Kolymsky Heights – Lost Classic Thriller
Faber Finds Reissues Davidson's Novel Among Hundreds of Great Books
It is no surprise that Lionel Davidson’s breathtaking Kolymsky Heights is a top-selling thriller again in 2009.
Set in the god-forsaken wildernesses of Siberia, it is a distinctive adventure that makes an indelible impression on those who pick it up.
Forget Bond and Bourne, the most remorseless, rugged but intellectually brilliant hero in the whole of thrillerdom is in Kolymsky Heights.
Johnny Porter Battles the Siberian Wastes and Security Forces
Johnny Porter is a polymath, linguist, member of Canada’s Gitskan native tribe, expert on the aboriginal tongues of North America and Siberia, stroppy bugger, ferocious lover and all-round punch-up artist.
He is pitched into a mission impossible at the prompting of a Russian whistleblower and the CIA to infiltrate a hidden scientific fortress where advanced genetic experiments have been conducted for decades.
Davidson takes his readers into an alien world of far eastern tramp cargo ships, indigenous tribes in the frozen wastes of northern Siberia, long-haul trucking in minus-50 degrees, genetic speculation and insatiable Russian women.
Beautiful Doctor and a Sadistic Bosun
The author has written just eight crime/thriller novels in 40 years and it is little wonder considering the prodigious amount of research he must have invested in this sublime realisation of a perilous but astonishing world.
His hero is ingenious at assuming identities and the languages of native Siberians and even a Korean to evade detection. So expert is he at melding into these isolated communities that he becomes entangled with a beautiful doctor, Tanya Komarova, who it seems may be about to expose him. Other dangers are more down to earth. He still has to ski, drive and shoot his way out of danger time and again. And in one unforgettable passage he has a vicious fight with a sadistic bosun on the icy deck of a ship.
Frozen Sea
While the derring-do takes a little time to get going, with a lot of business about academics and codes, and the scientific McGuffin that ignites the plot is a little Disneyesque and unconvincing, once Porter takes centre stage the pages fly by.
As it reaches its climax over the last third of the book, Kolymsky Heights develops a ferocious head of steam as Porter tries to defy the Russian security services and armed forces along with snow storms and fog to make it across the frozen Bering Sea.
Faber Finds
It is surprising that this novel, which pulls off the rare feat of spiriting readers into a compelling world they’re unlikely to forget, is now out of print. And it has to be admitted that the only place it holds the top-selling slot in 2009 is on Faber Finds, the recently launched on-demand imprint that is resurrecting hundreds of forgotten classics.
Fiction and non-fiction titles by fine writers such as historian AJP Taylor and the poet/mathematician Jacob Bronowski, as well as an unjustifiably obscure crime novelist such as Celia Dale, have all been reissued to order. They’re not cheap at around £14-£16 a go and this reviewer’s copy of Kolymsky Heights was full of misprintings. But these problems don’t ruin the pleasure still to be found in memorable books that have fallen out of vogue.
Lionel Davidson
As for Lionel Davidson, he is now 87 and apparently living in north London. Kolymsky Heights, published in 1994 was his last novel. Though not prolific he had great success with thrillers such as The Night of Wenceslas (1960, CWA Gold Dagger Award winner), The Rose of Tibet (1962) and A Long Way to Shiloh (1966, also a Gold Dagger winner).
Johnny Depp
So why is Kolymsky Heights riding high at No1 in the Faber Finds chart 15 years after its publication. Apart from being a fine book, its recent endorsement by Philip Pullman, who was nominating his favourite books for Waterstone’s book chain, probably helped cajole many to seek it out. He described Davidson’s book as ‘The best thriller I’ve ever read, and I’ve read plenty.’
And why has there never been a film of it? Johnny Depp could be useful as Johnny Porter.
Kiolymsky Heights
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