"Never trust a husband too far, nor a bachelor too near." Helen Rowland

Jason Kolarich feels lucky to be assigned as second chair in defending Senator Hector Almundo from a charge of murder. The case dealt with Almundo's alleged deal with the Cannibals street gang. They were shaking down businessmen for contributions to Almundo's election campaign and splitting the proceeds. Almundo is charged with conspiracy and the chief witness against him is his chief-of-staff, Joey Espinoza.

One night, Kolarich is waiting for a call from a confidential informant, Ernesto Ramirez. The call is important so Kolarich's wife takes their infant and drives to her parent's house without him. In a double tragedy that changed his life, his wife and child are killed in a car accident on a slippery road. Later, he learns that the reason that the informant's call didn't come in is because he was murdered.

After a period of mourning, Kolarich returns to work and is approached by Essie Ramirez, Ernesto's widow. She wants Kolarich to find her husband's killer.

Since Kolarich feels responsible for Ernesto's death, and because he also feels that he is the cause of his wife and child's deaths,he accepts. He feels that if only he can find Ramirez's killer, he would somehow make up for his failure.

In this psychological novel, we experience the pain and loss that Kolarich feels with the tragic loss of his family. He decides to investigate. Without a proper plan, he attempts to ingratiate himself to the politicians and behind the scenes friends of Almundo. However, his actions are caught by the FBI who are investigating corruption from the governor's office down to the local administrators. Kolarich can't prove that he was innocently pretending to work for these officials and to prove himself to the authorities, he agrees to go undercover and help with the FBI case.

Kolarich is a heroic character who is just a man, trying to do the right thing. Unlike some of the super heroes of thrillers, he makes mistakes and isn't able to overcome the strength of his foes. But, he has determination and the feeling that he's righting a wrong and doesn't let anything stand in his way.

This is well done novel that was an interesting character portrayal as well as a fine and all too believable thriller.

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