In 1963, the Cold War was warming up, but not yet scalding. Collins, a veteran of WWII counter-intelligence assumed he would be retiring. Instead, the director assigns him a highly sensitive case. He doesn’t really have any choice, but his long-neglected wife finally leaves him anyway.
Once he arrives at the remote Diomede Islands, Collins decides the most practical course of action would be to work with KGB agent Sonia Fiodrow, rather than against her. As Collins learns her backstory, he realizes they both probably received this assignment, because they are expendable. He is old and broken down, while she is the daughter of samizdat-publishing dissidents.
Regardless, they will work well together. Siodow is more familiar with the indigenous people, while he better understands the killer’s Biblical allusions. However, their unknown sub is not a fanatical Christian—more like the exact opposite.
No Man’s Land starts slow, but it is loaded with interesting ideas. The nature of the murderer is strange and complex—in ways befitting classic Russian literature. Siodow’s family history also powerfully indicts the oppressive Socialist system, but not in the way you might expect.
As it stands, some of the cleverest implications of Kudranski’s narrative might be too subtle to translate with the same degree of unsettling ambiguity. However, it works quite effectively on the printed page, which is the only option currently available. Highly recommended, No Man’s Land is now on-sale at book and comic retailers.
