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Polar Star (novel)
Encyclopedia
Polar Star is a 1989 crime novel
by Martin Cruz Smith
, set in the Soviet Union
in the late 1980s. It is a sequel to Gorky Park
and features former militsiya
investigator Arkady Renko
, taking place during the period of Perestroika
.
), Renko is dismissed from his job as a Moscow police investigator and is forced to accept a variety of menial jobs in remote parts of the Soviet Union. Finally, he finds himself gutting fish on a factory ship
in the Bering Sea
, in part to hide from the KGB
, who have tried to kill him. The Soviet factory ship is part of a US-Soviet joint venture
, with the US fishing vessels catching the fish and turning the catch over to the Soviets for processing (gutting, cleaning, and freezing).
The other crew members have signed up with the prospect of a one day stop at the United States
fisheries port of Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands, with an extra salary allowance in dollars
to let them purchase Western goods such as VCRs and cassette
tapes.
Then the body of a murdered female crew member is pulled up in the vessel's nets, and Renko reluctantly agrees to investigate after the ship's political commissar
gives him no choice. But Renko's obstinate insistence on learning the truth behind her death, rather than allowing her murder to be covered up as a suicide, results in threats by the commissar to block the visit to the United States
, which in turn causes the workers to threaten Renko.
, former Chief Investigator of the Moscow Town Prosecutor's Office, is serving a self-imposed exile in Siberia
to avoid being detained for his actions in Gorky Park
almost a decade earlier, despite the Soviet Union
's growing liberalization
. He manages menial employment as a fish gutter on a "slime lime" of a large Arctic sea factory ship
called the Polar Star, part of a joint Soviet-American
fishing exercise within detente
. He is brought to the attention of Viktor Marchuk, the ship's captain, after a young woman named Zina Patiashvili is found dead in the net. Due to his past as a homicide investigator, he is given the task of finding out what happened to her - to the dislike of political officer
Volovoi. Schmidt, the ship's chief electrical engineer - an elaborate blind for his espionage activities - welcomes Arkady more warmly. Researching into the girl's friends and background, he discovers an open and somewhat radical Georgian
personality, known for her many lovers (including the Captain, before she became a crew member) and fondness for underground music. Looking into her death also attracts the attention of the ship's main gang, lead by Karp Corabetz - the ship's leading fisher
and Arkady's former prisoner. The Americans running one of the actual fishing ship's also take an interest in the case, as well as the American corporate representative on-board Susan. Arkady grows weary of the investigation, largely due to the obstructive actions of many of his shipmates - many of which concerned that it will delay a long awaited shore leave on the island of Dutch Harbour. Arkady finally decides to go along with the original verdict of suicide, letting the ship dock. Though lacking proper authorization to set ashore, he is taken over by Schmidt. Whilst there, he starts to enter a relationship with Susan before ending up meeting Volovoi in a nearby dwelling. Volovoi threatens him, but is killed by Karp who then locks Arkady in and sets alight the building. Arkady manages to escape, and falls into the water to wash off the smoke. Questions are raised, but nothing is decided. Arkady has no evidence against Karp, and, having already survived an attempt on his life, fears he will be silenced. Entering the icy north, the American trawler freezes into the ice ahead of the Polar Star. Arkady learns of Karp's relationship with Zina and her attempts to defect aboard the American ship, as well the secret spy cable running underneath the vessel run by Schmidt. Arkady ventures out into the ice towards the American ship, but is caught up with by Karp. On board they hear the American sailors talking, and it is revealed that they killed the woman and know about and were using the cable themselves. Karp kills the killer, scaring off the Americans, allowing him and Arkady to escape. Although he attempts to at first do away with Arkady, Karp finally decides, with little left in life, to kill himself in icy water. When the Polar Star returns to Vladivostok
, Arkady says farewell to Susan and his fellow crewmen; suddenly finding himself in the party's favour again.
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
by Martin Cruz Smith
Martin Cruz Smith
Martin Cruz Smith is an American mystery novelist.-Early life and education:Born Martin William Smith in Reading, Pennsylvania, he was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in creative writing in 1964...
, set in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in the late 1980s. It is a sequel to Gorky Park
Gorky Park (novel)
Gorky Park is a 1981 crime novel written by Martin Cruz Smith set in the Soviet Union. It follows Arkady Renko, a chief investigator for the Militsiya, who is assigned to a case involving three corpses found in Gorky Park, an amusement park in Moscow, who have had their faces and fingertips cut off...
and features former militsiya
Militsiya
Militsiya or militia is used as an official name of the civilian police in several former communist states, despite its original military connotation...
investigator Arkady Renko
Arkady Renko
Arkady Renko is a fictional detective who is the central character of seven novels by the American writer Martin Cruz Smith.-Character timeline:...
, taking place during the period of Perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
.
Background
After uncovering corruption in high places (in Gorky ParkGorky Park (novel)
Gorky Park is a 1981 crime novel written by Martin Cruz Smith set in the Soviet Union. It follows Arkady Renko, a chief investigator for the Militsiya, who is assigned to a case involving three corpses found in Gorky Park, an amusement park in Moscow, who have had their faces and fingertips cut off...
