield, the body count starts to rise, beginning with the would-be mayoral candidate, and a naïve friend of Arkady’s foster son.  Will Zenhya be next?

            The bodies keep falling, and Arkady’s investigative powers are compromised by an unexpected illness – he is diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease before he leaves Moscow for the Crimea and a meeting with the elusive Karina.  And this is not a touch of melodrama for the sake of it:  Smith was diagnosed with the same disease and knows only too well whereof he speaks.  Regardless, he can still ramp up the suspense and heartbreak with the best of them, and his portrayal of contemporary events is fair and true, just like his mighty, world-weary protagonist.  FIVE STARS.

              

 

 Duffy and Son, by Damien Owens.

 

              Eugene Duffy and his son Jim live in a little Irish town south of Dublin.  Eugene has retired from his small business, a hardware shop, which is now run by Jim (as independently as he can; his Da took an age before he stopped making ‘just passing by’ drop-ins).  Eugene’s pretty but bored wife Una left when their kids – there’s an elder daughter, Eleanor – were just teenagers and hasn’t been in contact since, leaving, she said, for a more exciting life with another man who wasn’t a stick-in-the-mud like Eugene and, as this was not her first infidelity, it was time for Eugene and the kids to bite the bullet and face life without her.

            Eugene honestly concedes that his life has always been as predictable as Ireland’s rainfall;  he has always had the same job, lived in the same house – but it gradually occurs to him that son Jim is following in his safe but boring footsteps:  living in the same upstairs bedroom he occupied as a child;  going to the same school; and coming into the family business as a matter of course.  All meant to be!  But where’s the romance?  Eleanor has married Adrian,  whom Eugene detests, eventually producing Miles, a strange little boy who likes biting people (Eugene’s thigh, once attacked, still tingles at the thought), but Jim is nearing forty and, as far as Eugene can deduce, has no girlfriend on the horizon. At all.  Could he be gay?

            He could not!  Was the outraged response after a timid enquiry, thereafter giving life to a nascent plan cooked up with Eugene’s friend Frank to get Jim out into the dating world – which is not large in their little town:  Salsa lessons at the church hall will have to do for a start;  Eugene even bravely attempts the Salsa in an attempt to show  some male bonding, sadly his two left feet let him down – BUT – something happens:  Jim starts caring more about his appearance.  He goes out – ‘with the lads’ – more often.  Something’s happening!  Then Eleanor makes an announcement:  she has been in contact with her mother on Facebook:  after twenty-five years of silence Mam is coming to see them ‘just for a few days’.

            Damien Owens has made much out of little – the ‘little’ being the well-worn grooves that many people travel throughout their lives in an attempt not to experience any more hurt than they can endure, and ‘much’ being his wonderfully comic and humane characterisations of ordinary people doing just that:  trying not to be hurt – and being laugh-out-loud funny along the way.  SIX STARS.