- Renko, Volovoi read, as if familiarizing himself with a problem. Chief Investigator, dismissed, expelled from the Party, Psychiatric rehabiliation. You see, I have the same file as the captain has, assigned to labour in the eastern section of the Russian Republic, Siberia. Arkady Renko is exiled on Polar Star, a Soviet factory ship which trawls the freezing waters from Siberia to Alaska: current status seaman (second class), his movements shadowed by those who know his past. Then, Renko is given a chance to reclaim his freedom - by investigating a lonely and very mysterious death..."Polar Star is not merely the work of our best writer of suspense, but one of our best writers, period" - New York Times. "Splendid...the reader will be kept guessing to the end" - Evening Standard. "Cruz Smith"s ability is to tell both a thriller and a novel at once, without losing either strand. There are whispers of Conrad and Graham Greene in this novel" - Sydney Morning Herald.