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The Assassin Lotus
What secret empowers a man to overcome fear? Jack Duran, a young American travel guide indulging a broken heart in Rome, never thought the lotus plant he grew from a seed was anything more than just another pretty flower. But when it draws the attention of an intriguing Indian businesswoman, men with knives soon arrive wreaking bloody havoc. The lotus, it turns out, holds a long-coveted secret, a mystery harking back to the beginnings of Hinduism and Buddhism—and the ancient origins of terrorism. Pursued by a fanatical Islamist assassin, Jack flees in search of the man who sent the lotus seed, the ethno-botanist Daniel J. Duran—a notorious and shadowy researcher who happens to be his brother. Together with Jack’s lost love, the alluring Dutch archaeologist Phoebe Auerbach, Dan has mysteriously vanished into the sands of central Asia. Following their trail along the legendary Silk Road, Jack eludes a fatal web of ruthless spies and killers, racing against time and his merciless adversary to uncover a long-lost secret of enlightenment—and battle the resurgence of an age-old terror.
464 pages, Paperback
First published September 17, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 16, 2014
Hark! The craft is in the lotus!
Review: The Assassin Lotus by David Angsten
For a thriller author, Angsten bites off a mouth full and delivers a feast. His well-told tale stretches from Rome to the historical vistas of the Silk Road. He pits multiple religious traditions against a lineage of terrorist assassins. Subterfuge and cliff-hangers lurk behind every sand dune. People tumble faster than dominoes in this exploration of love, lust, reality, zeal and somatic insights.
As a thriller writer and practicing Buddhist, I find no fault with Angsten’s craft, style, content and intent. In fact, I laud him for trying to chew through so much of history while telling a gripping story. He makes the reader richer for it by reflecting purely delightful experiences of insight and radiance. Enjoy amateur sleuths that tour the ends of the world at a breakneck pace on the quest of a lifetime. Even several lifetimes, if history is to be believed. On’Ya author! This is a five-star feast for readers!
Now, as a writer, what about David’s craft lit me up?
A) Amateur sleuths – they’re allowed to stumble through the story, going head to head with more skilled assassins and finding a way to survive.
B) Globe-trotting – I love an exciting yarn that takes an historical turn through the sands of time on the Silk Road. It feeds my imagination and saves me a trip to Tibet or having to ride on a camel.
C) Soma – the magic elixir, the shortcut to Nirvana, however fleeting. This makes a noble quest though I never found a tea shop that had soma on the menu. Goes to show most readers will try anything once.
D) Weaving a magic carpet – The craft comes from sprinkling the history in little bits like bacon croutons and not getting trapped by your own backstory. When weaving so many richly colorful threads, it’s hard to stay story-lean. Angsten does a jewel of a job with that too. – Peter Prasad, author, The Goat-Ripper Case
Review: The Assassin Lotus by David Angsten
For a thriller author, Angsten bites off a mouth full and delivers a feast. His well-told tale stretches from Rome to the historical vistas of the Silk Road. He pits multiple religious traditions against a lineage of terrorist assassins. Subterfuge and cliff-hangers lurk behind every sand dune. People tumble faster than dominoes in this exploration of love, lust, reality, zeal and somatic insights.
As a thriller writer and practicing Buddhist, I find no fault with Angsten’s craft, style, content and intent. In fact, I laud him for trying to chew through so much of history while telling a gripping story. He makes the reader richer for it by reflecting purely delightful experiences of insight and radiance. Enjoy amateur sleuths that tour the ends of the world at a breakneck pace on the quest of a lifetime. Even several lifetimes, if history is to be believed. On’Ya author! This is a five-star feast for readers!
Now, as a writer, what about David’s craft lit me up?
A) Amateur sleuths – they’re allowed to stumble through the story, going head to head with more skilled assassins and finding a way to survive.
B) Globe-trotting – I love an exciting yarn that takes an historical turn through the sands of time on the Silk Road. It feeds my imagination and saves me a trip to Tibet or having to ride on a camel.
C) Soma – the magic elixir, the shortcut to Nirvana, however fleeting. This makes a noble quest though I never found a tea shop that had soma on the menu. Goes to show most readers will try anything once.
