An innocent man falsely accused of murder is a staple of suspense fiction. In Life Sentence, David Ellis provides a briefcase-full of fresh variations on this familiar theme, crafting a tale that delivers many delights and only a few disappointments. Like his first book, the Edgar-winning Line of Vision, this is a legal thriller, but the setting is refreshingly unusual: the narrator, Jon Soliday, is the chief legal aide to a powerful state senator in an unnamed city that's obviously Chicago. So there's plenty of bare-knuckle political intrigue even before Jon finds himself the main suspect in a murder.

Ellis's prose is sharp, clear, and intelligent, and his cast of characters is vividly varied. The complex plot setup is occasionally clumsy, with loose ends left lying around in the open for too long. But by the end, Ellis has gathered them all in masterfully, not once but several times, as we see the key facts of the case--several murders, a cryptic blackmail note, a long-ago party that ended in tragedy--through completely different lenses, each creating a fresh perspective that points to a completely different culprit. Right up to its socko surprise finish, Life Sentence is an intellectually and emotionally satisfying thrill ride from a promising young writer. --Nicholas H. Allison