Suspense novels can either be cut-and-dried thrillers, or they can strike deeper chords through the interweaving of universal themes and concerns with plot. "Gorky Park" … belongs to the latter category of espionage novels.

While the story that unfolds in "Gorky Park" provides enough intricacy and suspense for the most demanding aficionado, it is not primarily details of plot that engage our attention. Rather, within the context of this specialized genre, Martin Cruz Smith has succeeded in rendering very believable, realistic, and gripping portrayals of certain segments of Soviet society and of man's search for meaning….

Certain scenes in the novel are particularly nicely done: A cat-and-mouse conversation between Arkady and his prime suspect is strongly reminiscent of the verbal sparring between Raskolnikov and police inspector Porfiry Petrovich in Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment."

While numerous gruesome details make this novel unsuited to the fainthearted, "Gorky Park" has much to...