Ashes of the Earth: A Mystery of Post-Apocalyptic America [Hardcover]

Eliot Pattison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2011

Thirty years after global holocaust, the colony of Carthage still struggles to build its new world. While steam engines and other early industrial technology have empowered its economy, the fragile society is undermined by secret crimes, rifts between generations, government censorship, and a legacy of casting out those who suffer from radiation sickness.

Embittered survivor Hadrian Boone—once a revered colony founder—has been hounded by despair and the ghosts of his past into a life of drunkenness and frequent imprisonment for challenging the governor’s tyranny. But when a gentle old man, the colony’s leading scientist, is murdered, Hadrian glimpses chilling secrets behind the killing that could destroy the colony. Realizing that he may be the only one able to expose the truth, Hadrian begins a desperate quest through the underbelly of the colony into the wrenching camps of the outcasts, escorted by a young policewoman who struggles to cope with the physical and emotional remnants of the prior world. Ultimately Hadrian’s journey becomes one of self-discovery, and to find justice his greatest challenge is navigating the tortuous path of the human spirit in a world that has been forever fractured.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Having successfully portrayed both modern-day Tibet and Colonial America in two series, Edgar-winner Pattison (Eye of the Raven) launches a third with this brilliant if grim mystery set in the 21st century 25 years after global mega-acts of terror have destroyed all U.S. government entities and almost all infrastructure. Hadrian Boone, one of the cofounders of the struggling colony of Carthage, located near the Great Lakes, is one of those who remembers the former world, as the time before the apocalypse is referred to, but he's on the outs with the community's leaders and on the verge of being exiled. The chance discovery of a body triggers a series of events that reintroduces murder and other crimes to a community reliant on 19th-century technology. Boone's efforts to find the truth and what it implies for Carthage's future put him in harm's way time after time. Pattison blends the bleakness of The Road with a well-crafted whodunit plot for another winner. (Apr.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Review

Praise for Ashes of the Earth

"With a vital cast of villains and heroes, a vividly grim setting, and inventive, hair-raising action, ingenious mystery-writer-of-conscience Pattison explores the psychological toll of mass destruction and the need to salvage ideas and values, rather than material riches, so that a just society can rise from the ashes." —Booklist (starred)

"Brilliant . . . Pattison blends the bleakness of The Road with a well-crafted whodunit plot for another winner." —Publishers Weekly (starred)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Counterpoint (April 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582436444
• ISBN-13: 978-1582436449
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,020,412 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Eliot Pattison has been described as a "writer of faraway mysteries," a label which is particularly apt for someone whose travel and interests span such a broad spectrum. After reaching a million miles of global trekking, visiting every continent but Antarctica, Pattison stopped logging his miles and set his compass for the unknown. Today he avoids well-trodden paths whenever possible, in favor of wilderness, lesser known historical venues, and encounters with indigenous peoples. An international lawyer by training, early in his career Pattison began writing on legal and business topics, producing several books and dozens of articles published on three continents. In the late 1990's he decided to combine his deep concerns for the people of Tibet with his interest in venturing into fiction by writing The Skull Mantra. Winning the Edgar Award for Best First Mystery--and listed as a finalist for best novel for the year in Dublin's prestigious IMPAC awards--The Skull Mantra launched the Inspector Shan series, which now includes Water Touching Stone, Bone Mountain, Beautiful Ghosts, and The Prayer of the Dragon. Both The Skull Mantra and Water Touching Stone were selected by Amazon.com for its annual list of ten best new mysteries. Water Touching Stone was selected by Booksense as the number one mystery of all time for readers' groups. The Inspector Shan series has been translated into over twenty languages around the world.
Pattison entered China for the first time within weeks of normalization of relations with the United States in 1980 and during his many return visits to China and neighboring countries developed the intense interest in the rich history and culture of the region that is reflected in these books. They have been characterized as creating a new "campaign thriller" genre for the way they weave significant social and political themes into their plots. Indeed, as soon as the novels were released they became popular black market items in China for the way they highlight issues long hidden by Beijing.

Pattison's longtime interest in another "faraway" place -the 18th century American wilderness and its woodland Indians-- led to the launch of his Bone Rattler series, which quickly won critical acclaim for its poignant presentation of Scottish outcasts and Indians during the upheaval of the French and Indian War. In Pattison's words, "this was an extraordinary time that bred the extraordinary people who gave birth to America," and the lessons offered by the human drama in that long-ago wilderness remain fresh and compelling today.

A former resident of Boston and Washington, Pattison resides on an 18th century farm in Pennsylvania with his wife, three children, and an ever-expanding menagerie of animals.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Not my cup of tea--just too bleak and somewhat unrealistic for me. April 19, 2011

By Silverback

Format:Hardcover

I am a big science fiction fan and occasionally like detective stories, so this seemed like a natural.

