Rare Earth Audiobook By Paul Mason cover art

Rare Earth

A Novel

Preview

Try for $0.00
Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.

Rare Earth

By: Paul Mason
Narrated by: James Chen
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.95

Buy for $19.95

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

A washed up T.V. reporter stumbles onto a corruption scandal in Western China. Pursued through the desert by a psychotic spin-doctor and a world-weary cop, he discovers the real China: illegal metal mines, a fashion-crazed gang of girl bikers, a whole commune of Tiananmen Square survivors and the up-market sleaze-joints of Beijing. En route, he clashes with a stellar cast of people - traffickers, prostitutes and T.V. execs. But then the unquiet dead begin to intervene: ghosts from his own past and the past of Chinese Communism; the "spirits that hover three feet above our heads" of Chinese folklore.

Rare Earth is a story about love, journalism, ghosts, metallurgy, vintage militaria and large motorcycles set in the badlands of Inner Mongolia and Ningxia. It is about the west's inability to understand the East; one man's epic journey across a dying landscape, where "thousands of pairs of eyes peer beyond grimy windowpanes into the moonless sky, looking for something better.

©2011 Paul Mason (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
Suspense Transportation Motorcycle
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Editorial reviews

Middle-aged reporter Brough arrives in China to film a documentary, only to plunge into a dizzying adventure filled with arrests, attempted assassinations, kidnappings, wild chases, and sex. Despite the frenzied and entertaining plot, Paul Mason - a respected Channel 4 and former BBC2 broadcaster - describes China's fervently patriotic political culture, secretive media, and environmental problems with keen yet colorful insight. James Chen has a wonderfully wry style that turns chameleonic when giving voice to Mason's characters, from the grizzled Brough to the chirpy Chinese interpreter and Brough's harried producer, turning an entertaining, nearly parodic, thriller into a real hoot.

What listeners say about Rare Earth

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    0
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.