I have been reading a lot of novels set in Soviet gulags recently, those of Owen Matthews come to mind, but this tale is very different from any I have read before. Valery K is a talented physicist sentenced to Siberia in the 1950s. He has established himself there by blowing up a hut full of his tormenters, the event commemorated with a record number of tattoos on his body. He is whisked away by an amiable KGB agent to a closed city where the atomic programme is in full swing, and reunited with one of his university teachers and is put to work on the project. No-one appears to care or even know about the radiation dangers of the openly exposed site.

The novel is a lot of fun, even if the central theme is deadly serious. I recommend it as a most unusual, yet plausible take on 1950s Russia. The research site is a closed community, but the Soviet Union is too, where knowledge of the West is fomented by state propaganda and is laughably inaccurate. I enjoyed this.

This was… I’m not sure what this was. Pulley’s books are very readable, but while the others I’ve read have been slightly whimsical historical fantasy – more or less dark depending on the subject – this is fully historical, and what a topic to pick. This could have been a story about two very morally bad men, making the best of horrible choices and bonding somehow, but instead we seem to treat the revelations of many midnight executions and horrific human experimentation in 1939 Berlin (with a very questionable cameo treated like a joke almost) as somehow… alright? Because at least they were nicer than the other folk they worked with? Add to that the Red Train scenes near the end of the book – major content warnings there – and the final few chapters taking a massive swerve into comments on Western values, and it’s just not enjoyable. I’ve also seen many reviews about the many mistakes in regards to the setting and language, so consider that as well.

This is the fourth Natasha Pulley novel I've read and is by far my favourite. The Half Life of Valery K grabs you from the first page and doesn't let go for nearly 400 pages.

The book is set in Russia in 1963 and Valery K is a nuclear scientist who starts the book in a gulag serving out his sentence for effectively being an academic. He's found a way to get through every hellish day but is all of a sudden taken away to work on in isolated city with a radiation problem. It is a place of deception and threat and when Valery starts to uncover things he isn't supposed to he finds himself in great danger.

The characters and descriptions are great and the plot is carefully crafted. I highly recommend this novel.

A friend introduced me to Pulley's work via The Kingdoms and I was nervous about reading another from her in case it wasn't as good - but I needn't have worried.
This book had me gripped from start to finish and the mix of science, history and utter terror kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the reading of the book.
As a child of the 1980s I remember Chernobyl all to well, along with the heightened Cold War and the ever present fear of nuclear attack or accident and this book really tapped into these emotions.
A book that will stay with me for quite some time.

Loved loved loved this book. It was one of my top books of 2022. The setting is fantastically eerie and the characters were so well portrayed. Tense and exciting!

Terrifying in its veracity, thrilling in its subtle delivery and utterly poignant, Pulley’s latest novel is not to be missed. Following Soviet prisoner, Valery Kolkonov – a radiation specialist – this book meditates on truth and lies, and the cost of each. Completely enthralling.

Extraordinary, moving, morally complex AND contains an octopus. This is my favourite of Natasha Pulley's so far. It's based on real events (a nuclear disaster and subsequent cover-up in Cold War Russia) but infused with Pulley magic. Read it at once.

Oh, boy. I can't really give a good review of this book. It was staggering to see the depth of research and understanding but it was also cruel, and violent, and I didn't really enjoy it. Pulley is immensely talented I'll give her that.

Having really enjoyed The Kingdoms by this author I was very much looking forward this new book. I was not disappointed.

The story is set in the Siberia of 1963. It starts out in a gulag but soon moves to the mysterious City 40, a centre for studying nuclear energy, where there are much higher levels of radiation than can be explained by the city's official history.

The main protagonist and 'hero' of the story is Valery K. A biochemist traumatized by his past: by what he has done and what was done to him.
The main narrative concerns Valery's investigation and gradual realisation of what exactly is going on in city 40, paralleled with his developing relationship with the local KGB chief.

I did have a problem with the way the story concluded in Russia, it seemed both convenient to the story development but also upsettingly realistic. I am unsure about it.
And although the last few scenes concluded certain plot lines they seemed a little disconnected, an epilogue with a bit of a point to make.

But this didn't impinge on my enjoyment of the book.
Natasha Pulley's story development always leave me breathless, eager to read what will happen next and anxious to learn that it will not be disastrous for the characters in whom I am so emotionally invested.
Natasha Pulley's characters are always conflicted and complicated; basically good people put in troubling situations that tear at your conscience and your heart.

And my favourite character was Albert the octopus – delightful.

Highly recommended, a strong 5 stars and one of my top reads of 2022

This is a brilliant book. It took me a while to get into but once I did I was hooked. This book is my favourite kind of historical novel, it is based on fact but it manages to be both knowledgeable and entertaining at the same time. The two main characters who are fiction are just brilliant, they are just both really endearing, and believable and of course there is an octopus!

