The Skull Mantra is a remarkable book that I suspect is part of a remarkable series. Its "type"—as a detective crime novel—is subverted in wondrous ways, and it marches toward "great literature," which transcends type.
Eliot Pattison began his series featuring the Chinese Inspector Shan in 1999, and it continues in great reverence by however many people know of it. I certainly did not, until Cass Markovich introduced me.
Inspector Shan is, for all intents and purposes, a convert to Tibetan Buddhism, living as he does as a prisoner of the Chinese government in company with a body of Tibetan prisoners, most of whom seem to be monks. The spiritual aspect of this story is probably what has won it many fans, even though one need not "believe" to be touched by it. What it really shows is spirituality working among a people, rather than advocacy of any one particular form of spirituality.
Much of the book reminded me of reading Western novels incorporating Japanese Zen Buddhism and written in the 1950s and 1960s.
But it certainly is a murder mystery, too. In the more than 400 pages of its current paperback version (I read the Kindle e-text), the story deepens, complicates, and transforms. And then starts all over again.
In my current interest in the concept of 'formula' for writing mysteries, I'd suggest that the Inspector Shan stories follow a "persecution" formula. I'm reminded that during the Cold War it was held that Iron Curtain countries often produced their best art, because it had to be accomplished midst such fatal danger. There is no love interest in this novel (another formula), but instead the lead character (and those he works with) all operate within the great tyranny that the Chinese government imposes upon the people of Tibet. This is drawn all the more tighter as the lead character is himself a prisoner. Most of the time.
I don't think a review needs to reveal any more details than this. Like all great literature, the actual plot is of little importance. It's how you make the journey that counts, and you won't soon forget this journey through Tibet and through your own mind.
--Michael Broschat, Feb 2009