), Renko is dismissed from his job as a Moscow police investigator and is forced to accept a variety of menial jobs in remote parts of the Soviet Union. Finally, he finds himself gutting fish on a factory ship
Factory ship
A factory ship, also known as a fish processing vessel, is a large ocean-going vessel with extensive on-board facilities for processing and freezing caught fish...
in the Bering Sea
Bering Sea
The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves....
, in part to hide from the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
, who have tried to kill him. The Soviet factory ship is part of a US-Soviet joint venture
Joint venture
A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...
, with the US fishing vessels catching the fish and turning the catch over to the Soviets for processing (gutting, cleaning, and freezing).
The other crew members have signed up with the prospect of a one day stop at the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
fisheries port of Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands, with an extra salary allowance in dollars
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
to let them purchase Western goods such as VCRs and cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
tapes.
Then the body of a murdered female crew member is pulled up in the vessel's nets, and Renko reluctantly agrees to investigate after the ship's political commissar
Political commissar
The political commissar is the supervisory political officer responsible for the political education and organisation, and loyalty to the government of the military...
gives him no choice. But Renko's obstinate insistence on learning the truth behind her death, rather than allowing her murder to be covered up as a suicide, results in threats by the commissar to block the visit to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, which in turn causes the workers to threaten Renko.
Plot
Arkady RenkoArkady Renko
Arkady Renko is a fictional detective who is the central character of seven novels by the American writer Martin Cruz Smith.-Character timeline:...
, former Chief Investigator of the Moscow Town Prosecutor's Office, is serving a self-imposed exile in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
to avoid being detained for his actions in Gorky Park
Gorky Park (novel)
Gorky Park is a 1981 crime novel written by Martin Cruz Smith set in the Soviet Union. It follows Arkady Renko, a chief investigator for the Militsiya, who is assigned to a case involving three corpses found in Gorky Park, an amusement park in Moscow, who have had their faces and fingertips cut off...
almost a decade earlier, despite the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
's growing liberalization
Glasnost
Glasnost was the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s...
. He manages menial employment as a fish gutter on a "slime lime" of a large Arctic sea factory ship
Factory ship
A factory ship, also known as a fish processing vessel, is a large ocean-going vessel with extensive on-board facilities for processing and freezing caught fish...
called the Polar Star, part of a joint Soviet-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
fishing exercise within detente
Détente
Détente is the easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. The term is often used in reference to the general easing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1970s, a thawing at a period roughly in the middle of the Cold War...
. He is brought to the attention of Viktor Marchuk, the ship's captain, after a young woman named Zina Patiashvili is found dead in the net. Due to his past as a homicide investigator, he is given the task of finding out what happened to her - to the dislike of political officer
Political officer
Political officer may refer to:*Political officer , Occasionally, a synonym for political commissar*Political officer , in the context of the British Empire, for a pseudo-ambassadorial role in areas bordering imperial territories...
Volovoi. Schmidt, the ship's chief electrical engineer - an elaborate blind for his espionage activities - welcomes Arkady more warmly. Researching into the girl's friends and background, he discovers an open and somewhat radical Georgian
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:* Something from or related to Georgia , a country in the Caucasus** Georgian alphabet** Georgian language** Georgian people** Georgian cuisine* Something from or related to the U.S...
personality, known for her many lovers (including the Captain, before she became a crew member) and fondness for underground music. Looking into her death also attracts the attention of the ship's main gang, lead by Karp Corabetz - the ship's leading fisher
Socialist competition
Socialist competition or socialist emulation was a form of competition between state enterprises and between individuals practiced in the Soviet Union and in other Eastern bloc states.- Competition vs...
and Arkady's former prisoner. The Americans running one of the actual fishing ship's also take an interest in the case, as well as the American corporate representative on-board Susan. Arkady grows weary of the investigation, largely due to the obstructive actions of many of his shipmates - many of which concerned that it will delay a long awaited shore leave on the island of Dutch Harbour. Arkady finally decides to go along with the original verdict of suicide, letting the ship dock. Though lacking proper authorization to set ashore, he is taken over by Schmidt. Whilst there, he starts to enter a relationship with Susan before ending up meeting Volovoi in a nearby dwelling. Volovoi threatens him, but is killed by Karp who then locks Arkady in and sets alight the building. Arkady manages to escape, and falls into the water to wash off the smoke. Questions are raised, but nothing is decided. Arkady has no evidence against Karp, and, having already survived an attempt on his life, fears he will be silenced. Entering the icy north, the American trawler freezes into the ice ahead of the Polar Star. Arkady learns of Karp's relationship with Zina and her attempts to defect aboard the American ship, as well the secret spy cable running underneath the vessel run by Schmidt. Arkady ventures out into the ice towards the American ship, but is caught up with by Karp. On board they hear the American sailors talking, and it is revealed that they killed the woman and know about and were using the cable themselves. Karp kills the killer, scaring off the Americans, allowing him and Arkady to escape. Although he attempts to at first do away with Arkady, Karp finally decides, with little left in life, to kill himself in icy water. When the Polar Star returns to Vladivostok
Vladivostok
The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...
, Arkady says farewell to Susan and his fellow crewmen; suddenly finding himself in the party's favour again.