An interesting book, but not, I think, in the way the author intended. Instead of being a biography of Jetsumna Ahkon Lhamo, the so-called "Buddha from Brooklyn", it becomes more of an psychological study of the author. The author presents herself as a person in search of a story, but the reader gets to see Sherrill slowly being sucked in by brazen cold-reading methods. The author tries to distance herself stating a journalistic need for a "balanced point of view", but the end result is far from balanced. The most outrageous claims and anecdotes are accepted with nary a quibble.

I was hoping at the end that there would be some grand summing-up. That the author would take a stand, but again "balance" rears its ugly head. Being an amateur magician, I'd love to put the author into a room with some of my mentalism practicing brethren. She'd leave swearing that there was no way to do what they did. As a biography, I'd give it 3 stars. As an expose of the author's will to believe and lack of journalistic ability, I'd give it 5 stars. I guess I'll stick with 3 as a final score. ( )