When nine hikers go missing on the slopes of Dyatlov Pass in 1959, a prosecutor working for the Soviet Union must attempt to uncover the truth, though his job is only made more difficult by the strange circumstances and the caginess of the government.
The Dyatlov Pass mystery is a case I’ve heard of before. Even decades later, there’s no consensus on what caused the hikers to flee their tents into the snow, where they all eventually froze to death. There’s plenty of strange features to it, including unusual injuries and apparent radiation burns on some of the hikers’ faces. Matters were not helped by a limited investigation by the USSR government.
This is a short graphic novel, translated from French by James Hogan, which tells the story through two storylines. One follows the hikers, trying to reconstruct the last few days of their lives through the evidence of people they encountered and their logbooks, while the other follows prosecutor Lev as he tries to uncover the truth of what happened to them. The author does a good job of creating sympathy for the lost hikers quickly, centering the around the tragedy of their lost lives, as well emphasizing Lev’s frustration when he’s repeatedly stonewalled in his investigation.
I also liked the short section at the end of the book that goes more into the history of the case and several proposed solutions from recent times. However, while I did enjoy the cartoonish art style, it did make me confuse characters on occasion, especially the hikers who were bundled up in coats and hats and therefore difficult to differentiate. I also wished the investigative storyline was a little longer, delving more into the possibilities that Lev is considering and why – ideas are mentioned but not gone into due to the brevity of the book.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.