I have read many, many stories set in various types of dystopias, in apocalyptic, and the end of the world as we know it scenarios, and I am not unfamiliar with accounts of Nazi, Japanese, Soviet, and Chinese brutality and concentration camps and seemingly hopeless or actually hopeless situations yet, the small society depicted,--although not so organized or violent as these real examples were and are--was just too bleak for me, and I found myself reluctant to pick up the book again and to continue reading. Moreover, I found the beatings, mutilations, and various other repeated violent assaults against the main character--at this time probably 50, if not older, not eating too well, and likely not in prime condition--and his response, to be pretty unbelievable i.e. I found it harder and harder to believe that he took a licking one day and came back the next day for more, and then more again a couple of days later and, still, he kept on going.

I just couldn't finish it, and back it went to the Library.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent world-building makes for a must-read dystopian mystery May 31, 2011

By Carrie Kitzmiller

Format:Hardcover

It has been thirty years since global holocaust, and the village of Carthage is struggling to build a new society. Hadrian Boone, one of the original founders, has watched a village founded on the desire for a future descend into corruption, greed, and power struggles. Disillusioned and wracked with grief over the family he lost, Hadrian has become an alcoholic and frequent trouble-maker. It is only when the town's wise man, Jonah, is murdered, that Hadrian is motivated to come out of his drunken haze and try to find the connection between Jonah's murder, a rash of child suicides, and a shipwreck that may or may not have happened.

In many dystopian novels, the dystopia is the story. In this book, the dystopia is only the setting, but don't let that word "only" fool you. The mystery is the story, and it exists in a dystopian future so real that I dreamed about it. The settlers of Carthage have managed to build an existence that goes back to the days before technology, and they supplement by salvaging what they can find in the ruins around them. Some people, like Hadrian and Jonah, want to preserve the past and learn from it, while others are determined to censor the literature from before the holocaust, believing that their only hope is to forget their history and look to the future.

One of the things I love most about dystopian literature is the way books become valued artifacts and reminders of the past, often reminders that some people want to suppress. Lucas Buchanan, the governor of Carthage, is one of those people. He's a dangerous leader - the type who believes that the end justifies the means, that the survival of the village is more important than the rights and treatment of the individual citizen. He uses his police force to control the village and has no problem subverting the path of true justice, if he believes it will advance his goals.

Outside the village are the exiles, those most harmed by radiation sickness. The village council pushed them out, unwilling to deal with the illnesses and birth defects becoming rampant in the population. Hadrian, Jonah, and the village doctor, Emily, long to see a bridge built between the town and the exiles, a sharing of resources and knowledge, but Lucas has managed to place people on the council who he is able to control. Or are they controlling him?

Ashes of the Earth vividly demonstrates the fact that human nature doesn't change. There will always be people determined to do the right thing, people who value learning and knowledge, people who show compassion and mercy to those less fortunate than themselves. And there will always be people who manipulate and twist events to their own benefit, who see others as tools to be used, who see power as something to be grasped, and believe that the weak exist to serve the strong. Those attributes are magnified in a dystopian setting, where it seems like a person's true nature rises to the surface.

I highly recommend this book to all fans of dystopian fiction. The mystery got a little confusing at times, but all came together in the end, and the quality of writing and world-building make it a must-read addition to the genre.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Vintage Pattison set in the future June 24, 2012

By Anthony J. Arnold

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This stand-alone mystery translates Pattison's popular Tibetan detective series (Skull Mantra etc.) into a post-apocalyptic setting, with essentially the same formula. Disgraced intellectual Inspector Chinese Shan is replaced by the disgraced intellectual co-founder of a colony of nuclear holocaust survivors; like Shan, he is unofficially tasked with solving a murder mystery by a corrupt government that interferes with his investigation and mistreats outcast mutants and radiation victims for the "greater good" -- much like the corrupt and monolithic Chinese bureaucracy interferes with Shan's investigations and mistreats the Tibetan people. The role of the wise but innocent Tibetan monk is played by a wise but innocent scientist who tries to rebuild civilization while working within the context of a short-sighted and despotic government. Pattison fans will recognize the theme.

Despite the formulaic approach (after all, that's why they call it a genre), this is quite a good book. Not only is it a thought-provoking, believable and evocative picture of a post-apocalyptic world, it reminds us that the true villain is the worst of human nature and not the Chinese/colonial government. And that it is the best in all of us that is the true hero. Pattison fans expect the formula, and they expect to be captivated by the setting, just as we are by Pattison's depiction of Tibet and the Tibetans. Fans will not be disappointed on either score.