Kolymsky Heights

by Lionel Davidson

Book Overview

In the brutal terrain of Siberia, a Russian research station conceals a dark scientific secret that could be used for the world's good--or for the ultimate evil. Now, cryptic messages urgently call for the expertise of one man--Johnny Porter, Canadian-Indian scholar with a natural gift for languages and disguises, outdoorsman, rebel and loner. Martin's Press.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312114079
• ISBN13: 9780312114077
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 361 Pages
• Weight: 1.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

excellent thriller non-traditional hero

Imagine an indian, intellectual, language specialist, anthropologist sent on a mission to infiltrate on contact the head of trhe most secure facility in the world - frozen Siberia.I was fortunate to find this book on a discount rack for $2.97. I took a small chance was pleasantly surprised with the quality of Davidsons writing.The story is inteligent, rich with detail, thrilling and beleivable carried out by an action hero who coulc never be played by Arnold S in a movie version. He is real guy a beleiveable guy in an incredible situation where he has to rely on his intelligence and wits to survive.Bravo Davidson and I will look forward to reading more exploits of Porter. Tell me where I can find info on that fabulous Bobik!

brrrrrrrrrrrr

Forget the Spy Who Came In From the Cold, meet the spy who went out into the cold, the really, really cold. When a Russian scientist, working at a mysterious research station in Siberia, manages to get a cryptic message to the West, it is determined that he's summoning Dr. Johnny Porter, a part Gitksan Indian, Rhodes Scholar, anthropologist, who speaks any number of languages. The two had met many years earlier, and out of a sense of obligation, Porter agrees to sneak into the installation and find out what's so important. What follows is one of the better thrillers of the post Cold War era, as Porter impersonating various people of Asiatic descent, while displaying extraordinary resourcefulness at myriad tasks, penetrates deep into Russian territory and then, pursued by all of the forces of the new Russia, strikes out across the icy barrens of the Kolymsky Region of Siberia and the area around the Bering Straits, in a mad dash back to the States.The case of Lionel Davidson is one of the strangest of any recent author. He writes award-winning, best sellers every few years, but I doubt more than a handful of folks remember him from one book to the next. In Kolymsky Heights, he combines elements of Michael Crichton, Smilla's Sense of Snow, and Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko series to produce a novel that's exciting enough in it's own right but is even more remarkable for it's unusual hero and for the way that Davidson uses the hostile environment, both natural and man-made. Though a general and helicopters and Russian troops all pursue him, the real threat to Porter is the forbidding terrain he has to cross and the deadly weather he braves. This is one that you'll want to read with a blanket over you and a warm mug of something or other nearby.GRADE : A

A masterpiece of suspense

Not in many years have I read a book that kept me in such torture for so many pages. Will the hero uncover the mystery behind the secret Russian factory in Siberia? Davidson is a master of keeping you in suspense. Also one of the best love stories in any spy story, altho it probably doesn't take up ten pages in the whole book. I've on my fourth read of this book. I still find it full of suspense! A great book to study for any aspiring writer of thrillers.

Simply the best of its genre in the 90s

I first read "Kolymsky Heights" about five years ago. At that time, I was overwhelmed by the story. Since then I've read at least 30 other books that would fall into the same genre. Some were good, some bad, and a few were very good ("Icon" & "The Enemy Within"). Recalling how much I enjoyed "Kolymsky Heights", I decided to re-read this novel. I wasn't disappointed. Even knowing the plot, this novel absolutely blows the reader away. There simply isn't another story line that is this unique. The charecterizations are superb. The plotting is intense, and the pace frantic. Wow!!! It's a shame that Lionel Davidson's output is so limited.

Not your average spy book.

I'd like to think this is the kind of spy book Umberto Eco would write. Well-researched, plausible plot. This is not James Bond. Instead, the reader is draw into a facinating puzzle: how does somebody sneak into a top secret military base in Siberia? And, how do you get out? Johnny Porter is an unforgetable character and the scenery and action is crisply told. I'm looking forward to Davidson's other books