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 `Polar Star is not merely the work of our best writer of suspense, but one of our best writers, period` - New York Times. ` 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.