Open Your Heart

by Neal Pollack

After solving the murder of illustrious guru Ajoy Chaterjee, yoga detective Matt Bolster is finally getting some students at his Los Angeles yoga classes. With attendance now hitting the double digits, nothing can stop the Bolster express. When Bolster gets invited to teach at The Gathering, a prestigious yoga retreat run by the renowned Tom Hart, it seems like things can’t get any better. Bolster is a little dubious about the cultish atmosphere, but, as they say in L.A., it’s an honor just to be nominated. What starts off as a relaxing, decadent retreat quickly spirals into deadly chaos that forces Bolster to use all his yoga-detective powers, and also his fists. Open Your Heart , like Neal Pollack's first Matt Bolster book, Downward-Facing Death , is a biting satire of trendy, sexually-driven yoga culture, where ancient principles of loving enlightenment clash with the darkest corners of human nature. The latest in the Matt Bolster Yoga Mystery series will thrill readers, whether they read it while in Crow Pose or on the couch. This book was initially released in episodes as a Kindle Serial. All episodes are now available for immediate download as a complete book.

Genres: Mystery

264 pages, Paperback

First published July 9, 2013

About the author

Neal Pollack’s first book, The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature, was published in 2000, becoming an (almost) instant cult classic. His debut novel, Never Mind the Pollacks, hit shelves in 2003, and was shamelessly promoted by his band, The Neal Pollack Invasion. In 2007, he published Alternadad, a best-selling memoir. In 2010, Pollack became a certified yoga teacher and published Stretch, a nonfiction account of his adventures in American yoga culture. He has contributed to The New York Times, Wired, Slate, Yoga Journal, and Vanity Fair, among many other publications. Thomas & Mercer published his historical noir novel Jewball in March 2012, and debuted his "yoga detective" novel, Downward-Facing Death, in serialized fiction form in September, 2012. His latest book, a time-traveling romantic comedy called Repeat, will be published in March 2015. He and his wife, the painter Regina Allen, live with their son in Austin, Texas.

Reviews

[Robin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, I read the first of Neal Pollack's yoga mysteries and found it diverting. So, wanting something light to read between meatier books, I read this, and... what a waste of time. Half-hearted, sloppy, illogical -- I can't find anything about it that I felt worked. I won't be reading another in this series.

[Deena MR Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read

It’s easy to fall into the mystery world of Matt Bolster. There are several twists that keep you hooked but unlike some novels, the villain was easy to decipher.
Not a challenging read, but was amusing.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 2 - not quite as enjoyable as the first and my kindle edition had a few spelling errors. Good inbetween book.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one got a little weird, but I love this author’s voice. Wish he could nail the story part. Wondering if I should try Repeat?

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever since he solved his last case, things have been going pretty well for Matt Bolster, ex-cop and yoga teacher. His yoga class attendance is growing and he is still getting publicity thanks to his friend and yoga blogger, Suzi. When Matt is invited to teach at "the Gathering" he can hardly turn them down. The Guru, Tom Hart, is not one of Matt's favs. He considers him too superficial. But being invited can only help his career. So Matt, Suzi and Matt's friend Slim head to the beautiful location of the Gathering. Only one thing could spoil this adventure. You guessed it, another Guru bites the dust, so to speak.

This book was as much fun as the first. Matt looks at yoga trends with a very jaundiced eye, but he respects to core of yoga. If you don't know anything about yoga, you can still enjoy this look into the worlds of yoga. The characters in the books are well defined and after one book I felt a connection to Matt and some of his crazy friends. I recommend reading the first book, Downward Facing Death, first but this one can be read on its own.

[Kathleen Hagen]

Open Your Heart, by Neal Pollack, b-plus, Narrated by Fred Stella, Produced by Brilliance Audio, Downloaded from audible.com.

This is the second book in the Matt Bolster series. Matt Bolster was a policeman but gave it up to practice yoga. But he couldn’t really make a living teaching yoga so he took on private eye work that increasingly dealt with murders that occurred in yoga centers. These books are totally delightful to anyone who has practiced yoga, knows many of the poses, and understands the spoof represented by his name representing two of the most common yoga props. While he pokes fun at some of the yoga practices with famous gurus who have gotten rich and therefore perhaps corrupt, he does imbue these books with some of the good philosophies and health that can be gotten from practicing yoga. I love these books. In a way, particularly the main character, Matt, and his best friend, Slim, remind me of characters from books like “The Dawn Patrol” by Don Winslow. I can hardly wait for the next book.

[Judy A. Kuhl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really need more of the Yoga Detective.

I love this series. It has information on yoga that I know nothing about. I feel the need to study more. I'm just a lowly yoga instructor, nothing like the characters in this series. It sure does make me think about my practice, and those I take classes from. Bolster is actually the real thing and a detective a s well. This murder is really weird, but fun to read. I read this book in a couple hours. It was over too fast. I need more.

[Juno · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as effective and the first in the series, but still a good read. I love the yoga/detective combination - it's a surprisingly effective mix and not without insight.

Suffers from some technical sloppiness - one character's hair changes color from description to description, a non-functional window changes the side of the car it's on and there are some continuity issues from the first book to this one.

[Noah Sager · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read, but not quite up to the standard of Downward-Facing Death. The edition I read (first Kindle edition) had a ton of proofreading errors: missing words, extra words, there/their, and continuity. This wasn’t a problem with Downward-Facing Death and not something I’ve seen with Pollack’s books before. Hopefully it’s something that can be corrected for future printings/versions.

Regardless, I sure laughed a lot!

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found Downward Facing Death to be lots of fun, a nice twist on the detective thriller genre. This one...not so much. It leaned too heavily on characters from DFD, but didn't pay off the connection, and even the genre beats seemed out of whack (the murder takes place pretty late in the story). If the 1st Bolster book was a light amusement, the sequel didn't even hit that mark.

[Rainey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the first book. Only just realized that it is part of a series. Can't wait to read it.

[Robin Lesher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read and fun. The drugged "conquer your demons" chapter was The best writing in the book, IMO

[sue kozin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matt Bolister Yoga Mystery

Good book to read. Second in the Yoga mystery series. Matt get his killer. Fast movingly and a great story line. Can't wait for a new one.