Water Touching Stone (Inspector Shan Tao Yun, #2)

by Eliot Pattison

The news that a venerated teacher has been murdered and a lama is missing sends an unlikely band of outcasts into the remote northern reaches of the Tibetan plateau. Two old Tibetans travel to restore the spiritual balance disturbed by violent death. A sullen resistance fighter races to battle a new foe. But Shan Tao Yun, former Beijing investigator and newly released from four years of prison camp, sets out to find justice. In the dangerous borderlands of western China, however, justice is elusive. Vengeful officials, soldiers, smugglers, secret Buddhists and the remnants of the proud Muslim clans all stand in the way of Shan's pursuit of a serial killer whose terrible motives lie buried in the Tibetan struggle.

• ISBN10: 1429979283
• ISBN13: 9781429979283
• Publish Date: 29 September 2009 (first published 1 January 2001)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Minotaur Books
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[wyvernfriend]

This is the second story of Shan Tao Yun, the former Beijing investigator turned prisoner and Buddhist. He's sent to investigate the death of a venerated Buddhist teacher and lama and finds himself embroiled in the politics of a different kind.

There are stretches of this book that resonated deeply with me and pulled me in only for me to reluctantly surface but then the political message would jar me out of the pleasure of reading it. The message is very heavy-handed and I did want to occasionally slap the author and tell him to get back to the story.

The story isn't really all that wonderful either but the descriptions just held my interest. Shan is a great character and I really enjoyed seeing the world through his eyes.