Skull Mantra

• Read a sample of Skull Mantra
• Eliot Pattison on how he was inspired to write Skull Mantra

Reviews

• Thomas Gaughan for Booklist
• Kirkus Reviews
• Publisher's Weekly
• Barbara Conaty for the Library Journal

Synopsis

When a headless corpse is found on a remote Tibetan mountainside, veteran inspector Shan Tao Yun is the perfect candidate to solve the crime--except he's been stripped of rank and imprisoned in the gulag for offending the Party in Beijing. Desperate to close the case before the arrival of high-profile American tourists, the district commander grants Shan a temporary release. The embittered but brilliant Shan soon discovers the victim was notorious for persecuting Tibetan priests. When Party officials try to thwart Shan's investigation by arresting an innocent monk, Shan is thrown into a maelstrom of political and religious intrigue. His search for justice takes him from an American mining project in Tibet to a secret, illegal monestary. Gradually, Shan exposes a massive crime machine that can only be stopped with the help of an unlikely alliance of Americans, aged monks, and even a sorcerer. This is a novel of great hope and great tragedy, of incredible greed and stalwart selflessness, and of the tremendous gulf between those who live for enlightenment and those who live for power.

Quotes

"One of the hottest debut novels of the season." -- Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"The Skull Mantra does for Tibet what Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park did for Russia. .. . a colorful moving portrayal of a strange and complex Tibet under an iron fist. As suspenseful as it is beautiful and tragic."

-- Portsmouth Herald

"A full-tilt thriller that exhibits a profound feel for Buddhism. . . not only an exhilarating read, but an important one, morally and politically."

--Tricycle: The Buddhist Review

"There is no faster way to get under the skin of a country in turmoil than with the needle of a murder investigation. . . A thriller of laudable aspirations and achievements."

--The Chicago Tribune

"The Skull Mantra is not just another episodic whodunit set against an exotic backdrop. It is both a precise gear-toothed thriller and a presentation of a culture being methodically dismantled."

--Fox News Online

"Breathtaking in its literary scope, refreshing in its exotic originality and heartbreaking in its exploration of the soul."

--Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Reviewers frequently compare a new writer to Tony Hillerman; here is a truly possible successor."

--Boston Globe