Skeleton God
An Inspector Shan Tao Yun Mystery
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4.7 • 15 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
In Eliot Pattison's Skeleton God, Shan Tao Yun, now the reluctant constable of a remote Tibetan town, has learned to expect the impossible at the roof of the world, but nothing has prepared him for his discovery when he investigates a report that a nun has been savagely assaulted by ghosts. In an ancient tomb by the old nun lies a gilded saint buried centuries earlier, flanked by the remains of a Chinese soldier killed fifty years before and an American man murdered only hours earlier. Shan is thrust into a maelstrom of intrigue and contradiction.
The Tibetans are terrified, the notorious Public Security Bureau wants nothing to do with the murders, and the army seems determined to just bury the dead again and Shan with them. No one wants to pursue the truth–except Shan, who finds himself in a violent collision between a heartbreaking, clandestine effort to reunite refugees from Tibet separated for decades and a covert corruption investigation that reaches to the top levels of the government in Beijing, China. The terrible secret Shan uncovers changes his town and his life forever.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Edgar-winner Pattison remains without peer at integrating a fair-play whodunit into a searing portrayal of life under an oppressive and capricious regime, as shown by his ninth Insp. Shan Tao Yun mystery (after 2014's Soul of the Fire). Shan, who lost his previous position after uncovering uncomfortable truths, now works as a constable in the secluded Tibetan town of Yangkar. Shan has done his best to stay off the radar of anyone in power, hoping that his diminished profile will enable less harsh treatment to continue for his imprisoned son, Ko. But events overtake Shan's intention when locals hear a surprising sound emanating from the tomb of a centuries-dead lama. The tomb turns out to contain two other corpses: one of a Chinese soldier who died decades earlier; the other of a Westerner, killed just hours before. The shocks for Shan don't end there. Both men seemed to have been murdered in exactly the same manner. Even readers unfamiliar with the physical and cultural devastation China has wrought in Tibet will find themselves engrossed and moved by Pattison's nuanced portrayal.
Customer Reviews
Boring
Got to about page 170 of 600 and quit. Couldn't get connected with a plot or the main character. Moved on to something that captured my imagination.