Joan Brady's "action-packed, densely woven" (Publishers Weekly) novel is an ingeniously layered psychological thriller about a family corrupted by a violent death and the shadow of a complicated friendship.

The victim : An invincible attorney.

Hugh Freyl, the scion of the richest and most influential family in Springfield, Illinois, is found beaten to death in the library of his own law firm.

The suspect : A convicted killer.

David Marion, a young man from the inner city, is on parole. It was Freyl who, to the outrage of colleagues, family, and friends, orchestrated his release from prison. And it was Freyl who took David in as his protégé, giving him a second chance at life. Were Freyl's critics right to suspect David's murderous nature all along? Or was Freyl, a blind man who could always see the truth in others, not all he appeared to be? As David fights to prove his innocence, a twisted world of darkness and deception unfolds.