cover image Polar Star

Polar Star

Martin Cruz Smith. Ballantine Books, $7.99 (384pp) ISBN 978-0-345-36765-5

Sprung from a state psychiatric hospital, Arkady Renko takes refuge in Siberia, ultimately working on a Soviet factory ship in the Bering Sea. When one of his shipmates is murdered, he's pressed into service. ``Those eagerly awaiting the return of Renko, the saturnine, chain-smoking police investigator from Moscow who appeared in the bestseller Gorky Park , will be glad to know their hero is back in fine form,'' said PW. Author tour. (July)