When Amanda Jaffe is forced to represent a pimp accused of murder (a case no other lawyer will touch), her client threatens her, strirring up trauma to such an extent that Amanda must seek the help of a psychiatrist. Her opponent on the murder case, ADA Tom McCorkle, is a local hero -- he won the Heisman Trophy and secured for the University of Oregon its only victory in the Rose Bowl 15 years earlier -- who is embroiled in his own crisis of confidence,...

Oregon attorney Amanda Jaffeśtar of three other Margolin thrillers, including Proof Positive (2006)t́akes on the case of a lifetime when she is tapped to defend Charlie Marsh, aka Guru Gabriel Sun. Marshś past is legend: he was a prisoner whose freedom came abruptly when he saved the life of a guard during a riot. He then changed his name and published a book, The Light Within, in which he spoke of how you, too, could achieve personal transformation....