I'd enjoyed Eliot Pattison's Inspector Shan series, so was eager to read his new book. But I confess it never grabbed me. Those other books are set in Tibet and the fate of its people as they struggle under the oppression of the Peoples' Republic of China makes for a built-in and very real drama. This novel is a post-apocalyptic thriller and I wonder if the key to such a story has to be our interest in the survival of the survivors. For instance, the relationship between father and son in The Road made it the first enjoyable and uplifting Cormac McCarthy novel. Here, in Ashes of the Earth, there is no such relationship for us to latch on to and no vision of a potential future that is compelling enough to give us a rooting interest. It's not a bad book, just a disappointment. Try the author's award-winning Skull Mantra instead.

(Reviewed:15-Dec-11)

Grade: (C) Orrin C. Judd

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Elliot Pattison Links:

    -AUTHOR SITE: EliotPattison.com
    -WIKIPEDIA: Eliot Pattison
    -ARCHIVES: Eliot Pattison (Google Books)
    -ARCHIVES: Eliot Pattison (NPR)
    -INTERVIEW: Reading and Writing podcast – Eliot Pattison interview (JEFFR, DECEMBER 3, 2011, Reading and Writing Podcast)
    -INTERVIEW: A Conversation With Eliot Pattison (Claire E. White, Writers Write)
    -REVIEW: of Ashes of the Earth by Eliot Pattison (Publishers Weekly)
    -REVIEW: of Ashes of the Earth (Kingdom Books)
    -REVIEW: of Ashes of the Earth (Mystery Maven)
    -REVIEW: of The Bone Rattler by Eliot Pattison (Jane Davis, Mystery Reader)
    -REVIEW: of Bone Rattler (Yvonne Zipp, CS Monitor)
    -REVIEW: of Prayer of the Dragon by Eliot Pattison (Marilyn Stasio, NY Times Book Review)

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