Rare and fantastic."-The Philadelphia Inquirer "London's dark heart has seldom been exposed with such surgical precision. Brutal, mesmerizing stuff."-Ian Rankin "Highly recommended for adult mystery collections."-Library Journal (starred review) "A beautifully written and constructed thriller. . . . Raw violence explodes on almost every page, and there are some artfully awful villains."-Publishers Weekly (starred review) "A powerful writer who creates memorable characters who live in the memory as well as on the page. The Mercy Seat flies, with no stop in the action and tension. The skillful dialogue reminds me of Ken Bruen."-Otto Penzler "An ambitious, tautly plotted thriller that offers a stark antidote to P.D. James' cozy world of middle-class murder. A huge talent."-Time Out London "A sometimes brutal, sometimes poetic journey through the dark heart of modern London, and confirms Waites as of the brightest stars in British crime writing."-John Connolly A research scientist has gone missing. An ace newspaper reporter has disappeared and so has a minidisk, along with its incriminating evidence. And a teenage hustler is on the run. In his pursuer, the Hammer, a skin-headed professional killer, the principle of evil has indeed been made flesh. Unsettling and unpredictable, this compelling page-turner delivers point-blank its every unexpected narrative hit, twist, and turn as it leads protagonist Joe Donovan to the terror of the mercy seat.