Wyatt was formerly employed by the Child Protective Services, but is compelled by circumstances to find another line of work. He obtains a license as a private investigator and opens his own business under the name The Hunt Club. Wyatt's boyhood friend, homicide inspector Devin Juhle, appears at the site of one of Wyatt's child protective services assignments and they renew their old friendship.

A federal Judge is found dead in his home along with an unidentified young woman. The bodies are found by Judge Palmer's wife, so she immediately becomes a suspect. Juhle and his partner Schiu are assigned to the case, and their goal is to wrap it up quickly. The young female murder victim is identified. It turns out that she lives in an expensive condo purchased for her by the late judge, who is forty years her senior. Juhle discovers Andrea Parisi's card in the dead woman's wallet. Andrea Parisi is a successful lawyer and part-time Trial TV personality, who just happens to be someone with whom Wyatt Hunt believes he may have a future.

Now Parisi has disappeared.  Hunt and Juhle are pursuing their separate investigations but they look at it from totally different angles. Juhle thinks Andrea may be a suspect in the murder case, and Wyatt thinks she may be a kidnap victim, or a murder victim herself.

John Lescroart is a master at creating unforgettable characters. This story is full of high octane, escalating suspense and a multi-level complicated plot that keeps you guessing until the unexpected, satisfying ending. He's a writer you can count on for great entertainment; he always leaves me wanting more, and waiting impatiently for his next book...which will be The Suspect, due in January 2007.