A Perfect Execution - Softcover

Tim Binding

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0330345656 ISBN 13: 9780330345651

Publisher: Picador, 1997

Synopsis

Jeremiah Bembo lives quietly growing fruit and vegetables which his wife Judith sells at the local market. In secret, under the name of Solomon Straw, he travels the country as England's executioner, carrying out the hangings required by law. In a post-war provincial Britain seamed with commonplace corruption, he strives to maintain a balance of compassion and justice, until a murder is committed which brings his two lives into an inevitable collision. 'A brilliant, terrifying and haunting novel ...it has an almost Dickensian moral clarity ...It combines all the packed action of a thriller with a vision remarkable for its breadth and for its humanity' Evening Standard 'A compelling mixture of murder-mystery, Greek tragedy and love story ...In its exploration of human depravity Tim Binding, like his executioner hero, has taken on a terrible task with grace and intelligence' Sunday Telegraph

About this title

Review

From the author of In the Kingdom of Air comes A Perfect Execution, the tale of Jeremiah Bembo, England's greatest hangman. Propelled by a murder-mystery plot, the book is more the tale of the discovery of the hangman's true human identity than it is just a conventional search for the true identity of a murderer. Rich with metaphor--Bembo comes from a family of puppeteers and Binding doesn't shy away from references to manipulating the strings of destiny--and tautly executed, A Perfect Execution does an admirable job of getting inside the head of an executioner and rendering him both believable and believably human.

From the Publisher

Executioner Solomon Straw is unlike most in his profession. He comes to his calling out of love and compassion. After witnessing a prolonged and torturous killing of a downed German pilot, he vows to make death easy and painless for the condemned.

Straw perfects his art and is universally acclaimed as the best in England. His carefully chosen professional pseudonym ("Solomon" for wisdom and "Straw" for the fragility of human life) goes far beyond concealing his real identity from the curious and the vengeful: It allows him to isolate his caring and his passion, keeping them at bay even from his wife.

The unquestionable appeal of A Perfect Execution lies in Tim Binding's uncanny ability to create a novel of rare emotional power from cruel, even macabre events. The chillingly suspenseful plot and the sheer beauty of the language hold the reader mesmerized. The tightly-woven, often bizarre, circumstances of the characters' lives trigger a variety of responses--tears, joy, fear, and anger are often the results of reading a single page. As a reading experience, and as an exploration of punishment and compassion, A Perfect Execution is a novel like no other.

Edition details

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0330345656
• ISBN 13: 9780330345651
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 352