The Buddha of Brewer Street (Thomas Goodfellowe) [Paperback]

Michael Dobbs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 11, 2002 | Series: Thomas Goodfellowe

A new Dalai Lama is born. The infant god-king of Tibet. And around the child explodes an international conspiracy that will carve a trail of death from the slopes of Mount Everest right to the heart of London's Chinatown. It is an unlikely battleground for a backbench Member of Parliament—but then Tom Goodfellowe is the unlikeliest of heroes. His career is going nowhere and his main concerns are his overdraft and his unrequited love life—until a mysterious Tibetan monk walks into his chaotic world and draws him into a murderous race against time. On the outcome of this race will hang the fate of millions of people and one of the world's great religions. The odds are hopeless but he is a born fighter. And the best of Tom Goodfellowe is yet to come.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For fans of the Machiavellian Prime Minister Francis Urquhart, the antiheroic protagonist of Dobbs's previous trilogy (adapted for TV as House of Cards, starring Ian Richardson), Thomas Goodfellowe, a decent, down-on-his-political-luck backbencher, is an unenticing replacement. Likewise, few readers will be tempted by the second installment's ludicrous intrigue involving the Chinese government's attempts to find and kidnap the newly reincarnated, British-born Dalai Lama. A former political adviser to Margaret Thatcher and John Major, Dobbs seems to have gone soft since New Labour took power, if Goodfellowe's soap-operatic midlife crisis is an indicator. With his wife hospitalized for depression, his teenage daughter hiding family planning and pregnancy leaflets and his junior ministerial career over, Goodfellowe is totally unprepared to be enlisted by Buddhist monks in the search for the next Dalai Lama. Dobbs delivers plenty of international cat-and-mouse episodes, stretching from London's Chinatown to Tibet, along with scenes of Chinese human rights abuses that would alarm Amnesty International, but none of this adds up to much of a read. Although there are good guys to cheer for and baddies to boo in the race to find the special child in England's Tibetan refugee community, this featherweight entertainment has no punch.

Copyright 1998 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

'A rattling good yarn to keep you warm on long winter nights! It deserves to be relished! Here is good old-fashioned entertainment in the great British tradition of Rider Haggard, done with wit, skill, pace and panache.' Sunday Express 'Parliamentary intrigue, political scandal and government treachery! Dobbs demonstrates why he is the master.' Times Literary Supplement 'Slick, fast-moving and distinctive.' Mail on Sunday

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK (April 11, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0006497985
• ISBN-13: 978-0006497981
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,030,172 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A delightful read, March 10, 2011

By 

Harry Warraich "Harry Warraich" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Buddha of Brewer Street (Thomas Goodfellowe) (Paperback)

This was one of the first books I read when I was young, and even then it gripped me from the start.

The book itself if split into two stories, the first is about Thomas Goodfellow, an MP in London who is struggling in his daily life with his routine relationships between his daughter and his members of staff.

The second story, the far more interesting bit, is about the return of the Dalai Lama and those who wish to stop his existence.

The two stories eventually intertwine in a unique fusion which leads to an incredible and dramatic ending.

Highly recommended reading.

Harry Warraich

Author

(I've removed my product link, following a bombardment of retorts from a group of forum regulars)