Joseph Antontelli, the fictional creation of acclaimed author DW Buffa, has gained a loyal following among both readers and critics as he challenges the criminal system in novels like 'The Defense' and 'The Judgment'. Now the charismatic attorney heads to the legal battlegrounds of San Francisco and a cast of characters that includes national powerbrokers and international spies.
On a San Francisco street dark and dense with fog, somebody has shot and killed Unites States Senator Jeremy Fullerton in the front seat of his car. The police arrest Jamaal Washington, a young black man caught fleeing the scene. The youth, a medical student, says that he tried to help the senator, but ran because he was afraid of the police. However, all the evidence says otherwise.
The only lawyer willing to take the case, fraught with political and social ramifications, is an outsider - and Joseph Antontelli leaves his Portland, Oregon practice in search of justice. As he begins to prepare his defence, he finds himself lost in a world ruled by backroom politics and old money. He digs deeper and uncovers a chain of deceit, betrayal, and naked ambition - and soon discovers just how much one person will risk in order to leave behind a legacy.
