Just when I was beginning to worry that the large-scale adventure novel might be suffering from a terminal case of the Folletts, along comes "Gorky Park" by Martin Cruz Smith, a book that reminds you just how satisfying a smoothly turned thriller can be. Mr. Smith fulfills all of the requirements of the adventure novel and then transcends the genre. "Gorky Park" is a proper novel, illuminated with fascinating glimpses of contemporary Russian life, a story dappled with flashes of irony….

[In] essence, "Gorky Park" is a police procedural of uncommon excellence. Martin Cruz Smith has managed to combine the gritty atmosphere of a Moscow police squad room with a story of detection as neatly done as any English manor-house puzzlement. I have no idea as to the accuracy of Mr. Smith's descriptions of Russian police operations. But they ring as true as crystal. (p. 1)

If "Gorky Park...