Attorney Charlie Bowen has disappeared, and Judge Oscar Thomasino prevails on Dismus to help clean up his pending caseload. One of the cases is an appeal for convicted murderer Evan Scholler, ex-National Guard reservist and ex-San Francisco police officer. Evan is accused of killing ex-Navy SEAL and private contractor, Ron Nolan, and there are over 60 cases of papers from the original trial.

In a backflash that takes up a great deal of the book, the two men clash on several issues: Ron's relationship with Evan's girlfriend, and a deadly incident in which Nolan makes an error that results in the death of an innocent Iraqi family - and a near fatal injury for Evan, along with the death of seven men in Evan's squad of reservists.

Lescroart brings out the murky relationships between the US government and its private contractors in a scenario that was truly shocking to me. His research is extensive though, and the frightening implications of fraud are probably spot-on. The personal drama of these two men, and the consequences of their conflict become a desperate matter of life and death, and when Dismas Hardy begins to uncover the terrible truth that takes him far beyond the case and into the realm of assassination and treason, he and Frannie could be in mortal danger too.

This is a magnificent story which kept me engrossed from page one to the end.