Based on real events Natasha Pulley brings to life the story of a soviet city kept secret from the world. City 40.
The story is seen through the eyes of Valery Kolkhanov a former doctor who has been kept in a Siberian prison. He has mastered the art of survival in the most extreme conditions and is surprised when he is transported into a former life as a doctor in a place he’s never heard of.
He has been brought back from exile to serve his sentence by his former mentor, he is to study the results of radiation exposure on animals, but he soon realises there is more going on than he’s being told in this remote city. With vast areas of radiation and unexplained damage to the surrounding forest, Valery starts looking for answers, but knows he will need to be careful if he wants to survive and serve out his sentence as well as uncovering the truth.
I found the story to be incredibly engrossing.
The author captures the period and atmosphere perfectly. A great piece of writing. This might be her best book to date.
Outstanding.

"I keep hearing all this about radiation, but frankly, comrade, if I can't see it and it doesn't bite, I'm not that worried."

In 1963, scientist Valery Kolkhanov is taken from a Siberian gulag, and transported to a bustling, lively town located just outside what appears to be the site of a devastating nuclear accident. There he is expected to serve out his sentence testing field mice for radiation exposure. His findings reveal some pretty horrific information, but his attempts to report what he's learned are met with indifference and denial, even by his closest colleagues.

Politics and science are incompatible fields.

What can you do when a government refuses to hear bad news about a deadly pandemic, climate change, a possible accident that will endanger the lives of millions, and instead prefers to broadcast lies and misinformation?

Yeah.

What can you do?

Pulley's novel is loosely based on a real incident, and it's a nerve-wracking, disturbing read. No matter where you live, you will recognize the inept government officials portrayed by the author, individuals looking out only for the bottom line, who couldn't care less about the well being of others as long as they get to continue making money. Sorry if I sound bitter, but shit never changes does it?

The man sounded like he had been lying so fluently for so long that the truth was beginning to slip his mind.

If this one doesn't angry up your blood, you probably don't have a pulse.

I’ve loved Pulley’s previous works and was delighted to be granted a copy of this via Netgalley a while ago. Its taken me a while to get to it as I’ve been unexpectedly busy, having finished reading last night though I can happily say that this may be my favourite of Pulley’s books so far.
Based around an actual Russian town this historical novel was fascinating and thoroughly gripping. The characters appeared fully formed on the page and Valery was so interesting to get to know, broken by the system but still determined to do the right thing and finding his way back to letting someone offer him support.
Shenkov to was delightful to get to know as the story unfolded, his motivations and the actions he takes as part of the KGB.
It’s really hard to say to much without giving a lot away as so much interlinks in this beautifully woven narrative. It had all the hallmarks that I’ve come to expect from Pulley’s books, a gentle building of relationships, a story that pulls you in and much to my delight an Octopus!
If you enjoy historical fiction this is definitely one you need to pick up.

Natasha Pulley is one of my must-read authors having loved all of their previous novels. This new offering is a well-researched piece of writing centring on her regular theme of a beautiful LGBTQIA+ love story. I was thrilled with the appearance of another Pulley-favourite, an octopus, albeit real and not clockwork this time. The book is based around the real-life City 40, a closed-city in Chelyabinsk Oblast in Russia which heralded the birth of the Soviet nuclear weapons program and features basic nuclear physics and radiobiology, but unlike earlier novels no supernaturally/unexplained element.
Highly readable and historically enlightening.

“The birch trees had been unhealthy, but the pines were dead. The whole woodland had turned a weird rust colour. The road was a line of red, dead pine needles; the trees were gingery ruins, and everywhere the trunks had cracked, so badly that it couldn’t have been safe to drive beneath them.”

My thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing U.K. for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Half Life of Valery K’
by Natasha Pulley.

I have loved Natasha Pulley’s works of fantastical fiction and had rather expected that her latest novel would be in the same vein. However, it proved quite different though Pulley’s storytelling skills transformed a bleak tale into something quite extraordinary.

‘The Half Life of Valery K’ is a historical novel based on true events that took place in the Soviet Union during the early late 1950s-early 1960s.

In 1963, former nuclear specialist Valery Kolkhanov has been incarcerated in a Siberian gulag for six years of a ten year sentence. During his time there he has mastered what it takes to survive. Then one day Valery's university mentor intervenes and Valery is swept from the frozen prison camp to a mysterious town, known as Chelyabinsk (City) 40, hidden within a forest so damaged it looks like the trees have rusted from within. 

Here Valery is expected to serve out his prison term studying the effect of radiation on local animals. But as Valery begins his work, he is struck that the levels of radiation and incidents of radiation sickness in local residents suggests that something sinister is taking place. He finds an unusual ally in City 40’s Head of Security, KGB Officer Konstantin Shenkov. Yet looking for answers will put both their lives in danger.

This was a very powerful novel that underlined the levels that the USSR went to cover up such incidents. Apparently the nuclear accident that took place at the Mayak facility in 1957 is considered the third worst after Chernobyl (1986) and Fukushima (2011).

Pulley writes in her Afterword: “Shenkov and Valery are fictional, but almost everything that happens to them is real. Or, as real as I could make it. The Lighthouse – Mayak – is now run by ROSATOM, the Russian nuclear science agency, and information about its history is extremely curated.“

One ongoing motif in Pulley’s novels are octopuses, and here Valery obtains an octopus that he named Andrew as an animal companion. He is a delight.

