Not since the debut of Andrew Vachss has a novelist written so compellingly about the dark side of the law, and about human nature and the passion that directs men's lives.Set in Seattle, Methods of Execution is a legal thriller of startling directness by a writer with a sharp eye and a fresh approach.Matthew Riordan, a character one critic has called "part Perry Mason, part Columbo," is a tough, cynical lawyer who has burned out - until an old girlfriend, Elizabeth Kleinfeldt, breaks into his self-imposed isolation to ask for his help in appealing the death sentence of Robert Polhaus, a convicted serial killer. Despite his detestation of Polhaus, who appears to be a stone-cold killer, Matt agrees to take on the case, and is drawn into a terrifying underworld of prostitution, sadomasochism, blackmail, and murder that involves, as he soon discovers, the police, the politicians, even the judge, a world in which the only thing that seems certain is that Polhaus, however contemptible he may be, is not a murderer....More than a thriller, Methods of Execution is tough, fast-paced entertainment at its very best. Read Less