- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd; New edition edition (26 Aug 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099409798
- ISBN-13: 978-0099409793
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 11 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 347,042 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Skull Mantra
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Not many political thrillers are set in Tibet, and few can match the power and poetry of this debut novel by journalist Eliot Pattison. At the heart of the book is a forced labour camp where the Chinese imprison Buddhist monks and other local dissidents they've swept up since taking over Tibet. The prison also holds a few special Chinese prisoners--including Shan Tao Yun. This middle-aged man was once the Inspector General of the Ministry of Economy in Beijing, specialising in fraud cases. For reasons even he doesn't understand, he has been imprisoned and brutalised, and now spends his days breaking rocks on a road crew called the People's 404th Construction Brigade high in the Himalayas. Shan manages to survive under these harsh conditions thanks to the spiritual guidance of his fellow prisoners, but his precarious balance is threatened by the discovery of the headless body of a local Chinese official near a road construction site.
The dead man's head soon turns up in a famous shrine--a cave that contains the skulls of heroic monks. The shrewd Red Army Colonel in charge of the district asks Shan to conduct an investigation: offers of better food and conditions are mixed with threats against his monk friends. Colonel Tan wants a fast resolution that implicates a mute, passive monk found near the cave, but Shan is certain that the man isn't guilty. More likely, killers include other high- ranking Chinese officials, as well as a pair of American mining entrepreneurs who had personal as well as financial dealings with the dead man.
By using a mountain of tiny details to make us believe completely in Shan and his perilous situation, Pattison creates a rare combination of excitement and enlightenment. --Dick Adler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Sunday Telegraph
Vivid, absorbing, intriguing.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Skull Mantra is the best read for both thillers and Tibet lovers. It keeps you reading with the intrigue of the plot itself as well as with all the magic the writer succeeds in trasmitting of Tibet, its people and buddhism. Despite the tragic set of the story - mainly a prison camp for Tibetans - and the rendering of the appalling conditions which Tibetans are submitted to by the Chinese invaders, the book is pervaded and can transmit a sense of joyful acceptance of life as it is, the joy which reaching one's true inner self represents. Besides being a good thriller, this is also the story of the protagonist, funnily a Chinese who though turns out to be a true tibetan in both way of living and way of thinking, and who, prisoner among tibetan prisoners, is forced by the Chinese authorities to solve a series of crimes perpetrated against Chinese government representatives. Eliot, please hurry up! I do look forward to your second best seller!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Eliot Pattison stands head and shoulders above most authors writing mysteries and thrillers today. No. I take that back. He towers over them. I haven't been this excited about a new author in years. Fusing elements of police procedural and pedal-to-the-metal thriller, all flawlessly integrated with the remote Tibetan setting, "The Skull Mantra" is our introduction to dogged, unassuming Shan Tao Yun, a former Inspector in Beijing who has subsequently spent years as a political prisoner alongside lamas and freedom fighters. He is temporarily released for a specific purpose: to solve a murder that has occurred near the labor camp. However, he soon comes close to despair as it begins to appear that the murder was a demon.
Pattison is a first-class prose stylist. The story flows quickly and smoothly, untangling the mystery one revelation at a time, yet the author doesn't skimp on the visual detail that is necessary to bring this remote setting to life for readers who have never been there. The characterizations are economical and realistic. The monks and lamas make utterly sympathetic martyrs -- one of the hardest literary tricks to pull off. Pattison does it effortlessly, and I think this is because he believes whereof he writes: "The Skull Mantra," like its sequels, is a field guide to the dying practices of Tibetan Buddhism, suffused with the author's political indignation over the fate of the minorities who have the misfortune to live within the boundaries of modern China. My sole reservation about Pattison's writing is that he occasionally demonizes Beijing and mainstream Chinese culture. You start to think, "Oh come on, it can't really be as bad as all that!" However, that these doubts arise at all is a testament to Pattison's intimacy with his material: it is a rare thriller that feels as convincing as nonfiction. For sheer authoritativeness, "The Skull Mantra" bears comparison to "The Constant Gardener" and "The Quiet American." Higher praise than that there is none. So, hats off to Eliot Pattison, and let's hope he keeps writing.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Wonderful story and characters that came to life - I was there as Shan tried against great odds to solve the murder - but it also told me so much about Buddhism and life in Tibet that I am now hooked and want to learn more.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Tibetan murder mystery
Shan Tao Yun fell victim to politics and now works in a prison camp in the Himalayas. He's part of a work group that mostly consists of Buddhist Monks who have greatly influenced... Read more
Published on 12 Dec 2007 by Wyvernfriend
Tibetan mystery
This is quite simply an brilliant read from first page to last. This book takes you into a whole new world cand is completely different too any other book of this genre. Read more
Published on 15 Jan 2007 by A. P. O'brien
an awesome blend of Tibet's past & present!
When a headless corpse is uncovered by a prison work gang on a windy Tibetan mountain, veteran Beijing police inspector Shan Tao Yin would seem the perfect man to solve the crime -... Read more
Published on 31 July 2001 by Rebecca Brown
A great thriller that also lets us see inside another world
The Skull Mantra will keep you hooked from the beginning. It is a delicious tense detective thriller that also introduces the reader to the beauty of the Tibetan/Chinese landscape... Read more
Published on 17 Nov 2000 by dsmith@uk.elcamino.com
Exotic setting, but poor plotting
I was expecting a lot more from this book, since it won an award in the US. While the Tibetan setting and the alien culture is interesting, the writing slips into pretentiousness... Read more
Published on 6 Oct 2000
A moving story can be confusing at times,but stick with it.
"The Skull mantra" is a very moving story, but it can become confusing and I felt a little lost at times. Read more
Published on 15 Sep 2000
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