D) Weaving a magic carpet – The craft comes from sprinkling the history in little bits like bacon croutons and not getting trapped by your own backstory. When weaving so many richly colorful threads, it’s hard to stay story-lean. Angsten does a jewel of a job with that too. – Peter Prasad, author, The Goat-Ripper Case
January 7, 2020
A Modern Philosophical Thriller that Entertains, Inspires, and Provokes Further Thought
The Lotus Assassin is a thriller spanning continents and cultures that has at its core much more than a fast-paced mystery plot. Its staggeringly ambitious aim is to build all of that plot around a deep exploration of family, theology, cultural mores, sacred objects, human motives, material delusion, and the nature and purpose of human striving—and amazingly, it manages all that w/out getting dry, preachy, or abstract, either!
Taking a cue from the Bhagavad Ghita, Angsten is deeply interested in the call of dharma, or duty. While spinning through the interactions of a parade of killers, scientists, beautiful women, undercover state actors, and fanatical religious fundamentalists, Angsten looks deep into what pushes men to take on the hero’s journey dharma requires—and examines the nature of the attendant courage men tap to do it.
“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway,” John Wayne is reputed to have said. He’s not quoted in the book, but if you read to the end you’ll find it touches on similar thought from Rumi, Stephen Crane, Amelia Earhart, Lord Krishna, and expounded on by a key character named Anand, among others.
There aren’t many books—much less Indiana-Jones like thrillers—where you’ll find protagonists convincingly passing off G.K. Chesterton quotes as ones from the Buddha to win over allies. But that’s probably because there aren’t many writers with Angsten’s scope of knowledge: He’s familiar with Hindu theology, Buddhist tradition, Catholic thought, as well as Islamic culture and Koranic scripture.
Masterful writing delivers the plot from scene to scene. You’ll read of the “hazy half-light of the soma-moon sun,” of “sacerdotal warriors and sybaritic spies,” of how “the guttural dirge of the monks droned on, a zombie din of death.” Or how: “fear now came alive in me, the hairy worm erupting like a chrysalis in birth. Cracking, unfreezing, it burst in fluttering spasms through my belly and my limbs, wings beating frantically, urging me to run away.”
Then there’s the historical stuff. There was, in fact, a Hungarian archaeologist named Aurel Stein excavated certain remains in 1901 that appear in the book …. and there are dozens of tangents like these you can explore as you make your way through the book to fascinate, divert, and enrich your knowledge of the world.
Good stuff.
Great stuff, even!
Highly recommended for thinkers.
The Lotus Assassin is a thriller spanning continents and cultures that has at its core much more than a fast-paced mystery plot. Its staggeringly ambitious aim is to build all of that plot around a deep exploration of family, theology, cultural mores, sacred objects, human motives, material delusion, and the nature and purpose of human striving—and amazingly, it manages all that w/out getting dry, preachy, or abstract, either!
Taking a cue from the Bhagavad Ghita, Angsten is deeply interested in the call of dharma, or duty. While spinning through the interactions of a parade of killers, scientists, beautiful women, undercover state actors, and fanatical religious fundamentalists, Angsten looks deep into what pushes men to take on the hero’s journey dharma requires—and examines the nature of the attendant courage men tap to do it.
“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway,” John Wayne is reputed to have said. He’s not quoted in the book, but if you read to the end you’ll find it touches on similar thought from Rumi, Stephen Crane, Amelia Earhart, Lord Krishna, and expounded on by a key character named Anand, among others.
There aren’t many books—much less Indiana-Jones like thrillers—where you’ll find protagonists convincingly passing off G.K. Chesterton quotes as ones from the Buddha to win over allies. But that’s probably because there aren’t many writers with Angsten’s scope of knowledge: He’s familiar with Hindu theology, Buddhist tradition, Catholic thought, as well as Islamic culture and Koranic scripture.
Masterful writing delivers the plot from scene to scene. You’ll read of the “hazy half-light of the soma-moon sun,” of “sacerdotal warriors and sybaritic spies,” of how “the guttural dirge of the monks droned on, a zombie din of death.” Or how: “fear now came alive in me, the hairy worm erupting like a chrysalis in birth. Cracking, unfreezing, it burst in fluttering spasms through my belly and my limbs, wings beating frantically, urging me to run away.”
