[2] The novel tells the story of young and naïve European Socialist Vasily (Wilhelm) Rainer who comes to Russia to somehow apply his rootless, artificial ideas to the local reality.

The action takes place in houses of state officials and merchants, in literary circles of Moscow and Saint Petersburg, in editorial rooms, Polish revolutionaries’ headquarters.

[3] No Way Out scandalized critics of the radical left who discovered that for most of the characters real life prototypes could be found, and its central figure, Beloyartsev, was obviously a caricature of author and social activist Vasily Sleptsov.

Could there be found one single honest writer in Russia who'd be so careless, so indifferent as to his reputation, so as to contribute to a magazine that adorns itself with novels and novelets by Stebnitsky?

What Leskov condemned as "a vicious libel" caused great harm to his career: popular journals boycotted him, while Mikhail Katkov of the conservative The Russian Messenger greeted him as a political ally.

Mirsky too expressed bewilderment at how Leskov, after his first novel No Way Out, could have been seriously regarded as 'vile and libelous reactionary', when in reality (according to the critic) "the principal Socialist characters in the book were represented as little short of saints."