Jason Kolarich is a midwestern everyman with a linebacker’s build and an easy smart-ass remark. He’s a young, intelligent, and successful attorney; but he’s also struggling with a horrific tragedy that threatens to unravel his own life, and possibly the lives of everyone he holds dear.

When a long-estranged friend, charged with murder, resurfaces needing Kolarich’s legal help, the lawyer has to put together a competent defense for the accused, despite his private doubts. In Chicago, neighborhood loyalty goes a long way. But as the trial looms, it becomes clear that Kolarich will have to unearth some unsettling events from their childhoods in order to crack not only this case, but also a mysteriously connected crime that went unsolved more than thirty years ago....

Another exhilarating thriller from Edgar Award winner David Ellis, introducing the new series protagonist Jason Kolarich.

Jason Kolarich is a midwestern Everyman with a lineman’s build and an easy smart-ass remark. He’s a young, intelligent maverick, but he’s also struggling with an overwhelming emotional burden—one that threatens to unravel his own life, and possibly the lives of those around him.

Twenty-seven years ago, two-year-old Audrey Cutler disappeared from her home in the middle of the night. She was never found. All the detectives had to go on were vague eyewitness accounts of a man running down the Cutlers’ street, apparently carrying someone. Without enough evidence to suggest otherwise, Griffin Perlini—a neighbor with prior offenses against minors—was arrested, but never convicted.

The case is long closed when Perlini is murdered nearly thirty years later. Now a man named Mr. Smith appears in Jason Kolarich’s office, saying only that he represents a third party who wants the man charged with murder off the hook and that Kolarich is perfect for the job. The new client: Audrey Cutler’s older brother, Sammy—Kolarich’s estranged childhood best friend—a man he hasn’t seen in nearly twenty years.

But when Kolarich starts receiving violent threats from Mr. Smith’s enigmatic employer, he figures out that the secrecy behind this nameless third party—and the key to winning Sammy’s case—is entangled with the mystery of Audrey’s disappearance. With his own life and Sammy’s in the balance, Kolarich has to put aside not only the mounting anxiety of the job but also a heart-wrenching personal tragedy in order to find out what really happened to Audrey all those years ago....

Jason Kolarich is a midwestern everyman with a linebacker’s build and an easy smart-ass remark. He’s a young, intelligent, and successful attorney; but he’s also struggling with a horrific tragedy that threatens to unravel his own life, and possibly the lives of everyone he holds dear.

When a long-estranged friend, charged with murder, resurfaces needing Kolarich’s legal help, the lawyer has to put together a competent defense for the accused, despite his private doubts. In Chicago, neighborhood loyalty goes a long way. But as the trial looms, it becomes clear that Kolarich will have to unearth some unsettling events from their childhoods in order to crack not only this case, but also a mysteriously connected crime that went unsolved more than thirty years ago....

Paul Riley has built a lucrative career based on his famous prosecution of Terry Burgos, who gruesomely murdered six girls. Now, fifteen years later, the police are confronted with a new series of murders and mutilations. Riley realizes that the two cases are connected and finds himself at the center of a police task force—as an investigator…and a suspect....

Jason Kolarich is a midwestern everyman with a linebacker’s build and an easy smart-ass remark. He’s a young, intelligent, and successful attorney; but he’s also struggling with a horrific tragedy that threatens to unravel his own life, and possibly the lives of everyone he holds dear.

When a long-estranged friend, charged with murder, resurfaces needing Kolarich’s legal help, the lawyer has to put together a competent defense for the accused, despite his private doubts. In Chicago, neighborhood loyalty goes a long way. But as the trial looms, it becomes clear that Kolarich will have to unearth some unsettling events from their childhoods in order to crack not only this case, but also a mysteriously connected crime that went unsolved more than thirty years ago....

Jason Kolarich is a midwestern everyman with a linebacker’s build and an easy smart-ass remark. He’s a young, intelligent, and successful attorney; but he’s also struggling with a horrific tragedy that threatens to unravel his own life, and possibly the lives of everyone he holds dear.

When a long-estranged friend, charged with murder, resurfaces needing Kolarich’s legal help, the lawyer has to put together a competent defense for the accused, despite his private doubts. In Chicago, neighborhood loyalty goes a long way. But as the trial looms, it becomes clear that Kolarich will have to unearth some unsettling events from their childhoods in order to crack not only this case, but also a mysteriously connected crime that went unsolved more than thirty years ago....