In Connelly's engaging second thriller to team defense attorney Mickey Haller and LAPD detective Harry Bosch (after The Brass Verdict), new DNA evidence leads to the release of Jason Jessup, who was convicted of murdering 12-year-old Melissa Landy 24 years earlier. Prosecutors in the L.A. DA's office, faced with retrying Jessup, approach Haller for help. Haller agrees to assist if he can use Bosch as his investigator, and his lawyer ex-wife, Maggie McPherson, as "second chair" at the new trial. Bosch begins reconstructing the 1986 case and tracking down witnesses, including Landy's older sister, who identified Jessup as the man who abducted her sister. Not used to being under the watchful eye of the DA's office, Haller must stay one step ahead of Jessup's oily defense attorney and Jessup himself, whose years in prison have only fueled his hatred of the legal system. Sparks inevitably fly when the equally stubborn Haller and Bosch must work toward a common goal.