171. "The Skull Mantra" by Elliot Pattison

I had trouble getting through Elliot Pattison's The Skull Mantra, not because of any flaw with the book itself--it's well written, vividly depicts the harsh beauty of Tibet, and provides a sensitive, valuable introduction to the region's traditional culture and religion--but because of the bleakness of life in the Chinese gulags.

Shan, the main character, is a former police detective sentenced to an indefinite period of labor in Tibet. One of the few Chinese prisoners in a brigade of Tibetans, he comes to embrace the teachings and philosophy of the brigade's abbot. His loyalty becomes a tool against him, however, when his work crew discovers a headless body buried under some rocks. The colonel in charge of the county's military defenses enlists Shan to investigate the murder, even as the rival Department of Public Safety conducts its own investigation. He tells Shan that any attempt to escape or failure to solve the crime will result in mass executions in his brigade. Mysterious encounters with rebels and monks, visits to remote monasteries, and the discovery of a secret colony hewn out of the cliffs serve as valuable clues to a crime that extends far beyond what Shan could have imagined.

In the end, the book has what my college friend Becca called a "redemptive" ending, and despite my struggles with the harshness of the Chinese treatment of Tibet, I plan to read the next installment in the series.