“Irving’s latest features vivid characters, crisp dialogue, stellar plotting and the legal jousting that fans of the series have come to expect.” —James P. Winthrop, retired Navy JAG trial attorney and judge.

A trip to the grounds of his old university to obtain a leave of absence for a protégé of Jimmie Flambeau’s sounds like a simple job for criminal defense attorney Joth. Then, a resident of an assisted living facility dies under unexplained circumstances and Phyliss, Joth’s sometimes girlfriend and confidant, frantically reports that her younger brother Danny has disappeared. As he pursues the connection between these apparently unrelated events, Joth becomes ensnared in a web of danger with college sports gambling at its center.  Friends point fingers at each other and only the resourcefulness of private detective DP Tran keeps Joth and his allies out of the crosshairs. As is often the case, it all comes back to Jimmie Flambeau, who is personally charming but willing to sacrifice both friends and enemies at a shift in the wind. Who would not be tempted by the prospect of what looks like a low-risk path to quick and easy money? Motives are mixed and all who are touched by Flambeau seem tainted with potential culpability and at risk of physical harm. It’s up to Joth to determine who can be trusted, with the lives of those he loves in the balance.

“Irving has produced not just fine detective fiction, but fine fiction…” —Raymond Smith, Professor of English, Indiana University