Pattison, Eliot

Pattison, Eliot "The Skull Mantra" St. Martin's Minotaur: 1999

I mentioned in a post on current books that I am reading, this book. It is a mystery novel that won an Edgar. It is also by an author I had not read before. I had bought the book at Barnes and Noble in a promotion in which you buy two books and get the third free. All are qualify paperback and all three were by authors that I had not read before but looked interesting.

The blurb at the back of the book said that it was a sensation when it came out receiving wide acclaim from critics and readers alike. I did not remember it. It is ranked with "Gorky Park" and Smilla's Sense of Snow" as a novel as much about a people and a place. I loved both those novels and so bought this book. This book is about the Tibetans of the high Himalayas and a Chinese investigator who was a prisoner named Shan Tao Yun.

In the high mountains of Tibet, a prison work gang is building a road along with a prisoner who was sent to this work gang because he was too good of an investigator in Beijing. A headless corpse is found and work shuts down as the Tibetans refuse to continue the work. The man in charge gives Shan a temporary work release to find out who the corpse is and who committed the crime or the prisoners of the prison work gang will suffer. Then outside Chinese authorities arrest a Buddhist Hermit who Shan knows is innocent. He will be executed as others have been for other murders unless Shan can find out what is happening and who is responsible or if there is a demon loose as some Tibetans suspect.

The plot is complicated with many twists and turns, but it is sorted out by Chan after much skill and determination. Buddhism plays a strong role in this book and it is accurately portrayed or at least as far as I can determined. Chan has found Buddhism and incorporated it into his life. Tibet and Chan are at home with each other. I found in reading this book that I felt I was in the high mountains of the Himalayas. I also learned more of the pain and suffering that the Chinese Government brought to the people of Tibet.

When I read a book, I don't want to read or see anything of the author. Pattison does this very well. He does not push a particular point of view. People are portrayed as living characters both with good as well as the bad. There are some things that are strange and wonderful of Buddhism and that is in the book too, but I did not find it overly done either. I happen to believe some of the things that Buddhist Sages could do were true and some may have been exaggerated. That is the viewpoint of the book as well.

I have every intention of following the exploits of Chan and hopefully there are newer books.




Name of author: Eliot Pattison (Joseph Eliot Pattison is another pen name in international business relations)
Dates of birth and death (if applicable): October 20, 1951
Place of birth: unknown
Education: He is an attorney but where he went to law school is unknown
Literary movement associated with author: He is most known for the Inspector Chan series that is based on Tibet during modern times.
Nationality: He lives in the United States.
Notable award(s) or ideas (s):
The Skull Mantra won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel in 2000.
Books and years when published:

"Water Touching Stone" - Fiction - 2002 - 560 pages Cloistered in a remote sanctuary, Shan Tao Yun has received shattering news.Limited p "The Skull Mantra"‎ - Fiction - 2001 - 448 pages The corpse is missing its head and is dressed in American clothes. "Bone Rattler: A Mystery of Colonial America‎"2007 - 464 pages Aboard a British convict ship bound for the New World, Duncan McCallum witnesses a series of murders and seeming suicides among his fellow Scottish prisoners "Beautiful Ghosts‎" 2005 - 368 pages Released unofficially from the work camp to which he'd been sentenced, Shan has been living in remote mountains of Tibet with a group of outlawed Buddhist monks "Bone Mountain‎" 2004 - 432 pages But the pilgrimage to this distant valley turns into a desperate flight when the monk guiding them is murdered and Shan learns that the stone eye was stolen "Prayer of the Dragon‎" 2008 - 362 pages " Surprises and mysteries abound here. This novel taught me more about Tibet-modern and ancient-than I had managed to learn elsewhere over the years. "The Lord of Death: A Shan Tao Yun Investigation"‎ 2010 - 384 pages Shan, a former investigator from Beijing, must solve the mystery of the assassination to save the accused man, the only person who can help his imprisoned son . "Eye of the Raven: A Mystery of Colonial America‎" 2010 - 400 pages

Book list from Google