"What ultimately sets the Renko books apart is the careful writing, and, more important, the knowledge of the human heart that is carried through it, through them, first to last."
- Chicago Tribune
"Arkady Renko is one of the memorable creations of Cold War fiction, as clever, guilt-ridden, and self-effacing as any George Smiley"
- Newsweek
Red Square
‘The woman raised her glass. Blond hair was brushed back like a mane from her broad brow and broader cheeks, short chin, medium height, mid-thirties. Dark sunglasses, gold necklace, black short sleeved sweater – contrasts that were more sensual than pretty in any ordinary sense. Red nails. Fair skin. Red lips half-open in the same slack, reckless study she had once given Arkady through a car window lifting the corner of a half-smile. She mouthed, "I love you."
Lubyanka prison
"...the book's depiction of contemporary Soviet life was so alarmingly accurate, it was soon banned in the Soviet Union. Alex Levin, a Russian exile in America who helped Smith with the research, says it quickly became popular with dissident intellectuals. "And even scientist and academician Andrei Sakharov was a big fan. He enjoyed action books anyway, but this was the first American one he liked. That's some compliment."
- The Guardian
"Few thriller writers can transport the reader to a different place and time in every story and make the transition and atmospherics completely believable. Martin Cruz Smith is the master at it."
- Rocky Mountain News
