I read this book in 1986, having borrowed a copy from the Public Library in Bristol, UK. I was immediately and totally enraptured by the world portrayed below Plum Lake. I felt then and now that this is how the world ought to have been! I can't explain it but I just can't get this book out of my head and have been desperately searching for a copy for about 3 years now, as I feel something approaching an urgent need to re read it. I was stunned to see a copy listed on the Amazon web site but so disappointed that it is out of print. I am also amazed to see that I am not the only one on whose imagination this book has made such an astounding impact.

If anyone can get hold of a copy PLEASE let me know!

I can't believe I'm not the only person to have ever read this book. I read it first when I was about 10, around 21 years ago. It has always stuck with me. But every time I've ever told anyone about it they've never heard of it. It was such an imaginative book, I felt like I was actually there as I read it. I've been drawn back to it over the years and I believe it is still at our local public library, but I've never had a copy of my own. I would love to know where I could get a copy. It's too bad a book this good is so hard to find.

It's a story that somehow captured my imagination so fully that it left me in a state of wonder.. I was very young when I last read Under Plum Lake, but I can't seem to forget the impact it had on me, so long ago. I too hope to someday share this book with my children, for few books manage to paint a more magical picture so vividly in the mind. When I think about it I feel deep nostalgia, and I'll keep looking until I find a copy for my own.

This is the most fascinating book I have read in years. What makes it so good is that it's based on real events and about a country closed to the western world and about which the west knew very little at the time. The book was written in 1960, nine years after Houston returned from Tibet. What happened to him in that remote country was so strange as to be unbelievable, yet I was left with the feeling that those events really did occur. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I couldn't relax till I'd finished the book. One is left wondering about so many things, not least what really happened to Houston in the end, one can really only guess from the clues given in the story.

Yes, I've longed for the far-off, edge-of-the-world, seat-of-your-pants distraction where, in this instance at least, the hero is a Hitchcock-like average Joe from England (where ALL great adventures get underway) who sets out to unearth the whereabouts of his brother; he travels to Tibet; it is 1950, the Red Chinese are massing on the Eastern borders and the Tibetans are not Heinrich Harrar's (of "Seven Years in Tibet" notoriety) chubby, moon-faced brothers of the high hills -- hey! the book is a barn stormer and refreshing after so much of today's overthought, underwrought fictions of mass distraction.

I was sad to see only there were only two reviews of this very good book. I have reccomended this book to many freinds and they all agree that it is one of the best novels they read as well. A real page turner and well written - one of my freinds said it qualifies as "liturature." I agree. So if you happen on this remote corner of Amazon.com consider this selection, you won't be disappointed.

I've not read many techno-thrillers and am a big fan of the John LeCarre school of spy novels, so I was delighted to find that "Kolymsky Heights" combined the best elements of action, adventure, and intellectual suspense. Johnny Porter is a great spy, and it would be nice to read of his exploits again, but as others have suggested, this is a book that can be re-read and still thoroughly enjoyed. Davidson's plot twists keep you on the edge of your seat, but the fascinating details also keep you thinking, and amazed. A great read!

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

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.

If you are thinking of ordering this book because you have liked other books by Lionel Davidson then I recommend you go ahead - this is one of his best, in my opinion, with a plot which is even more beautifully crafted than usual.

I couldn't finish this book. It took about 80 pages to be able to get my head around what was happening, but either because of that or for other reasons, I didn't care about anyone in the story. An interesting premise, and piqued my interest about Chaim Weizmann.