Natasha Pulley is an author whose work I rate very highly and I felt that this new direction demonstrated her versatility as a storyteller. Her descriptions throughout were evocative and painted a chilling picture of the gulag (in flashbacks) and the blighted environment of City 40. There is a fair amount of science discussed in the course of the novel though this is something that I enjoy.

Overall, I found ‘The Half Life of Valery K’ a powerful novel that lifts the curtain on a historical event that certain parties wished to conceal. It is undoubtedly a beautifully written story that I am certain will gain Pulley new readers. It’s also the kind of historical fiction rich in ideas and human interest that I expect will also prove popular with reading groups.

Highly recommended.

The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley
I have read and thoroughly enjoyed all of Natasha Pulley’s previous novels so I was looking forward immensely to this new novel. It is on a very different theme to her previous work dealing as it does with real events. It is a terrifying story which focuses on Valery K. At the beginning of the novel he is in a gulag in Siberia with his only friend Boris the rat who brings him nails, a useful commodity in a gulag.
He is then suddenly removed from the gulag he assumes to be shot but is then transferred to the strange City 40. Here it becomes immediately apparent they are living in the middle of a zone devastated by a nuclear accident. Valery begins to unearth the truths which the powers would rather remained a secret and we wonder how long he will be able to survive.
I found the main character’s life fascinating. He was so well developed. I loved his inability to remain quiet about injustice; even at the risk of his own life; his difficulty in relating to others and the subtlety of his relationship with Shenkov. From the first pages, I was fully engaged with the character and how his story would develop.

With the tragedies currently occurring in the Ukraine the book provides a terrible insight into the ideology of the Russians.
I did have one or two minor questions related to anachronisms. The term HR is used to refer to a department which then went by the name Personnel, there are references to mooning, the octopus uses the TV remote control and the BBC screens live from Parliament in 1963?
Despite this I would still give it 5 stars as the book is so engaging and will be recommending it to everyone I know. I would like to thank Natasha Pulley, the publishers and Net Galley for the opportunity to read the book in return for an honest review.

This book follows the life of Valery K flitting between the present, the recent past and his time working in Nazi Germany. After being imprisoned in a Gulag as an undesirable, Valery is picked to work in relative freedom in a mysterious village located in the depths of Siberia. Once there, it is quickly evident that only half truths are being told and that the ecological damage caused by radiation is just the external evidence of a much darker secret.

Pulley has created a captivating story based on real life events that has a mix of scientific, suspense and historical threads. The threat and paranoia caused by the political climate of Russia permeates every action of this narrative illustrating the psychological damage of the regime, where doing the right thing and speaking out carries a real risk of deadly repercussions.

3.5*. The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley is a book which is fascinating as events in Russia and Ukraine unfold and feels like a story that everyone should be aware of.

Valery has spent years in a Siberian gulag, one of a high proportion of educated Russian’s spirited away in the 1950/60s Stalin regime. When he is removed for the gulag before his sentence is spent, he finds himself in the mysterious City 40. Called for by his previous academic supervisor, Valery is amazed to be somewhere with fresh fruit, veg and coffee but everything isn’t all that it seems. Surrounded by half lies and people with secrets or oblivious as to what may be happening, Valery needs to ground himself in what may be happening and what he can do which will lead to meaningful change.

Based on an incredible true story, The Half Life of Valery K is an amazing fictionalised telling of a dark side of history. The characters and incredible, the plot is intriguing although it is sometimes a little tricky to follow. Overall, a highly recommended read.

Thanks to Bloomsbury and Netgalley for the ARC.

natasha did it again. a mystery book with a ridiculous setting which is actually a romance book that punches u straight in the heart

but also, it's a very weird experience to read sth based in soviet russia when ur a slav. there are all those scenes clearly written to be shocking, but their punch-lines have been glaringly obvious to u from pages before. all the brutality portrayed here, which is supposed to make the stakes super high, just feels... well, it's not shocking, despite natasha's efforts. it's way more lenient than everything u already know from history. there's this weird disconnect between what i know the author wanted me to feel & what i actually feel, bc none of this is new. i can tell she did research, but it just all seems so weak and somehow still not researched.

plus the very idea of pairing a Gulag prisoner & a KGB agent? pulley did handle it with as much grace as she could, but uhh... yeah!

anyway that scene with a married couple at the end? the fuck was that?

(and i just can't get over the fact pulley thinks a russian man of shenkov's size would get drunk on like half a bottle of vodka. that's hilarious)

This is quite different from Pulley's previous books and a potential reader would do well to realise this. Anyone expecting science fiction elements should be warned this is more along the lines of historic based fiction which could arguably be called science fiction in places. For newcomers I'd either start with the author's previous books or go into this one knowing it is very different from her other ones. If you have an interest in the old Soviet gulags or Chernobyl-like nuclear disaster then you'll find this interesting.