The mystery is an engaging one, triggered by the bizarre find of a headless corpse under a pile of stones near the worksite of the People's 404th Brigade. The 404th is a forced-labor gang made up mostly of Tibetan monks, but also including former Beijing prosecutor Shan Tao Yung. The case takes a more bizarre twist when the local commandant, Colonel Tan, picks Shan to conduct the investigation because the local prosecutor is away on vacation. Then the body turns out to be that of the supposedly vacationing prosecutor. Colonel Tan wants the case resolved quickly, and a local monk is soon implicated, but Shan isn't satisfied.
Beyond the engaging mystery, this book has a lot to say about the evils of Chinese rule in Tibet. I would be one of the last people to argue against the need for relatively backward societies to come to grips with the modern world as we enter the 21st century, but modernization doesn't begin to justify the attempt to forcefully eradicate a foreign culture at whatever human cost that pursued by China in Tibet. The leadership of China, both past and present, have much to answer for.
THE SKULL MANTRA is an excellent book. It's not the greatest mystery I've ever read, but it is pretty good in that department. Beyond that, however, it has the power to both entertain AND enlighten. That's a powerful combination. I recommend this book highly. It's an experience most readers won't quickly forget. I only hope Pattison's next book is as good.
There are at least four important strands in this first thriller from an author active in another field. It needs to stand on its own. Success is in the mind of the individual reader. It kept me from some other important tasks, so it rates well. Most of the major players have some context beyond the story and stay consistent with that context. Those who eventually are identified as "good guys" are more credible and three dimensional throughout.
Two other strands I identified were "author's background agenda". One more was the physical back drop. I decided the author had started to write a tribute to the monastic civilisation that formerly ruled Tibet. Now the Chinese enforce a control that has long been asserted as a right. Pattison finds the remnants of the former civilisation enchanting. As reported they are certainly captivating. Beijing and apologists claim that the previous situation was a two tier society with considerable oppression. This outsider is partly persuaded by the author, but also feels compelled to suspend judgment. Pattison does give glimpses of the disadvantages of living in a society with an apparent caste structure.
The arrival of rule by Beijing was a wide ranging upheaval. Those imposing it could well be portrayed as villains. Pattison does not fall into the trap of making a blanket condemnation. The Chinese characters do in general live a couple of notches below the Tibetans on some moral scale. There are echoes of a parallel upheaval in the land that an unreconstructed Tibetan would call China. That upheaval is seen to aggravate the destruction in Tibet. Servants of a state that now treasures the tombs of their ancestors are portrayed as barbarous pirates. They loot where gold is to be found and they destroy where archaeology would call for careful preservation. The reader can probably handle this in balance, especially as the hero is still himself a victim of the flaws in Chinese rule at home.
Most of the book is about ideas and their rearrangement. The material world surrounding `Lladrung County' is sketched as a sort of canvas back drop. This thread is the weakest link in the tale. The printed sketch map of the local area betrays an apparent impatience. One might conclude that Tibet is composed of rocky outcrops, all much alike. Before the story opens, it has been decreed that a road will be constructed. The map left me wondering both where to and why.
The persons involved do not interact credibly with the landscape. On the opening page one of them is found standing at the top of a five hundred foot cliff, with only the wind stopping him from falling. Not an exercise for anyone who expects gusty winds. For the story he needs to be there, to notice something on a ledge below. If there is another reason for him to be there, it is not explained. It seems implausible that road construction would be so near such a sheer drop with no obvious cause.
I felt that some editor should have looked carefully at all references in the book to the moon. On page 254, a bit after nightfall, the new moon is seen climbing in the Eastern sky. Not even in Tibet, please. Some days later (p375) there is a `sliver of a moon' in the early morning sky. A full moon should have influenced the narrative action in between these days but rates no mention. A night or two before the new moon (p199) two people walk without lights from a parked truck up towards the work site by the cliff. It is just after midnight, and one of them looks back after thirty paces to see what the driver is doing at the unlit truck. I doubt that even people accustomed to wandering at night with only stars for company would find the going or the seeing as easy as is implicit. That same editor should have questioned an event near the top of (p173) where the hero cleaned five stones, laid three in line, placed two on them and one on top.
There are other little details that jar. I don't really believe (see p229) that the Island of Hainan (Area ~ 13,000 sq m, Population ~ 3 million) has only a hundred miles of roads. Colonel Tan, who is an important protagonist, came to Tibet after 1985. A conspiracy of details says he has been there a couple of years at the outset of the story. Small pox is present in the Tibetan population in the tale but was announced as banished from the surface of the earth on 8th May 80.
I find it difficult to accept (p 360) that a vulture tamed by taking part in `sky burial' rites would range widely in search of other flesh. It bothers imagination that such a bird would even consider picking up a beautifully articulated glove from a demon costume. Or, having picked it up, carry it any distance to a place where it would be found and recognised. I cannot imagine (p381) that anyone accustomed to heavy machinery would unthinkingly drive a bulldozer onto a recently constructed dyke, already holding back a considerable lake. Nor, once there, would they use it to search for a missing car by tearing that dyke apart. I can't imagine, as reported, `turf' there for its tracks to work on.
On a scale of zero to 10, the book gets about 8 as a sympathetic report of what Tibet was once. It rates about 5 as a report of the Chinese as conquerors. The thriller story line runs to a 7. To visualise life in Tibetan surroundings, start with the archives of National Geographic. It is hard to go above a 3 for understanding of the physical world.
Prepared by
Donald Lang...15th July 2003