Just Finished Reading: The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley (FP: 2022) [373pp] 

Siberia, 1963. After 6 years in the gulag, prisoner K745 is starting to believe that he can survive the next 4 years of his sentence. However, when the camp administrator informs him one cold morning that a KGB officer was coming to get him, he realised that he was going to die that day. But the surprises just kept on coming. The officer gave him new clothes, food and a railway ticket. His destination was City 40 a place that he, now no longer a number but a man with a name, had never heard of. As Valery Kolkhanov got into the taxi and began his journey to his final destination he was bemused about the whole thing. What did they want him for? Why was so much effort being spent on a political prisoner? Then he saw the trees and began to see. They were dying, everything was dying and the car sped up with windows tightly closed and the ventilation switched off. The signs on either side of the road confirmed his suspicions when they warned drivers to move at their vehicles maximum speed. Only one thing could explain it – nuclear contamination on the massive scale. The briefing he received later that day was ‘off’. The map he was given made no sense. The radiation figures looked like they’d been put together by a team of incompetents. Unless of course that was the point. The ‘explanation’ of whatever happened made no sense either. The radiation levels were obviously far higher and caused by obviously other factors than the official line. The lying, although expected, seemed senseless. He might never find out the real reason for his presence, but the science couldn’t be hidden, at least not for long. Unless he wasn’t meant to survive long enough to discover the truth? 

As is usual for me, I picked this up because it looked interesting, different and would add to my non-UK/US located reading. I’m glad I did. Almost from the outset I was honestly gripped by the excellent narrative. I had thought initially that we would be spending most of our time in the gulag itself, but it was not to be, and I was almost as surprised as Valery was when we shifted to a nuclear disaster area. Seen primarily through the eyes of the main character (who was a brilliant invention) we get insights into both Soviet nuclear science and political incompetence/indifference to its results. In many ways Kolkhanov already considers himself dead and so can view the events that unfold at City 40 with almost Stoic indifference (or so it seems) but as he forms a friendship with the KGB officer in charge (another interestingly complex character) and slowly discovers what is really going on he can’t stop himself from getting involved no matter the threats or danger involved. 

I REALLY liked this. It's a very interesting story (at least part based on fact) that’s FULL of fascinatingly real characters – and you know by now that I’m a sucker for good/great characterisation. As I said before, Kolkhanov is a great character. You believe that he’s a SOVIET citizen with everything that implies (cynicism, fatalism, disgust). He’s also knowledgeable, curious, sensitive and, where required, both focused and lethal. One of the things that made me laugh, and love him all the more, was when he ordered an octopus for his lab just to see if they’d send him one (which they did). His relationship with ‘Albert’ was laugh out loud funny and he turned out to be one of my favourite sub-characters in the book. Although this does cover quite a lot of serious subject matter, I think that most readers will be able to cope with it. Definitely hightly recommended but you might want to pick up a Geiger counter when you turn the last page! A great way to start the reviewing year!