This is the fifth and finest novel from the pen of Australia's best - selling social analyst. Set in a typical contemporary suburb' WAYS OF ESCAPE is the first - person story of Tom' a clinical psychologist who's losing patience with his affluent' perfection - seeking clients. Divorced and struggling with professional burnout' he's open to the possibility of radical change. He allows himself to become reckless with a client intent on seducing him' leading to a charge of professional misconduct and the humiliating prospect of deregistration. He is caught up in the disappearance of a neighbour who had recently left his wife and children. And a lighthearted distraction comes in the form of an offer to write for a motoring magazine - an experience Tom finds liberating. Two streams of Tom's life then intersect when he agrees to advise one of the candidates for election as chancellor at a boutique university. Three people are contesting the election; a corporate lawyer who has recently crossed swords with a relative of Tom's' the charismatic proprietor of a chain of real estate agencies' and an eminence grise on the academic staff.