The Mantra

Rating:
Summary: astonishingly bad
Review: not worth your time even as an airport read.

Rating:
Summary: novel soars, then flames out quickly
Review: This novel starts off well, if a bit absurdly, when a theological student discovers that a famous rap star is using an obscure Tibetan death chant in his hit song, a chant that causes people to commit suicide. Using theological and philosophical arguments, the author makes this sound almost plausible (though he appears to be unaware of the old song "Gloomy Sunday" or the silly controversy about subliminal messages in music a few decades ago). At this point, I was ready to give this novel a four or five star rating.

The theological student's quest to discover the reason for the rap star's motives and countermeasures to stop the madness take him to Moscow, where the science gets even shakier. After that, his quest takes him to Lhasa and Tibet, and it is here where the problems start. The plot grinds to a halt as the student and other assorted characters run around and spout eastern mystical nonsense for 270 GODDAMN PAGES WHILE THE FATE OF THE WORLD TICKS AWAY!!! I won't even mention the various absurdities in the plot in which characters miraculously encounter each other, are healed, or escape certain death with remarkable ease using occult powers.

A decent ending could have partly redeemed this novel, but the resolution to this apocalyptic problem is one of the lamest, most ridiculous, most infuriating endings I have ever-- EVER!-- read in some three and a half decades of reading fiction. If you must, read the first two sections, then toss the book aside and make up your own ending.