“Layman’s Report” is a book by Eugene Marten. It is a disturbing, darkly funny fictionalization of the life of Fred A. Leuchter, a garage tinkerer turned execution authority.. Fred is portrayed as an inventor who works at night and has ambitions. When offered the task of building a better electric chair, he jumps at the chance123. He believes in the occasional necessity of evil and wonders if we could kill more humanely.

Fred becomes a death specialist, first in his field but forever under-appreciated. He is charmed when a new generation of fascists come calling for his expertise. A Holocaust denier is on trial in Toronto—could Fred prove the gas chambers never existed? The book explores how Fred’s work does not stop, and the world may yet be reminded of the dangerous truth that some men are driven by forces far more powerful than shame.