Chernobyl: Wolves Eat Dogs

I am a fan of Martin Cruz Smith's "Arkady Renko" series of mystery novels. Renko is a Russian detective. The earliest books in the series take place in Soviet Russia, and the latest in today's "new" Russia.

Currently, I am reading Wolves Eat Dogs, the fifth novel in the series. Senior Investigator Renko is searching for clues in the "apparent" suicide of a successful "New Russian" millionaire business man. His trail leads him to the sit of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Smith provides fascinating detail about life in and around "The Zone"; the restricted areas around the site of the nuclear plant.

The book provides a helpful map on the inside cover, but here is a larger, more detailed look at the entire affected region:



Thousands of people were forced to evacuate their homes and will never be allowed to return. In the novel, Renko runs into poachers, squaters, and the "old folks" were are unwilling to live anywhere else, in spite of the danger to their health.

The disaster happened before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and I knew that Chernobyl is located in the new Republic of Ukraine. I wasn't aware of how close the plant was to Belarus, nor the fact that the largest percentage of "hot zones" are in that republic. The new international borders only add more complications to Renko's investigation.