The First Rule of Ten by Gay Hendricks and Tinker Lindsay

Published by Hay House on January 1, 2012

Having spent his childhood shuttling between Paris and Dharamshala (where he was raised in a monastery by his Tibetan father), Tenzing Norbu has never felt entirely settled. He feels even less settled after being nicked by a bouncing bullet. Ten decides that being an LAPD detective is no longer the path to a satisfying life, so he retires and begins a career as a private detective. It doesn't take long before he's in the morgue, identifying the body of a woman he'd met only briefly. Of course, Ten decides to investigate the death, leading him to a retired musician who is being threatened by "the mob" and to a mysterious cult (the Children of Paradise). He eventually uncovers an extraordinarily unlikely scheme involving "key man" insurance policies and over-the-hill entertainers.

Every modern private detective, it seems, needs a friend who is a gifted computer hacker. The rest of Ten's supporting cast includes his former LAPD partner, a hungry cat, and a new romantic interest. The relationship subplot is marred by an undue amount of psychobabble, mostly from Ten but occasionally from his new girlfriend. Maybe Buddhists living in California feel the need to analyze their intimacy issues on a second date, but I didn't think their tiresome discussions added anything to the story.

Other aspects of The First Rule of Ten are equally troubling, including the notion that a Buddhist who values serenity, who meditates and has a Zen garden, would join the LAPD and indulge a gun fetish. To their credit, the authors make an effort to deal with that incongruity; they just don't do it very convincingly. I was even less convinced of Ten's ability to induce a cat to drop a captured bird by transmitting mental images to the cat, or to surround a dying hospital patient with "a peaceful light." I think the authors may have watched one too many Kung Fu reruns. (At one point there's even a Kung Fu style flashback to Ten's life in the monastery as he recalls a lesson imparted by his monk father.)

As a character in a detective novel, there are times when Ten is too sunshiny for my taste. Maybe he's just too well-adjusted to be credible, despite his unconvincing claim to experience moments of rage. When it comes to Buddhist detectives, I prefer John Burdett's complex, conflicted hero; in contrast, Ten is almost smug in his shallow enlightenment. In fact, Ten is so into himself that I occasionally found the character to be overbearing. Ten also has an annoying fondness for glib aphorisms: pop Buddhism with fortune cookie insight. Toward the end he becomes preachy, imparting a message that is likely intended to be profound but comes across as a page torn from a well-worn self-help book.

Ten's commitment to kindness and serenity is sort of odd given that he behaves like an angry jerk toward his new romantic interest and then feels sorry for himself because he's not living up to his expectations. If that's supposed to humanize Ten, it doesn't work; it just makes him more tedious. Why a man whose life revolves around opening his heart to people can't do so with his new girlfriend is inexplicable (again, the authors attempt an explanation, but fail to concoct one that's credible).

Putting aside my reservations about the construction of the central character, there are some positives about The First Rule of Ten that deserve mention. The book is written in a clear, clean prose style that makes it easy to read. The novel's plot is reasonably entertaining, although a subplot involving the cult is both underdeveloped and predictable. More creative is the evil scheme that Ten uncovers. Whether it is plausible is a different question, but detective/thriller fiction often skates of the edge of plausibility. That part of the plot is at least clever and comes to a reasonably satisfying conclusion.

On the whole, The First Rule of Ten pairs a moderately strong story with a weak, annoying character. The novel isn't wholly unlikeable but I wouldn't read another book that features Ten.

NOT RECOMMENDED