Hotel Ukraine, Smith - B

               Four and a half decades after his introduction, Arkady Renko works his final case. He is usually handed unimportant ones these days because his rebellious nature doesn't fit in Putin's Russia. On the day that Russia invades Ukraine, he is sent to the t Hotel Ukraine to investigate the death of a senior defense minister. He teams up with the FSB, but when they realize Arkady is suffering from Parkinson's, he is placed on sick leave. Of course, he continues to investigate and discerns that the minister was likely killed by someone in the 1812 Group, Russia's private army. When he is poisoned, he knows he is right. Arkady manages to stop an FSB operative on his trail and achieve a measure of satisfaction, but winds up in a Mexican standoff with the 1812 leader. 

             This series ran out of steam awhile back, but has usually delivered a story with thoughtful insights on the Russia of the past decades. The end is occasioned by a Parkinson's progression that has lead to Martin Cruz Smith's death a week after the publication of this novel.