Then there’s the historical stuff. There was, in fact, a Hungarian archaeologist named Aurel Stein excavated certain remains in 1901 that appear in the book …. and there are dozens of tangents like these you can explore as you make your way through the book to fascinate, divert, and enrich your knowledge of the world.
Good stuff.
Great stuff, even!
Highly recommended for thinkers.
December 6, 2015
A thriller embedded with western (Asian) philosophies.
Though the story starts in Rome, it soon moves to Asia.
This is a self-narrating style novel but surprisingly narration is did by two (two persons self narrate story from their end).
Beginning of the story made me frown. Why does that it has to be Islam when it comes to terrorism?!
Then when the story moves on, I moved on. It was the same mistake people are doing in reality. A group of *** people from specific religion create chaos using religion as their shield. Just a bunch of idiots who misunderstood religion.
Best part about the novel is the embedded philosophy/religious statements. Islam, Buddhism and Hindu philosophies. Though Islam philosophies are used in wrong situations, it is good to read them. After all it's our mind which makes a statement meaningful!
Though the citations mentioned in novel are true (for which I must appreciate the author, David, for his hard-work), I seriously doubt whether it is possible in reality. All the border crossing, killing, etc etc.
But, this is a fiction novel and I shouldn't stress up much on it's reality.
The author mentioned that this is mixture of western philosophies and blood spilled thriller, and he was not sure whether people who like one genre will like the other.
I don't think who should doubt it. It is a perfect mixture of both and being a fan of both, I liked it.
A good read indeed.
Though the story starts in Rome, it soon moves to Asia.
This is a self-narrating style novel but surprisingly narration is did by two (two persons self narrate story from their end).
Beginning of the story made me frown. Why does that it has to be Islam when it comes to terrorism?!
Then when the story moves on, I moved on. It was the same mistake people are doing in reality. A group of *** people from specific religion create chaos using religion as their shield. Just a bunch of idiots who misunderstood religion.
Best part about the novel is the embedded philosophy/religious statements. Islam, Buddhism and Hindu philosophies. Though Islam philosophies are used in wrong situations, it is good to read them. After all it's our mind which makes a statement meaningful!
Though the citations mentioned in novel are true (for which I must appreciate the author, David, for his hard-work), I seriously doubt whether it is possible in reality. All the border crossing, killing, etc etc.
But, this is a fiction novel and I shouldn't stress up much on it's reality.
The author mentioned that this is mixture of western philosophies and blood spilled thriller, and he was not sure whether people who like one genre will like the other.
I don't think who should doubt it. It is a perfect mixture of both and being a fan of both, I liked it.
A good read indeed.
November 26, 2015
This is not a bad book, so to speak. It was well thought out, researched, and written. It just couldn't keep my interest most of the time. Like the author states in his Afterword, he ran the risk of alienating separate sects of readers by mixing thriller with religious mysticism. I was one of the readers who grew wan and foggy attempting to trudge through all the talk of Buddhism, "suchness", and self-transcendence. I enjoyed learning new terminology concerning Middle Eastern Muslims and their respective countries, however. Therefore, the three stars.
March 14, 2016
Enjoyed the book
I did enjoy reading The Assassin Lotus. It was a challenge, actually! It took a while to understand what was happening, but thanks to the dictionary embedded in the kindle, I was able to follow what was happening. I must admit that I knew little to nothing about the subject, so it filled in (some) blanks.
I did enjoy reading The Assassin Lotus. It was a challenge, actually! It took a while to understand what was happening, but thanks to the dictionary embedded in the kindle, I was able to follow what was happening. I must admit that I knew little to nothing about the subject, so it filled in (some) blanks.
February 11, 2016
A must read!
A fantastic fast paced novel combining Eastern mores and religions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islamism clashing with Western values. This is a must read for all spy novel readers.
A fantastic fast paced novel combining Eastern mores and religions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islamism clashing with Western values. This is a must read for all spy novel readers.
January 30, 2015
Gripping
In the style of Dan Brown....exciting. Something to contemplate in each chapter..if you can stop reading long enough! Had a hard time putting it down.
In the style of Dan Brown....exciting. Something to contemplate in each chapter..if you can stop reading long enough! Had a hard time putting it down.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews