The Trail to Buddha’s Mirror

A Neal Carey Mystery, Book 2

By: Don Winslow

Narrated by: Joe Barrett

Robert Pendleton is a chemical genius with a fertilizer worth a fortune to whoever controls the formula. Not surprisingly, the Bank, his notoriously exclusive backer, wants to keep an eye on its investment. But so does the CIA. And the Chinese government. And a few shadier organizations. So when Pendleton disappears from a conference in San Francisco, along with all of his research, Neal Carey enters the picture.

Neal knows the Bank is calling in its chips in return for paying his grad school bills. He thinks this assignment will be a no-brainer—until he meets the beguiling Li Lan and touches off a deadly game of hide-and-seek that will lead him from San Francisco’s Chinatown to the lawless back streets of Hong Kong, and finally into the dark heart of China. In a world where no one is what they seem, Neal must unravel the mystery of a beautiful woman and reach the fabled Buddha’s Mirror, a mist-shrouded lake where all secrets are revealed.

©1992 Don Winslow (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“What begins as a routine missing persons case becomes a complex web of deceit, danger, and international intrigue in this superb mystery…. Vivid local color and absorbing historical detail enhance the chase and reinforce suspense as the story reaches its surprising resolution.” ( Publishers Weekly)

Earlier Don Winslow series

I love Don Winslow’s writing. I started with The Cartel and then read almost all of them. I really love the books in California like the Dawn Patrol, & Gentleman’s Hour. He writes great characters; they are flawed, and mostly they know it. And they are also very cool! He has an eclectic body of work, all of which comment in some way on hypocrisy, injustice and redemption. He has a wonderful sense of humor that I love. His books are intelligent. It was nice to find the Neil Carey series. I like most of his later books better though.

Loved it

Wonderfully drawn characters, complex plot, and very witty writing. I’m glad I discovered Don Winslow.

WHY?

The story was interesting, and exciting enough to keep you into it, but the whole time you're just wondering WHY. WHY does the main character keep going the reason given is lame with no foundation or build. it makes the whole story just not make sense!

Too much Foul language

No need for all the cursing, would have been a great book without it. So sad people think they have to have that in a book.

Don Winslow went to China and wrote this book as a tax write off

Historic and cultural references were too deep and. character development was way too shallow. Main character fell in love with a woman he met for 5 minutes, drops everything and chases her to the other side of the world. Attempts to be romantic, but comes off as immature because the author spent all of 30 seconds on Neil/Neal falling head over heels in love with a woman he has shared all of 10 sentences with. I'm halfway through this price of trash and the plot so far is main character sees a hot girl, "falls in love", stalks her to another continent where she says leave me alone. He doesn't get the hint and the gets his feelings hurt when she tries to kill him because he can't understand why a woman he met once and shared a very brief conversation with doesn't love him back and wants his crazy/toxic persona away from her. To be honest, most of the story was just disappointing frosting on a poorly written and plainly boring travelogue that made up the rest of this cake. I might not finished this book and definitely won't read the rest of this series. save yourself time and money and avoid this. I'm sure the only reason it was written was so Don Winslow would write off a vacation to Hong Kong and China in his taxes.

Waiting for the second book in the series

What did you like best about The Trail to Buddha’s Mirror? What did you like least?

Took the first book and replaced London with Hong Kong

What could Don Winslow have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Written a new plot with or given Niel some motivation besides his dick.

Downhill

I enjoyed some of the writing, enough to try another book. But there were boring chapters of Chinese history which had me skipping chapters. The ending was very lame. The reader was great and I'll look for more books read by him.

Good adventure spy thriller.

very much like a Nelson DeMille novel with the same type of wise ass hero character

Genius

Don Winslow weaves a story like few others. Don Winslow combines history with detailed geography and intrigue in a way that is both highly addictive and quite enjoyable. He takes his reader on a “trip” through unfamiliar situations and into far-off and not so far-off lands. Winslow uses switchback after switchback to keep his reader engaged—and guessing. While Don Winslow’s novels are classified as Suspense and Suspense Thrillers by Amazon, the novels are as much “historical” as “suspense thrillers.” I thoroughly enjoy Don Winslow’s writing. I have read the vast majority of his art, and I have never been disappointed. Even when I think I have his plot all figured out, I am surprised: repeatedly and pleasantly surprised.

Entertaining!

Great book! It got a little tedious in the end talking about history, But all in all a really good listen especially thanks to the great narration!