Customer Reviews

Prayer of the Dragon

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Eliot Pattison has come through once again for mystery lovers who want a book that both challenges the mind and stimulates the imagination. When I read his first book years ago, I described it as Tony Hillerman meets the Dalai Lama. This book brings that description to life in spades. Perhaps the most easily read of the Shan books, Prayer of the Dragon kept me up late into the night three evenings in a row and when I finished it, I had both a feeling of satisfaction and an itch to read whatever comes next. This is one series well worth suggesting to patrons of my library who are looking for a thinking person's author. Thank you Eliot Pattison for coming through yet again.

The Inspector Shan series - five in all - provides deep insights into Tibet and the consequences of the Chinese takeover. In this installment, however, there is an additional twist. Shan is summoned to a remote village to save a comatose man from execution for two murders. It turns out that the man is a Navajo descendant visiting Tibet with his niece, an American anthropology professor researching a link between Tibetans and Navajos.

The two murders, Shan discovers, are but part of a series of others and he has to solve not only those, but the riddle of Dragon Mountain, "where the world begins." The village is located on the mountain and the suspects are numerous. With the help of his friends, the unlicensed monks, Gendun and Lokesh, Shan undertakes an arduous task.

The common religious and cultural aspects of Tibetans and Navajos described throughout the novel are fascinating. The descriptions of the people and bleak geography are penetrating. The novel, like its predecessor, gets off to a slow start, and the author lays the groundwork for the plot. But once it gets going, the mystery moves apace solidly. Also like its predecessor, "Dragon" is very much worth reading, and is recommended.

In a secret lamasery high in the Tibetan Himalayas Sleeping Dragon Mountain near the village of Drango the monks summon former Beijing special investigator Shan, who lives nearby having escaped from imprisonment. He and his close friends Lokesh and Gendun are shown two mutilated corpses whose arms were removed and an unconscious stranger, who is not Tibetan, Chinese, or Nepalese lying nearby. The monks want to execute the comatose man believing he killed and eviscerated the victims. The former People's Republic of China detective convinces the monks to give him some time to investigate and learn the truth.

He knows he must solve the case fast as every moment the stranger lives places the monks in jeopardy. Shan learns the survivor of the tragedy is an American Navajo who accompanied by his niece seeks the ancient ties between Tibetan Buddhism and his people's belief in Bon. As Shana and his two Lama pals continue their inquiries, the trio will soon be shocked by the evil connection between their ancient belief systems and the cynicism of the modern world.

The Shan mysteries are some of the best written as the audience will feel they are on top of the world (see BONE MOUNTAIN, THE SKULL MANTRA and BEAUTIFUL GHOSTS). The investigation is cleverly designed so that the reader obtains a strong whodunit, but also a deep look at life in Tibet especially at a lamasery. This is another winner with the added bonus of the connection between Tibetan Buddhism and the Navaho religion.

Harriet Klausner

Prayer of the Dragon
In "Prayer of the Dragon," dishonored Inspector Shan, a Chinese national, continues his quest for peace after having been released from a Tibetan gulag. He also continues to strive to bring murderers to justice and protect his Tibetan lama friends. Eliot Pattison has a deep knowledge of Tibet and of Buddhism as a way of life. His writing is gentle and loving yet shows the terrible price the people of Tibet have paid since the Chinese have moved in. The simplicity of the Tibetan culture is very attractive and their ability to overcome obstacles that would generate hate within many people is amazing. I sought out this mystery series to learn more about life in Tibet under Chinese rule. I find his books compelling on many levels, not the least of which is the beautiful writing.

The author knows a great deal about crime, Tibetan Buddhism, and Tibet's relations with China, but as a mystery this book just bored me - the pace was too slow and the book seems to go on and on and just didn't keep me interested in the plot.

Part of Mr. Pattison's acclaimed Inspector Shan series, this mystery novel is set in Tibet, and is full of fascinating tidbits for the interested - a look at the current state in Tibet, descriptions of ancient Tibetan culture mixed with a snappy police procedural format, excellent writing and a true page turner. I highly recommend it.

Elliot Pattison's Inspector Shan series are wonderful and give such an indepth view of Tibet and its people, and how the Chinese revolution has affected both the lives of the Tibetans and the Chinese. My favorite Shan book is "Water Touching Stone" but I found "Prayer of the Dragon" also quite engrossing.

These books are not for the faint-hearted. They require patience. You can't speed read through them and expect to understand. That said, Prayer of the Dragon remains true to the style and themes of the earlier books in the series (e.g.,The Skull Mantra (Inspector Shan Tao Yun)) and keeps you wondering what on earth is happening. With seemingly supernatural invocations at every turn, there is always a practical and believable result...the reader is required to perservere. Along the way one gets incredible lessons about people and life in another, very different place.

Eliot Pattison,as usual, weaves a tightly knit mystery set in a background most of us have only heard about. He makes both the background and the characters come alive. It is rare when I dread a book ending but with this, I did....the reader can't help but want more. It is told with Shan as the main character, but Pattison makes us identify with many of the three dimensional characters he introduces. As in life, no one is either all good or all bad. And, an added plus is that we end this book knowing far more about Tibet.....and the Navaho cultures than we could ever imagine.

I enjoyed this book - but not as much as the previous book, Beautiful Ghosts, which was amazing. This one was a bit too gruesome for my taste. The exploration of the possible relationship between the Navajo and the Tibetan people was interesting.